HOTEL COOLGARDIE
DIRECTOR: Pete Gleeson
MA15+ / 83 minutes
Opens June 15, 2017
THE MUMMY
DIRECTOR: Alex Kurtzman
M / 110 minutes
Opens June 8, 2017
THE SENSE OF AN ENDING
DIRECTOR: Ritesh Batra
M / 108 minutes
Opens May 25, 2017
WILSON
DIRECTOR: Craig Johnson
M / 93 minutes
Opens May 25, 2017
NORMAN: THE MODERATE RISE AND TRAGIC FALL OF A NEW YORK FIXER
DIRECTOR: Joseph Cedar
M / 118 minutes
Opens May 25, 2017
DON’T TELL
DIRECTOR: Tori Garrett
M / 108 minutes
Opens May 18, 2017
JOHN WICK:
CHAPTER 2
DIRECTOR: Chad Stahelski
MA15+ / 122 minutes
Opens May 18, 2017
AMERICAN ESSENTAILS
FILM FESTIVAL 2017
Opens May 9-24, 2017
There are some wonderful documentaries, a number of which have a political bent, including All Governments Lie, The Bomb and American Anarchist. There’s also a fabulous doco on David Lynch that examines his early visual art career, David Lynch: The Art Life, coupled with a screening of Eraserhead - not to be missed - and a separate screening of Lynch’s Mulholland Drive. Of special interest to Australian audiences is Becoming Bond, a docudrama that attempts to answer the question, why was there only ever one George Lazenby Bond film?
And, it doesn’t stop there… with 28 titles spread over a period of two weeks, this is a wide-ranging festival. Recent dramatic features include the latest Todd Solondz film, Weiner-Dog, which follows an adorable sausage dog as it moves from family to family and person to person, the Holly Hunter starrer Strange Weather, Ewen McGregor’s directorial debut American Pastoral and, talking of Ewen McGregor, the new movie from Beginners director Mike Mills, 20th Century Women. These titles, and others, certainly back up the premise of the festival’s tag line, ‘The Freshest Films From The US Festival Circuit.’ Now in its second year, it looks as if this event has become a permanent fixture on the busy film festival circuit and that’s something to be welcomed. You can catch screenings across Australia at Palace Cinema venues. // SALT
THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE
DIRECTOR: Chris Mackay
PG / 104 minutes
Opens March 30, 2017
LIFE
DIRECTOR: Daniel Espinosa
MA15+ / 103 minutes
Opens March 23, 2017
The action takes place mostly in the interior of the spacecraft and the weightlessness on show as the crew go about their work and attempt to escape from Calvin is astounding, a credit to the Visual Effects team. A resounding soundtrack by John Ekstrand adds to the tension and as the creature grows, so does the threat implied by the score. Rhett Reese’s and Paul Wernick’s script has been criticised in some quarters as being too derivative of Ridley Scott’s Alien but, hey, this story has been around since the birth of cinema. How many films have been made wherein a group of people trapped in a contained environment (a hurtling train, a haunted house, an abandoned castle, et al) start getting picked off one by one? The list is very, very long. Lovers of sci-fi shouldn’t be disappointed by Life even if it isn’t entirely original; it still manages to have a nasty sting in its tale. // SALT
THE EAGLE HUNTRESS
DIRECTOR: Otto Bell
G / 87 minutes
Opens March 16, 2017
BEFORE I FALL
DIRECTOR: Ry Russo-Young
M / 98 minutes
Opens March 16, 2017
A FEW LESS MEN
DIRECTOR: Mark Lamprell
MA15+ / 92 minutes
Opens March 9, 2017
MISS SLOANE
DIRECTOR: John Madden
M / 132 minutes
Opens March 2, 2017
A STREET CAT
NAMED BOB
DIRECTOR: Roger Spottiswoode
PG / 103 minutes
Opens February 9, 2017
TONI ERDMANN
DIRECTOR: Maren Ade
M / 162 minutes
Opens February 9, 2017
GOLD
DIRECTOR: Stephen Gaghan
M / 121 minutes
Opens February 2, 2017
SPLIT
DIRECTOR: M. Night Shyamalan
M / 117 minutes
Opens January 26, 2017
LIVE BY NIGHT
DIRECTOR: Ben Affleck
MA15+ / 129 minutes
Opens January 26, 2017
xXx: RETURN OF
XANDER CAGE
DIRECTOR: David Caruso
M / 107 minutes
Opens January 19, 2017
ASSASSIN’S CREED
DIRECTOR: Justin Kurzel
M / 115 minutes
Opens January 1, 2017
PASSENGERS
DIRECTOR: Morten Tyldum
M / 116 minutes
Opens January 1, 2017
WHY HIM?
DIRECTOR: John Hamburg
MA15+ / 111 minutes
Opens December 26, 2016
ROSALIE BLUM
DIRECTOR: Julien Rappeneau
M / 96 minutes
Opens December 26, 2016
RED DOG: TRUE BLUE
DIRECTOR: Kriv Stenders
PG / 88 minutes
Opens December 26, 2016
PATERSON
DIRECTOR: Jim Jarmusch
M / 118 minutes
Opens December 26, 2016
ALLIED
DIRECTOR: Robert Zemeckis
M / 124 minutes
Opens December 26, 2016
THE LEGEND
OF BEN HALL
DIRECTOR: Matthew Holmes
M / 139 minutes
Opens December 1, 2016
THE FENCER
DIRECTOR: Klaus Härö
PG / 99 minutes
Opens November 24, 2016
MORGAN
DIRECTOR: Luke Scott
MA15+ / 93 minutes
Opens November 17, 2016
THE THREEPENNY OPERA
DIRECTOR: Rufus Norris
CTC / 180 minutes
Opens November 12, 2016
CAFÉ SOCIETY
DIRECTOR: Woody Allen
M / 96 minutes
Opens October 20, 2016
JACK REACHER: NEVER GO BACK
DIRECTOR: Edward Zwick
M / 118 minutes
Opens October 20, 2016
WHERE AM I GOING?
DIRECTOR: Gennaro Nunziante
M / 89 minutes
Opens October 13, 2016
JOE CINQUE’S CONSOLATION
DIRECTOR: Sotiris Dounoukos
M / 102 minutes
Opens October 13, 2016
THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN
DIRECTOR: Antoine Fuqua
M / 133 minutes
Opens September 29, 2016
MISS PEREGRINE’S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN
DIRECTOR: Tim Burton
PG / 127 minutes
Opens September 29, 2016
TICKLED
DIRECTOR: David Farrier
MA15+ / 92 minutess
Opens August 18, 2016
MOTORKITE DREAMING
STARRING: Daryl Clarke, Aidan Glasby
DIRECTOR: Charlie Hill-Smith
M / 94 minutess
Opens August 11, 2016
LOVE AND
FRIENDSHIP
STARRING: Kate Beckinsale, Chloë Sevigny
DIRECTOR: Whit Stillman
PG / 92 minutess
Opens July 21, 2016
MAGGIE’S PLAN
STARRING: Greta Gerwig, Ethan Hake
DIRECTOR: Rebecca Miller
M / 99 minutess
Opens July 7, 2016
THE LEGEND OF TARZAN
STARRING: Alexander Skarsgård, Margot Robbie
DIRECTOR: David Yates
M / 110 minutess
Opens July 7, 2016
Before long the film becomes a CGI spectacular as wild animals fill the screen, none of them living, breathing beasts. It is interesting to view these scenes as there has been criticism levelled towards the effects, which some have deemed not as effective as those in the recent The Jungle Book. Nevertheless, they are pretty impressive, as is the jungle terrain that Tarzan flies through on the end of a vine - and the eye candy provided by Alexander Skarsgård’s pecs is pretty impressive too! Not bad considering the entire enterprise was shot outside of London. Skarsgård and Robbie make a very watchable super-model couple and they manage to deliver their well-worn lines with a suitable amount of conviction. If The Legend Of Tarzan’s storyline doesn’t grab you, just sit back and enjoy the animals as they stampede and cavort across the screen - some scenes are simply adorable. // SALT
THE WAIT
STARRING: Juliette Binoche
Lou de Laâge
DIRECTOR: Piero Messina
M / 100 minutes / subtitles
Opens June 30, 2016
MILES AHEAD
STARRING: Don Cheadle, Ewan McGregor
DIRECTOR: Don Cheadle
M / 100 minutes
Opens June 16, 2016
GOD WILLING
STARRING: Marco Giallini, Alessandro Gassman
DIRECTOR: Eduardo Falcone
PG / 87 minutes / Italy / subtitles
Opens June 2, 2016
IS THIS THE REAL WORLD
STARRING: Sean Keenan, Susie Porter
DIRECTOR: Martin McKenna
MA15+ / 88 minutes
Opens May 26, 2016
QUEEN OF THE DESERT
STARRING: Nicole Kidman, Robert Pattinson
DIRECTOR: Werner Herzog
M / 128 minutes
Opens June 2, 2016
MONEY MONSTER
STARRING: George Clooney, Julia Roberts
DIRECTOR: Jodie Foster
M / 98 minutes
Opens June 2, 2016
THE NICE GUYS
STARRING: Ryan Gosling, Russell Crowe
DIRECTOR: Shane Black
MA15+ / 116 minutes
Opens May 26, 2016
ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS
STARRING: Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp
DIRECTOR: James Bobin
PG / 113 minutes
Opens May 26, 2016
THE MEDDLER
STARRING: Susan Sarandon, Rose Byrne
DIRECTOR: Andrew Rossi
M / 100 minutes
Opens May 19, 2016
HARRY & SNOWMAN
DOCUMENTARY: Harry DeLeyer
DIRECTOR: Ron Davis
G / 83 minutes
Opens May 19, 2016
X-MEN: APOCALYPSE
STARRING: James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence
DIRECTOR: Bryan Singer
MA15+ / 144 minutes
Opens May 19, 2016
THE FIRST MONDAY
IN MAY
DOCUMENTARY: Anna Wintour, Andrew Bolton
DIRECTOR: Andrew Rossi
M / 90 minutes
Opens May 12, 2016
BASTILLE DAY
STARRING: Idris Elba, Richard Madden
DIRECTOR: James Watkins
M / 92 minutes
Opens May 12, 2016
WHISKY TANGO FOXTROT
STARRING: Tina Fey, Martin Freeman
DIRECTOR: Glenn Ficarra, John Requa
MA / 112 minutes
Opens May 12, 2016
FLORENCE
FOSTER JENKINS
STARRING: Meryl Streep, Hugh Grant
DIRECTOR: Stephen Frears
PG / 110 minutes
Opens May 5, 2016
CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR
STARRING: Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr
DIRECTOR: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo
M / 147 minutes
Opens April 28, 2016
A MONTH
OF SUNDAYS
STARRING: Anthony LaPaglia, Julia Blake
DIRECTOR: Matthew Saville
PG / 96 minutes
Opens April 28, 2016
AN
STARRING: Kirin Kiki, Masatoshi Nagase
DIRECTOR: Naomi Kawase
M / 113 minutes / subtitles
Opens April 28, 2016
MARGUERITE
STARRING: Catherine Frot, André Marcon
DIRECTOR: Xavier Giannoli
M / 129 minutes / subtitles
Opens April 21, 2016
ALLEGIANT: THE DIVERGENT SERIES
STARRING: Shailene Woodley, Jeff Daniels
DIRECTOR: Robert Schwentke
M / 120 minutes
Opens April 14, 2016