Kailey and Dan review Pitch Perfect 2 plus documentaries That Sugar Film, Cobain: Montage of Heck and The Ground We Won. Kailey also reveals the first titles in this year’s New Zealand International Film Festival.
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As usual, the vagaries of holiday deadlines mean that, just as you are arriving back at work to gleefully greet the New Year, here I am to tell you all about 2012. The best way to use this page is to clip it out, fold it up and put it in your pocket ready for your next visit to the video shop – that way you won’t go wrong with your renting. Trust me – I’m a professional.
But this year I have a problem. Usually I manage to restrict my annual picks to films that were commercially released to cinemas. I’ve always felt that it wasn’t fair to mention films that only screened in festivals – it’s frustrating to be told about films that aren’t easy to see and it makes it difficult for you to join in and share the love. This year, though, if I take out the festival-only films the greatness is hard to spot among the only “good”.
As usual, I have eschewed a top ten in favour of my patented categories: Keepers, Watch Again, Mentioned in Dispatches and Shun At All Costs. In 2012, only two of my nine Keepers (films I wish to have close to me forever) made it into commercial cinemas and one of them isn’t even really a film.
We catch up with the acapella comedy PITCH PERFECT (that we had to skip last week because of time), Karl Urban’s chin is the star of the new comic book adaptation DREDD 3D and we also go SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN.
We catch up with the acapella comedy Pitch Perfect that we had to skip last week because of time, Karl Urban’s chin is the star of the new comic book adaptation Dredd and we also go Searching For Sugar Man.
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The main problem I have reviewing Rian Johnson’s Looper is that the most interesting discussion about the film can only be had with others who have seen it. The film diverges brilliantly from its marketing premise about half way through and the surprise is so precious – and adds even more fascinating layers – that to discuss it here would be the absolute definition of the word spoiler. Suffice to say: if you like intelligent science fiction you should make immediate plans to view Looper and allow time afterwards to digest with other people. It changes, the more you talk about it.
The premise is enticing enough. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is a Looper, a specialised hitman with the job of rubbing out inconveniences from the future who are sent back in time by the mob so they can be cleanly disposed of. Every now and then a Looper’s future self is sent back in order that another layer of evidence is removed. This is called “Closing the Loop” and the Looper then knows he has 30 years left to enjoy life before he’ll end up as his own victim.
Steve Austin (@bionicmananator) tells us all about Fantastic Fest in Austin, we review Looper, The Sapphires and a special guest gives us the lowdown on Hotel Transylvania.
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