AMERICAN MARY
Rates: * * *
Bold and surprisingly unbloody, the Soska sisters horror comedy features a great central performance by Katharine Isabelle as a med student who finds a unique way to pay the bills.
AMOUR
Rates: * * * *
Michael Hanneke's top prize winner from Cannes was a warm and simple film, a heartfelt attempt to capture on screen the depth of emotion that can exist between two people, and the terrible gulf that's left behind when one of them departs.
ARGO
Rates: * * * 1/2
Ben Affleck's half awake lead performance is at odds with his taught direction in this old fashioned CIA hostage rescue drama.
THE ARTIST
Rates: * * * 1/2
Overpraised but entertaining, and surprisingly melancholy, 'silent' film about a golden age movie star struggling with the transition to sound, rejuvenated by his leading lady and one of the greatest dogs in screen history..
THE AVENGERS
Rates: * * * 1/2
Hip actors trade one liners and battle space aliens in the best Blockbuster of the year.
BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD
Rates: * * * 1/2
Director Benh Zeitlin's low budget debut shows life on the extremes of American society and is a rough and ready mixture of unique ideas, some more successful than others, while child lead Quvenzhane Wallis is nothing short of astonishing.
BERBERIAN SOUND STUDIO
Rates: * * 1/2
More a collection of filmic references then a fully functional movie, behind this movie's facade are some excited film nerds and a nonplussed audience.
BERNIE
Rates: * * * *
Jack Black is in career best form as the title character, although the film is nearly stolen by the real life Texans that dot Richard Linklater's true crime murder flick, the year's best comedy.
BRAVE
Rates: * * 1/2
Pixar's muddled and uninspiring Scottish fable looked pretty but otherwise went against the studio's well known ethos by failing to appeal to either children or adults.
CABIN IN THE WOODS
Rates: * * * 1/2
Co-written by Joss Whedon, this deliriously entertaining movie is best seen in a full house session packed with excitable Whedon fans.
CARNAGE
Rates: * * *
Exiled, and occasionally detained, director Roman Polanski's latest highlights the difficulty of adapting a stage play to cinema, regardless of the quality of the source material or the talent involved.
CHASING ICE
Rates: * * 1/2
The sometimes curse of the film documentary: interesting subject, bland presentation.
DAMSELS IN DISTRESS
Rates: * * * 1/2
Director Whit Stillman made a welcome return after a long absence with this college comedy which was alternately droll and nuts, like the best of his earlier films.
A DANGEROUS METHOD
Rates: * * * *
David Cronenberg's excellent character study is powered by two fine performances from Viggo Mortensen and Michael Fassbinder and is good enough to survive some outrageous overacting from Keira Knightly.
THE DARK KNIGHT RISES
Rates: * * *
Batman down a hole, Baine with a plummy accent, Alfred in a lounge suit drinking a fruity cocktail... not exactly what we were expecting then, as this bloated and heavy handed movie became the most disappointing Blockbuster of the year.
DARK SHADOWS
Rates: *
A fine example of a great trailer disguising a woeful film.
THE DESCENDANTS
Rates: * * * 1/2
Some good acting and effective scenes hampered by a meandering narrative.
DREAMS OF A LIFE
Rates: * *
See Chasing Ice.
EAMES: THE ARCHITECT AND THE PAINTER
Rates: * * 1/2
A vibrant design studio in California produces many world famous conceptual ideas yet somehow fails as an engrossing documentary subject.
EXTRATERRESTRIAL
Rates: * 1/2
An original idea that spawned an almost unwatchable film.
FRANKENWEENIE
Rates: * * * 1/2
A chance to use the phrase 'Return to Form' as Tim Burton expands a short film he made in the 1980's into the best feature he's made in some time.
GRABBERS
Rates: * * 1/2
High concept film making: a gaggle of Irish drunks battle a Dr Who monster.
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
Rates: * * 1/2
Long, rambling, scattershot; these are not the adjectives you want attached to a 150 million dollar production, a major disappointment from the production team that delivered The Social Network.
HOLY MOTORS
Rates: * * * 1/2
If a family of apes living in a townhouse is your thing, you've just found your movie.
HUGO
Rates: * * * *
Stretching right back to the start of the year (at least in Australia), veteran director Marty Scorcese shows any number of young turks how to really incorporate 3D into a film.
THE HUNGER GAMES
Rates: * *
Standees for this series of books suddenly sprouted, elaborately, everywhere and the series was on the tip of everyone's tongue and ... then the film came out.
THE INTERRUPTERS
Rates: * * * 1/2
Powerful, arresting documentary about former gang members, now reformed, who try and prevent the next generation from following their violent path.
JOHN CARTER
Rates: * 1/2
My girlfriend likes to say the title of this one in a silly voice, which is considerably more entertaining than the film itself.
JUST THE WIND
Rates: * * * *
Microbudget Hungarian film depicts life on the fringe, as a community of gypsies struggle in the face of relentless abuse and prejudice.
KEY HOLE
Rates: * * 1/2
Speed 2's Jason Patric returns from... wherever, in cult favourite Guy Maddin's indescribable arthouse oddity.
KILLER JOE
Rates: * * *
Matthew McConaughey delivers a deliciously dark turn as the title character in an otherwise undistinguished rednecks-run-amuck crime comedy that will, at the very least, ensure you never look at KFC quite the same way again.
KILLING THEM SOFTLY
Rates: * * 1/2
Muddled ideas sink this black comedy which wastes good performances in pursuit of some poorly conceived social commentary.
LAWLESS
Rates: * * *
Writer Nick Cave and Director John Hilfcoat (The Proposition) re-team for this depression era hooch smuggling yarn, which is similar to, but inferior, to their earlier film in nearly every respect.
LOOPER
Rates: * * *
Time travel, the mob, telekinesis and Bruce Willis collide in a story that looked great on paper but just didn't evolve into anything very interesting.
MARGARET
Rates: * * 1/2
Playwright Kenneth Lonergan's second feature (after You Can Count On Me fifteen years ago) was eagerly anticipated and sported a dynamic opening hour, before falling into a confused, self indulgent and lengthy resolution.
MANIAC
Rates: * * 1/2
Elijah Wood defines the term 'change of pace' with this serial killer nightmare, a remake of an 80's film of the same name, which mixes bravura film making and ugly violence to create the year's most disturbing movie.
MARGIN CALL
Rates: * * * *
What the 'Occupy' people were angry about.
MARCY MARTHA MAY MARLENE
Rates: * * * 1/2
Elizabeth Olsen's terrific central performance in the title role anchors an interesting study of cults, families and group dynamics.
THE MASTER
Rates: * * * * 1/2
PTA delivers again with this stunning drama, loosely based on the formative days of Scientology, showcasing two of the world's best actors (Joaquin Phoenix and Phillip Seymour Hoffman) in career defining roles.
MEN IN BLACK 3
Rates: * * 1/2
Like any film with a '3' in the title, you know what you're gonna get when you buy your ticket.
A MONSTER IN PARIS
Rates: * * *
Cute kids film becomes an unlikely showcase for Sean Lennon's singing.
MOONRISE KINGDOM
Rates: * * * * 1/2
Another slice of perfectly pitched, bittersweet romance and melodrama from the Wes Anderson universe.
THE MUPPETS
Rates: * * *
Catchy songs, cute performances and 'Dad, what's a muppet?' in the back of my head.
PROMETHEUS
Rates: * *
An expensive waste of time from a director who seemed to run out of inspiration some time ago.
ROOM 237
Rates: * *
A few kooks obsessed with Stanley Kubrick's The Shining provides only the slimmest of justification for a 102 minute film.
THE RUM DIARY
Rates: * *
Hunter S. Thompson's first, and least accomplished, novel demonstrates exactly why it was considered unfilmable for so many years.
THE SAPPHIRES
Rates: * * *
The biggest Australian release of the year showcased Jessica Mauboy's singing and dancing chops, but relied heavily on Chris O'Dowd to give the rest of it any juice.
A SEPARATION
Rates: * * * *
At once cerebral and emotive, that this brilliant Iranian film was able to juggle so many story elements with such success was a real tribute to the skill of the film makers.
SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS
Rates: * * *
Sam Rockwell steels the show in this aptly titled crime-Hollywood-comedy mish mash.
SHAME
Rates: * * * *
Michael Fassbinder delivers one of the years most captivating performances, as a driven and successful young man unable to connect to the people around him and finding solace in anonymous sex.
SHUT UP AND PLAY THE HITS
Rates: * * 1/2
LCD Sound System concert film where the film makers should have followed the title's advice.
SIGHTSEERS
Rates: * * *
Engagingly low key black comedy about a most unlikely pair of serial killers, that plays almost like a violent version of the Rob Brydon-Steve Coogan effort The Trip.
SKYFALL
Rates: * * *
All the peripheral elements were in place, but somehow this incredibly successful Bond outing failed to deliver.
SLEEPLESS NIGHT
Rates: * * * *
Tough, kinetic, superbly directed (by Frederic Jardin) Belgian thriller that evolves across one very elaborate set on the long night of the title.
THE SOUND OF MY VOICE
Rates: * * * *
Clever and thought provoking, this shows you don't need much of anything to make something truly memorable.
TABU
Rates: * * 1/2
Twenty minutes of conventional (and very good) story telling gives way to the most irritating film gimmick of the year.
THIS MUST BE THE PLACE
Rates: * * * 1/2
Sean Penn makes a welcome divergence into comedy, portraying a burnt out rock star taking a road trip after years of reclusive living.
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY
Rates: * * * 1/2
Dense, layered, dour rethink of the John le Carre cold war classic, expertly crafted but difficult to fully engage with.
TYRANNOSAUR
Rates: * * * * 1/2
One sentence could never be enough to adequately describe this devastating drama, if you've not seen it find it and watch it immediately.
V/H/S
Rates: 1/2
The cinema equivalent of a slap in the face; six arrogant young up an coming directors demonstrate their total disdain for their audience by producing this disastrously awful omnibus movie, the year's worst film by some distance.
WISH YOU WERE HERE
Rates: * * * 1/2
A rare adult drama from the local industry, this film posits the almost shocking concept, never discussed in the mainstream media, that Australians overseas are sometimes an ugly bunch.
THE WOMAN IN BLACK
Rates: * *
Daniel Radcliffe emerges from the deep shadow of the Boy Wizard in this remake of an old British telemovie, which is well produced but lacking in scares.
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