Synopsis

Ryan Bingham (George Clooney), a specialist in firing people who loves his life on the road, is forced to fight for his job when his company downsizes its travel budget, thanks to smart little graduate, Natalie (Anna Kendrick). He is threatened with being grounded at base, right on the cusp of a goal he's worked toward for years: reaching 10 million frequent flyer miles ... and just after he's met the frequent-traveller woman of his dreams, Alex (Vera Farmiga). A resolute bachelor and opportunist, he is not prepared for the forces that the two women unleash.

After 14-year-old Susie (Saorsie Ronan) from suburban Pennsylvania is murdered by a neighbour, she tells the story from Heaven, watching the lives of the people around her like her parents (Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz) and her younger sister Lindsey (Rose McIver). Her killer, George Harvey (Stanly Tucci) remains at large and undetected, although suspicions are raised - and he remains a threat, especially to Lindsey.

Review by Louise Keller:
Letting go and learning how to cope are the central themes of Peter Jackson's haunting drama that uses fantasy to illustrate a magical and enticing afterlife. Like his choice of casting in Heavenly Creatures, Jackson has chosen a star of tomorrow as his leading lady. It's not the first time she has impressed and 15 year old Saoirse Ronan leaves a lasting impression as the young girl murdered before experiencing her first kiss and who is trapped in an in-between horizon beyond heaven. The film is a mix of genres: murder mystery, family drama, romance, ghost story and fantasy, all melded seamlessly together.

In the Summer of 1967, young Willie (Rocky McKenzie) is filled with the life of the idyllic old pearling port of Broome - fishing, hanging out with his mates and hoping to get a date with the lovely Rosie (Jessica Mauboy). However his mother (Ningali Lawford) returns him to the religious mission in Perth for further schooling on the path to be a priest, she hopes. After being punished for an act of youthful rebellion by Father Benedictus (Geoffrey Rush), he runs away from the mission and heads back to Broome, meeting a hippy couple (Tom Budge, Missy Higgins) and Uncle Tadpole (Ernie Dingo) along the way. Their trip takes them through some adventures with Roadhouse Betty (Magda Szubanski) and Roxanne (Deborah Mailman) before their final pit stop at the local watering hole, where Rosie is singing up a storm - but dating someone else. When Father Benedictus finally catches up with the runaway, all kinds of family secrets tumble out on the splendid nearby beach.

Review by Andrew L. Urban:
Gloriously irreverent, musically inventive and effortlessly entertaining, Bran Nue Dae delivers on its promise to bring the highly acclaimed stage musical to the screen. Like Richard Frankland's entertaining road movie, Stone Bros. which preceded it into cinemas by a couple of months, Bran Nue Dae celebrates being Aboriginal in a wickedly humorous fashion ... and sometimes unexpectedly, like a truck full of blackfellas dancing to the famous Mikis Theodorakis' theme from Zorba the Greek. It's an entirely appropriate loan, though, given that tune is also a celebration of cultural identity.

Young and virginal Rocky McKenzie is a likeable innocent as Willie, whose quest for happiness is both simple and recognisable: he just wants to hang out and date his new girl, Rosie, marvellously played by Jessica Mauboy, who also sports a splendid voice. As does the charismatic Ernie Dingo, who steals the show as Uncle Tadpole, a larrikin spirit with a taste for spirits and a big heart. Geoffrey Rush makes Father Benedictus a larger than life character whose past catches up with him, while Tom Budge and Missy Higgins (singing beautifully) make a great pair of hippie combivan travellers, with a big surprise awaiting them at the end of the road.

Both Magda Szubanski and Deborah Mailman shine in two spectacular novelty character roles and Ningali Lawford is warm and maternal as Willie's mother; she even knows who his father is! Rachel Perkins directs with a sense of fun and all the creatives provide valuable support in design, music and cinematography - the latter by the talented and multi-award winning Andrew Lesnie, whose lighting works beautifully in all scenes, including some challenging external and interior moments.

Bran Nue Dae can't be accused of failing to be a crowd pleaser, and word of mouth should help spread the film's accomplishments.

Romance and heartbreak are intertwined during one Valentine's Day in Los Angeles. Flower shop owner Reed Bennett (Ashton Kutcher) , a romantic at heart, is about to propose to his girlfriend Morley (Jessica Alba). Reed's best friend Julia (Jennifer Garner) has a new man in her life Dr Harrison Copeland (Patrick Dempsey), while talent agent in training Josh Morris (Topher Grace) has just met the receptionist Liz (Anne Hathaway), who moonlights on a phone sex line. Ten year old Edison (Bryce Robinson) from one of Julia's classes, wants to send flowers to his Valentine; his grandparents Estelle (Shirley MacLaine) and Edgar (Hector Elizondo) have been together a lifetime but even after 50 years, there are surprises.

Two very different men have found a way to survive an America where a virus has run amok and almost all humans have become zombies - lurching to lunch on those who have not. Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) is a self confessed young coward - but when you're afraid of being eaten by zombies, fear can keep you alive. Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson) is an gun-totin', zombie-slayin' badass whose single determination is to get every last Twinkie (a unique US sweet bar) on earth. They bump into enterprising sisters Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin), who have also found unique ways to survive the zombie mayhem, and form an uneasy alliance - after almost killing each other - to survive the zombie menace.

Review by Andrew L. Urban:
Splatter movies are the breakfast of movie champions, such as Peter Jackson, whose early films (Brain Dead, for example) were cheerfully gory and cheaply made. Zombieland isn't quite as cheaply made but it's equally cheerfully gory and more besides. If you want escapism with a capital F for fun, Zombieland is it to a T (with a Zee). You'll have to see it to believe me, but this is also a sweet zombie movie; a sweet young romance and a sweet surprise scene add layers to what is a terrific screenplay.

FANTASTIC MR FOX
Mr. Fox (voice of George Clooney) has a natural talent for getting out of scrapes in pursuit of chicken stealing - although after a near-miss some years earlier when Mrs. Fox (Meryl Streep) announced she was pregnant, he had vowed to stop living dangerously. But surrounded by temptation - a chicken farm, a squab farm and a cider distillery - he again succumbs to the thrill of the chase - and gets his fa

AVATAR

Paraplegic war vet Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), is sent to the exotic planet Pandora, replacing his brother, who was killed. Although he's part of the military under the command of Col. Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), the human presence is driven by a corporation mining a unique mineral alongside a scientific probe directed by Dr Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver). Humans cannot breathe Pandoran air, so they genetically engineer human/Na'vi hybrids known as Avatars. The indigenous Na'vi are resentful - but Princess Neytiri (Zoë Saldana) befriends him and becomes his guide and protector on the strange planet. Jake is soon caught in the middle of the conflict between the Na'vi and the human military machine raping their world.

Review by Andrew L. Urban:
James Cameron's Avatar is a richly symbolic, captivating and immense film which laces together some of the great mythical stories of mankind into a contempo action adventure fusing its sci fi genes with spiritual and ecological themes. And it pivots on romance. A film that tackles that much material has to be large in scale, and not even Cameron's massive Titanic measures up to the epic visual and dramatic scope of Avatar

Back

Mr. Fox (voice of George Clooney) has a natural talent for getting out of scrapes in pursuit of chicken stealing - although after a near-miss some years earlier when Mrs. Fox (Meryl Streep) announced she was pregnant, he had vowed to stop living dangerously. But surrounded by temptation - a chicken farm, a squab farm and a cider distillery - he again succumbs to the thrill of the chase - and gets his fa