Chimpomatic

Any Given Sunday

Glitzy, predictable NFL movie that wishes it had Michael Mann in charge instead of Oliver Stone.

14th Mar 2013

Search

Margin Call

Taut, economical thriller with a strong cast filling out some juicy roles as the financial bubble bursts.

12th Mar 2013

Margin Call

Taut Wall St meltdown. Zachary Quinto spots black hole in his firm's numbers, passes it up the food chain.

10th Mar 2013

#Screened
#Film
#chimp71
#Halliwell

Ice Cold In Alex

Classic WW2 desert rats adventure with John Mills dying for a Carlsberg in the Sahara.

Halliwell says: Engrossing desert adventure with plenty of suspense sequences borrowed from The Wages Of Fear; long, but very well presented.**

10th Mar 2013

Chronicle

Decent enough superhero flick that paints itself into the usual shapeless, found-footage corner.

8th Mar 2013

Houdini

Tony Curtis gets a wriggle on in this short, functional, not particularly magical biopic.

Halliwell says: Superficial biopic with more attention to romance than to interesting detail. Some zest in the playing is killed by claustrophobic studio sets.*

7th Mar 2013

Bones Brigade An Auto biography

Decent, surprisingly moving doc about the radical neon superheroes of sk8. Lance wins.

6th Mar 2013

Detachment

Depressing, stylish exploration of the perils of supply teaching from @TonyKaye.

2nd Mar 2013

The Decline of Western Civilization

Essential, but hilariously dated state-of-the-union doc of LA's 80s punk scene.

Halliwell says: Quirky and fascinating study of some of the unlovelier aspects of youthful rebellion; it makes an interesting companion piece to the director's first feature film, Suburbia.*

28th Feb 2013

Witness

Brilliantly written and directed thriller that weaves through many classic tropes, plus carpentry.

Halliwell says: As much about the meeting of cultures as about cops and robbers, this is one of those lucky movies which works out well on all counts and shows that there are still craftsmen lurking in Hollywood.***

28th Feb 2013

Jeff Who Lives At Home

Mumblecore goes main stream (ish), as quirky suburban comedy meets unexpected drama.

24th Feb 2013

Red Riding Hood

My what big plot holes you have...

24th Feb 2013

Cloud Atlas

Genre-surfing, century-hopping oddity. The more things change, the more wigs/makeup/accents Tom Hanks gets.

24th Feb 2013

Battleship

Independence Day meets Pearl Harbour, in one of the best movies-based-on-a-toy ever.

23rd Feb 2013

To The Wonder

The lights are on but nobody's home, as Terence Malick's stylish tone poem comes close to self-parody.

22nd Feb 2013

Purple Rain

50% less acting than I remembered, but Prince's epic self-centred pop promo holds up surprisingly well.

22nd Feb 2013

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Pretentious, self consciously quirky Oscarbait that strangely fails to connect.

17th Feb 2013

Avengers Assemble

Shallow, unmotivated superhero ensemble with the occasional thrill.

16th Feb 2013

Peggy Sue Got Married

Interesting time travel companion to \#BTTF, held back by Coppola's pedestrian direction.

Halliwell says: It plays like and extended Twilight Zone, but with plenty of interesting details to back up and excellent leading performance.**

15th Feb 2013

Live Free Or Die Hard

Diluted actioner with plenty of decent moments + appalling finale.

15th Feb 2013

The Artist

Classy, post modern love letter to cinema, that's a couple of reels too long and not as subtle as 'Hugo'.

10th Feb 2013

The Iron Lady

Kaleidoscopic, meandering wander down a well trodden path of Mrs Thatcher anecdotes and impressions.

9th Feb 2013

The Decoy Bride

Shockingly pedestrian Scottish tourist board turkey, squandering some semi-decent talent.

8th Feb 2013

Contraband

Effortless smuggling thriller with Marky Mark on auto-pilot. Not \#TheOtherGuys.

8th Feb 2013

Wanderlust

Anaemic hippie comedy, with a sub-par turn out from that Paul Rudd that we like.

2nd Feb 2013

The Dictator

Ali G delivers this generations 'Coming To America'. You'll be embarrassed to find yourself laughing.

1st Feb 2013

Zero Dark Thirty

Slightly self-important and shapeless wander through the post-war on terror landscape.

31st Jan 2013

The Grey

Stylish direction, cinematography and music help elevate this otherwise standard man vs nature movie.

30th Jan 2013

Unknown

Taken, with a dash of Total Recall in Liam Neeson's amnesiac thriller.

28th Jan 2013

Sound Of My Voice

Stylish, tightly written DIY indie sci-fi, with a cult leader claiming to be from the future.

25th Jan 2013

The Bourne Legacy

Decent franchise expansion with plenty of thrills, but we've seen it all before.

25th Jan 2013

Il Futuro

Italian drama with an orphaned teen moving her life forward. Rutger Hauer plays a retired 60s action star.

24th Jan 2013

The Spectacular Now

Booze-tinged coming of age drama about moving your life forward. Semi-spectacular.

24th Jan 2013

Computer Chess

Hilarious period comedy, with a load of great performances and a lot of LOLs. Highly recommended.

22nd Jan 2013

Upstream Color

Brilliant, complex, layered humanist sci-fi. In a world of its own.

21st Jan 2013

Top of the Lake

Flawless police whodunnit from Jane Campion. NZ's entry into the "unmissable TV" category.

#TV

21st Jan 2013

The Meteor

Disappointingly unambitious French-Canadian experimental drama. More experiments please.

20th Jan 2013

Liberal Arts

Meandering indie back-to-college romcom. A 35 yr old slacker visits his retiring prof & meets the new kids.

18th Jan 2013

Kill List

Original, strangely paced thriller, that veers off course and heads into fucked up territory.

18th Jan 2013

Safety Not Guaranteed

Engaging, low key, time travel comedy drama, with a raft of well-written characters.

18th Jan 2013

Blue Valentine

Decent character study that gets bogged down in predictable anti-plotting and self-importance.

13th Jan 2013

Chain Reaction

Sub-Fugitive chase/conspiracy, from that guy that made The Fugitive. With added science and Keanu.

13th Jan 2013

Another Earth

Spectacular low budget sci-fi that builds a touching human story in front of a high-concept backdrop.

12th Jan 2013

Dark City

Self-important Matrix precursor - equally full of faux philosophical mumbo jumbo.

8th Jan 2013

The Muppets

Well pitched, post-modern reboot, with added Brettie - so be warned, it is an actual musical.

6th Jan 2013

We Jam Econo: The Story of the Minutemen

Engaging niche documentary, featuring a punk who's-who of talking heads.

3rd Jan 2013

Desperately Seeking Susan

A great story helps carry this career-launching slice of 80s New York cool briskly along.

Halliwell says: Mildly diverting romantic mystery which could have been both funnier and more thrilling.*

3rd Jan 2013

The Descendants

Mellow, laid back Hawaiian dramedy - with a touching performance from a low-key George Clooney.

2nd Jan 2013

Arbitrage

A late capitalism post-Wall St nightmare for NYC CEO Richard Gere to wriggle out of in a cashmere trench.

2nd Jan 2013