Top 10 films
The Age
Saturday October 24, 2009
AN EDUCATION (100 min) MCAREY Mulligan is charming as a schoolgirl not unwillingly seduced by a smooth conman (Peter Sarsgaard) in Lone Scherfig's glib but enjoyable snapshot of Britain just before the dawn of the swinging '60s. Selected. JWFINAL DESTINATION 3D(82 min) MADESPITE the noble attempts by high-profile films such as Up, Monsters vs Aliens, Coraline and Bolt to redefine 3-D as some sort of storytelling medium, this mega-slice of B-grade schlock horror actually turns out to be better than the lot because it shamelessly plays up the cheesy, gimmicky appeal of the process. Absolute fun. General. JSTHE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD (102 min) PGTASMANIA'S own Errol Flynn defines "high spirits" as the forest-dwelling outlaw with a hands-on approach to wealth redistribution. No subsequent version of the story has matched Michael Curtiz's 1938 Technicolor swashbuckler for good, clean fun. ACMI, today, 4pm. JWBLACK GOD, WHITE DEVIL(120 min) Unrated (audience restricted to 18+)ANOTHER outlaw story, this one about a ranch-hand turned killer (Geraldo Del Rey) who flees to the badlands of Brazil. The bold, discontinuous style of radical director Glauber Rocha still looks extremely modern. Screens as part of a day-long celebration of the Brazilian cultural movement Tropicalia,co-presented by MIAF. ACMI, today, 5.40pm. JWTHE MURDERERS AREAMONG US (87 min) Unrated (audience restricted to 18+)THE first fiction film shot in the ruins of post-war Germany feels like an expressionist hangover, with the broken nation represented by a hopeful artist (Hildegarde Knef) and a despairing surgeon (Ernst Wilhelm Borchert). Screens as part of a Focus on East German Cinema. ACMI, tomorrow, 5.30pm. JWTHE DAMNED UNITED(97 min) MAS CONTROVERSIAL 1970s soccer coach Brian Clough, British character actor Michael Sheen again proves himself one of the most versatile and compelling stars of the modern era in a full-on bromance thinly veiled as a fact-based sports film about English soccer. Nova. JSASTRO BOY (90 min) PGTHE much-loved, trans-generational animated TV icon with the spiked hair and the rocket-powered legs gets the origin story treatment he/it deserves in this snappy, very respectful and impressive-looking Hollywood mega-sizing.General. JSWHIP IT (111 min) MSET in the rough-and-tumble world of the Texas roller derby, the directorial bow from actor/producer Drew Barrymore is a fun, giddy coming-of-age tale about a girl who finds self-confidence, love and self-respect through sport. It's essentially Bend It Like Beckham, only with more grunt, bigger laughs and better-looking girls. General. JSMAO'S LAST DANCER(117 min) PGBRUCE Beresford's workmanlike but appropriately melodramatic adaptation of Li Cunxin's best-selling memoir, about his defection to the West in 1981 while dancing for the Houston Ballet, is ham-fisted but stirring. General. JSROBOCOP (102 min) RDESCRIBED by director Paul Verhoeven as "fascism for liberals", this sci-fi satire from 1987 sees a macho cyborg (Peter Weller) employing a zero-tolerance policy to clean up the streets of near-future Detroit. Astor Theatre, tomorrow, 7.30pm. JWFILM QUOTE OF THE WEEK "Hey Norm, thank you for not raping me." After years of decline, Sandra Bullock's sense of comedy finally hits rock bottom in All About Steve.
© 2009 The Age
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