Welcome to the BRAG’s weekly rundown of what’s hot in the coming seven days of cinematic releases. It’s been a brutal week for the arts with the dual loss of David Bowie and Alan Rickman, and we’re all searching for distractions.
Fortunately a few other greats visited our shores recently, and brought with them the biggest of this week’s silver screen diversions…
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THE HATEFUL EIGHT
Last week, Event Cinemas on George Street got a visit from Quentin Tarantino, Samuel L. Jackson and Kurt Russell to spruick the glorious 70mm edition of QT’s latest, The Hateful Eight, an irreverent and vicious dark comedy that plays like a mash-up of Reservoir Dogs and Django Unchained.
READ our full review of The Hateful Eight here
Needless to say, fans of Tarantino’s output owe it to themselves to see it as it was intended. Even at an indulgent three-hour runtime, it’s a thrilling ride that fits neatly among the auteur’s best. And it’s scored by Ennio Morricone, which is worth the ticket price alone.
tl;dr Like Westerns? Fan of film? This is you.
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THE DANISH GIRL
One of two films courting award season controversy this week, this Oscar nominee sees Eddie Redmayne make the transition from Einar, a Danish man, to Lili, The Danish Girl.
As with many of its ostensibly progressive peers, it’s seen its fair share of controversy amongst the people it claims to represent. But Redmayne is no stranger to this; so will this be another ill-advised grasp at a gong, or the story that the trans community has long waited to see?
tl;dr Bound to be more a sensitive approach than this…
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SPOTLIGHT
More Oscar nominees shit-talking the perpetrators of systemic injustice: it must be January! This is my early nomination for 2016’s ‘Most Times The Film Title Is Said In The Film’ award.
READ our full review of Spotlight here
All jokes aside, be prepared for the heaviest hitter of the week, as our intrepid reporters take on the Catholic Church to find the truth behind allegations of child abuse cover-ups.
tl;dr Before you get all righteous, read those last four words – child abuse cover-ups – and remember you live in Australia.
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IP MAN 3
Did I say ‘heavy hitter’? Enough of this talky, depressing, philosophical bullshit – the people want action! Despite announcing he had no intention of reprising the role, Donnie Yen is back as Wing Chun master Ip Man to school some fools with his mitts.
Remember the fight scenes in The Matrix and Kill Bill? The ones that redefined Western fight choreography? Well, Yuen Woo-Ping made them happen, and he’s stepping it up a notch for Ip’s last round against odd cameo choice Mike Tyson.
tl;dr GIT SUM
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LOOKING FOR GRACE
Two of our best – Radha Mitchell and Richard Roxburgh – are on display here as the parents of Grace (Odessa Young), a rebellious teenager with a bagful of her parents’ cash and a habit of running away.
The trailer is gorgeously shot, even if the thought of watching yet another middle-class rural Aussie family sorting out their differences doesn’t exactly start the heart racing. If this is what you want from Australian films, get thee to a big screen and represent!
tl;dr More stories about white people in the outback:
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And now for THE VERDICT – maybe you only get the chance to see one of these flicks on the big screen, and you don’t wanna waste that night out. So, drum roll please…
It’s been a real bastard of a week, so why not share it with someone you hate? The Hateful Eight has everything you need to escape – it’s loud, offensive, brash, will make any cinephile feel like a kid in a candy store, and has absolutely nothing in it to remind us of the great artists we’ve lost this week.
Until next week!
