First of two Kiwi gore thrillers this year which features Kylie (Morgana O’Reilly) being remanded to her mother’s house for 9 months as a punishment for a botched robbery. 
Trouble is that the house is haunted and strange and bloody things start to happen. 
A little long, a little repetitive but for a New Zealand film it does all right and has several scenes which achieve good surprise/gore factor for director Gerald Johnstone.
★★+
This is the Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons story made into a successful musical and then filmed in this version by Clint Eastwood. Clint has got some flak for this movie with some alleging it to be slow and others that it can’t make up what style it is. You won’t get any innovative style with Eastwood and what we have here is a fairly straight musical biopic. The first part set in the 50’s in New Jersey is filmed in washed out colour to reflect this post-war period and as the 60s and 70s progress we get more colour and some good recreations of live performances. For me, the music is the best feature reminding us just of how many cool tunes they were responsible for. John Lloyd Young
and Frankie and Erich Bergen as the songwriter Bob shine out but Christopher Walken has a good role as a mafioso. 
Other cast members do well but frankly the storyline is the lesser part of the movie even though it has its moments. Perhaps Eastwood has neglected that a bit but overall you get a good movie, a solid recreation of the period and wonderful songs.
★★★★
It is a nice story of how a lesbian/gay support group from London befriended a miner’s town in Wales during the famous 1984-5 miners’ strike in Britain. At first they were received with suspicion but later their good deeds bore fruit and they actually helped some of those societies to open up somewhat although some people remained opposed to them. A group of miners led the 1985 Pride parade in thanks for what the LG groups had done.
The film is fairly chronological in treatment and basically recounts episodes in the struggle and moments from the lives of both miners and the support group. It is very much in the line of the feelgood British comedy-dramas with some messages about seizing the day and living who you really are. 
So, nothing new there. George Mackay plays Joe, a young catering student who finds a home with the group, Jessica Gunning as a young Welsh housewife is another of the newies to shine. Bill Nighy and Imelda Staunton bring their acting chops to bear here without overdoing things.
All in all Matthew Warchus brings us a sympathetic film with a few warts and plenty of cheer, no masterpiece but a good Sunday afternoon watch.
★★★+
Philip Seymour Hoffmann’s last film and a fitting testament to this great actor. As a worn out blimp of a spy, he creates a great character more than carrying this movie. The film itself is well enough shot though the pace slackens in a couple of places and there is plenty of information to take on board. As Gunther, PSH heads a ring of spies trying to work on the streets of Hamburg with the threat from Islam. He has enough on his plate from the German secret service and the CIA (Robin Wright, excellent) 
without the arrival of a Chechen son of a military wide boy, seeking to claim part of his dead father’s money in a local bank. Plot twists galore, chases, a beautiful lawyer (Rachel McAdams)
, some good supporting actors (Nina Hoss from Barbara)
and the reliable Willem Dafoe) all make for an intriguing film that is enjoyable to watch. Gripping no and much better than it would have been without PSH. He is less mannered in this role and really holds the centre.
★★★★
Again, it has taken me some time to get to see this and albeit on small screen. Perhaps I am a bit tired of the Tolkein-Jackson combo, but this is vastly better than the first in the Hobbit series.
Not so much gratuitous violence and more subtlety among the monsters and enemies. Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins is remarkably calming in the central role
and while some of the old favourites are back, new faces take on greater protagonism here like Richard Armitage and Luke Evans. 
Some very good action scenes especially running the rapids in barrels and Smaug the dragon is another fabulous creation in this world. 
It is hard to judge this series for me as neither fantasy films nor sequels and prequels are my thing but this gets a thumbs up.
★★★★
Daniel Burman is one of Argentina’s most recognised directors who is becoming more and more inclined to make comedies of manners about the middle class society there. This budding romance between Santiago (Guillermo Francella), whose business partner and friend for life, Eugenio has gone missing and Eugenio’ wife, (Ines Estevez) who has decided to turn up everything in her husband’s life to discover what might have happened,
is fairly predictable despite its unpredictability. Estevez is the better of the two here but the film seems to saunter through a series of rather clichéd scenes.
I can’t say I felt gripped at any moment nor was there anything either original or insightful. 
Professionally made but that’s about it.
★★
Corneliu Porumboiu is one of the new guard of Romanian film makers and is in keeping with those that favour slow shots and “meaningful” dialogue. This is no exception and is not much quickerv than Police, Adjective. This time we have a film director in endless discussions with an actress about how to shoot her gratuitous nude scene (we gather he is shooting a political movie). In restaurants, in cars, on the sidewalk, in a hotel lobby. There is also a shot of an endoscopy (the director may have an ulcer).
And one or two other scenes. This is not for the impatient. The alternative title for the film is metabolism and I’m still not sure what to make of that but I do sense that there are good features to this movie, especially some of the philosophical discussions embarked on. They may seem pretentious but there is a deeper sense to be unearthed here. Bogdan Dumitrache 
and Diana Avramut are ciphers of the director here rather than actors, which also explains the setting. I give it the benefit of the doubt.
★★★
Nominees:
12 Years a Slave (USA/UK 13)
A Prophet (France 09)
American Hustle (USA 13)
Blue is the Warmest Colour (France 13)
Boyhood (USA 14)
Elena (Russia 11)
Gravity (USA/UK 13)
Ida (Poland/Denmark 13)
Special Mention
Ida
Winner
12 Years a Slave
Prizes: Ida tops the bill with 4 wins. 3 apiece to American Hustle and 12 Years a Slave. A Prophet, The Hunt and Gravity get two.
Nominees:
Christian Bale (American Hustle)
Alfredo Castro (Tony Manero)
Bruce Dern (Nebraska)
Leonardo Di Caprio (The Wolf of Wall Street)
Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave)
Tom Hanks (Captain Phillips)
Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club)
Mads Mikkelsen (The Hunt)
Tahar Rahim (A Prophet)
Robert Redford (All is Lost)
Ben Whishaw (Lilting)
Special Mention
Robert Redford
Winner
Tahar Rahim
Nominees:
Amy Adams (American Hustle)
Patricia Arquette (Boyhood)
Sandra Bullock (Gravity)
Judi Dench (Philomena)
Adele Exarchopolous (Blue is the Warmest Colour)
Paulina Garcia (Gloria)
Greta Gerwig (Frances Ha)
Agata Kulesza (Ida)
Nadezdha Markina (Elena)
Julianne Moore (Map to the Stars)
Lea Seydoux (Blue is the Warmest Colour)
Agata Trzebuchowska (Ida)
Special Mention
Agata Kulesza
Winner
Paulina Garcia
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