Saturday, April 12, 2014

Film Review Round Up 12th April 2014


I’m a lucky girl because tonight I’m off to see my pick of the week AGAIN at the awesome Luna Cinemas in Leedervile, Perth, which has been transformed into The Grand Budapest Hotel. Thank you Nat from Fox Studios.
I love The Grand Budapest Hotel and you should try and catch it on the big screen. The other two films releasing this week in Australia are Muppets Most Wanted, which I recommend to all Muppet fans and non-fans. Any Muppet movie is a good movie.  Although, my pick for the holidays has to be The Lego Movie.  The other film, Divergent, I liked not so much. However, many others have enjoyed it. So if you are a fan of the books, you already know you’re going to love it.
Enjoy your week, I’m off on a holiday for a few hours stay at the Grand Budapest. Mendl I’m coming.  Hold the lift…

(My movie Pick of the week)

The Grand Budapest Hotel ✪✪✪✪ ½          

Opens in Australia:                10TH April 2014
USA: 28th March 2014            UK: 7th March 2014
Other Countries:                    Release Information
Perth:                                      Luna Palace Cinemas

OUR THOUGHTS
The writer and director of The Grand Budapest Hotel, Wes Anderson, is an intriguing storyteller. I go along every time to his films thinking how great they look from the trailers—quirky, funny, sentimental, and starring a cast of incredible talent. Sometimes, though I’m left with nothing more than “It was just okay.” Wes Anderson’s version of the world is populated with surreal characters who are not just oddball, but sometimes certifiable. I find it hard to identify with them and the storyline.

Not so, though, with The Grand Budapest Hotel. This film does not miss a beat. There’s a truckload of A-list actors, the story is adventurous and wonderful, and the color palette Anderson’s uses is gorgeous. Think of the feel of his Fantastic Mr. Fox, which I did love, but with people instead of animation, and you have some idea.

Do go check in to The Grand Budapest Hotel. I think you will fall in love with it as much as I did and want to return there again, which is exactly what I’m doing for second viewing. It has to be good for me to sit through any film twice—I usually can’t afford the time. That’s how special this one is.

If you live in Perth, Western Australia, my hometown, I suggest you get down to Luna Cinemas in Leederville tonight for the last night of the immersive experience.

The Oxford St exterior façade of the building has been transformed at night with spectacular projection imagery. In the film, Wes Anderson has created a fictional world in Eastern Europe known as The Republic of Zubrowka. With specialist projected light and animation by Roly Skender, the hotel in Zubrowka will come to Oxford St Leederville!
Visitors to the Luna Leederville can expect to see some of the characters from the film brought to life. For those wanting to swan about the hotel there is also plenty to do. Enjoy a themed cocktail at The Grand Budapest Lobby Bar, browse the Grand Budapest Gallery, enjoy a complimentary Mendl’s cake (courtesy of Baked180), take in a game of the custom-made game “Guess Who” featuring the film’s characters, and take your picture at the Mendl’s cake box wall (and share it: #thegrandbudapesthotel). Sounds fantastic, doesn’t it?


THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL 
WINDSOR SOIREE
To celebrate The Grand Budapest Hotel at the Windsor you are cordially invited to join us for  an afternoon soirée on Sunday 13 April from 4.00pm featuring Brown Brothers Sparkling Pinot Chardonnay Non-vintage and a musical ensemble of the talented WA Youth Jazz Orchestra musicians playing  from prior to the screening of the film at 4.45pm
Tickets now on sale and online now

 STUDIO BLURB
Following his succesful Moonrise Kingdom Wes Anderon's latest comic delight, THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL recounts the adventures of Gustave H, a legendary concierge at a famous European hotel between the wars, and Zero Moustafa, the lobby boy who becomes his most trusted friend. The story involves the theft and recovery of a priceless Renaissance painting and the battle for an enormous family fortune -- all against the back-drop of a suddenly and dramatically changing Continent.

Featuring an A-list cast that includes Ralph Fiennes, newcomer Tony Revolori, who plays Zero, a lobby boy in the hotel , Tilda Swinton,  F. Murray Abraham, Mathieu Amalric, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, Jude Law, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Saoirse Ronan, Jason Schwartzman and Léa Seydoux and many more...

The Muppets Most Wanted ✪✪✪ ½              

Opens in Australia:               10TH April 2014
USA: 21st March 2014            UK: 28th March 2014
Other Countries:                     Release Information

OUR THOUGHTS
Who doesn’t love the Muppets? They’re cute, witty and remind all of us over twenty of our childhood. The reboot in their film series, The Muppets (2011) was fun, but I didn’t love it like I thought I would.

However this latest from the ensemble really tickled my funny bone and my family’s.  Most of my fellow critics preferred the first because they said they enjoyed the first’s silly-stupid story. Yet, I preferred this one because it wasn’t as silly. So based on that if you liked the craziness of the first you might be disappointed, but if you are like me you might like this one. 

Either way, it’s still the Muppets and they are always good for a laugh and a load of cute mischief. Be warned it might drive you crazy trying to remember who the actors are in the cameos. Keep a look out for an almost unrecognizable Tom Hiddleston at the end as the Escape Artist.

 STUDIO BLURB
Disney's "Muppets Most Wanted" takes the entire Muppets gang on a global tour, selling out grand theaters in some of Europe's most exciting destinations, including Berlin, Madrid, Dublin and London. But mayhem follows the Muppets overseas, as they find themselves unwittingly entangled in an international crime caper headed by Constantine-the World's Number One Criminal and a dead ringer for Kermit the Frog-and his dastardly sidekick Dominic, aka Number Two, portrayed by Ricky Gervais. The film stars Tina Fey as Nadya, a feisty prison guard, and Ty Burrell as Interpol agent Jean Pierre Napoleon.(c) Disney

Divergent ✪✪    

Opens in Australia:              10TH April 2014
USA: 21st March 2014           UK: 4th March 2014
Other Countries:                   Release Information

OUR THOUGHTS
Disclaimer here: I did not enjoy the Divergent trilogy series written by Veronica Roth. While the stories of dystopian societies are my favorite plots, this story in book form and now translated to film was so plot hole-ridden in the book and the film that I felt it difficult to enjoy.
In saying this though, my views won’t make an ounce of difference to the success of the books or the film because the book and its follow-ups have sat at the top of the bestseller charts most of last year and so far through 2014. Tweens and teenagers love this book and they will love this film.

Its 2 hours and 20 minutes of slow dialogue, dull grey tones, and odd plot turns. Someone needs to explain to me, also, why there are so many trains running around in future Chicago with no people on them that just happen to pass by when our protagonists need a ride. 
Most of the adult women in the preview audience seemed particularly enamored with Four (Theo James). Mothers, if your daughters want to go see this, you may find him a small mercy. 

You will see mixed reviews on it and that could be because it is aimed squarely at the young adult market. It’s by the numbers YA fare following on from Twilight and Hunger Games. I call it a poor cinema-goer’s Hunger Games but then they do ask for a decent chunk of change to sit through these, so in this case you may be better off with the book. I think it sells for cheaper than the film ticket.

 STUDIO BLURB
DIVERGENT is a thrilling action-adventure film set in a world where people are divided into distinct factions based on human virtues. Tris Prior (Shailene Woodley) is warned she is Divergent and will never fit into any one group. When she discovers a conspiracy by a faction leader (Kate Winslet) to destroy all Divergents, Tris must learn to trust in the mysterious Four (Theo James) and together they must find out what makes being Divergent so dangerous before it's too late. Based on the best-selling book series by Veronica Roth. (C) Summit



What have you seen this week? Did you find our comments helpful or do you disagree? Share your thoughts with us.

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