Leigh Paatsch’s guide to movies
FANTASTIC films continue to flow into Aussie cinemas. Leigh Paatsch’s guide reviews the lot.
Leigh Paatsch
Meryl mines mother lode of spite
August: Osage County proves much more entertaining than it should be and far less enlightening than it thinks itself to be.
Dinos fail to soar
The visual aspect of Walking With Dinosaurs is nothing short of spectacular but it’s weighed down by goofy high-jinks and inane banter.
What movies to see this summer
THE summer season brings a bevy of new movies to the screen – but how do you choose one that’s right for you? Critic Leigh Paatsch rates them all.
Ron’s back and he’s staying classy
FLICK PICKS: The comedy sequel you’ve been wanting for years is finally here. Find out what movies to watch this weekend, with Leigh Paatsch.
The best and worst films of 2013
THIS year saw the return of the blockbuster. From Gravity to World War Z and The Hunger Games, Leigh Paatsch names the best (and worst) films of 2013.
Surreal sequel not just a re-Ron
FILM OF THE WEEK: Ron Burgundy is back in this cracking, much-anticipated sequel to Anchorman and this time he’s going to make history with a 24-hour news channel.
Not repeating same cold story
REVIEW: Animated fantasy Frozen is a return to Disney’s fairytale telling best and a film the whole family will enjoy.
Scariest movies for Friday the 13th
WHAT better way to commemorate Friday the 13th in the year two thousand and THIRTEEN than with a scary movie?
What movies to see this weekend
FLICK PICKS: Our movie expert Leigh Paatsch has reviewed the movies you should see this weekend, and the best new DVD to watch at home.
Cunning cast of ’70s hustlers
FILM OF THE WEEK: American Hustle opens with the following statement: “Some of this actually happened.”
There is no place like which home?
REVIEW: The Gilded Cage, this popular French comedy will have audiences laughing in the aisles
This a spectacular movie, now
AN unpolished gem, a safe Vince Vaughan vehicle and cartoon food – the flicks to pick this weekend, according to Leigh Paatsch.
Vaughn reproducing the goods
FILM OF THE WEEK: Delivery Man is one to file under “most happy accident”
The beauty of living in the now
REVIEW: The Spectacular Now is a wonderful movie that will stir the emotions long after it is over.
Colourful calories come alive
REVIEW: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 is a second serving of farced food
Young warrior playing for keeps
REVIEW: Ender’s Game, welcome to the way out, way up there, sci-fi adventure for teens
The top 50 children’s movies
FILM critic Leigh Paatsch has named the top 50 movies that everyone should see before they grow up. Let us know if you agree.
New blood for an old bloodbath
FLICK PICKS: Horror classic Carrie has been remade and, as Leigh Paatsch writes, it still seriously messes with your mind.
Accent falls on a conspiracy
CLOSED CIRCUIT: A Muslim suspected of a London bomb attack and what at first seems straightforward turns into a murky vision of blind justice
Catherine takes the high road
ON MY WAY: Unplanned trip takes the aimless route in this French road movie.
Welcome to a new world disorder
HOW I LIVE NOW: Daisy is destined for a mundane family holiday with her cousins in the English countryside. Then there is war.
Poms develop a Potts addiction
ONE CHANCE: He was tubby. He was teased. He was taken to the hospital again and again.
Carrie on up the bloodbath
FILM OF THE WEEK: Remake of the iconic Carrie is much like new blood in and old bloodbath
Flick Picks: Still hungry, still on fire
HUNGRY to see a flick this weekend? Leigh Paatsch takes a look at what’s on, including the second instalment of The Hunger Games.
An appetite undefeated
The slightly darker second instalment in The Hunger Game series marks a gradual but notable improvement upon its predecessor
sons and lovers
Ick can happen when least expected when it somes to a tale of mothers loving each other’s sons
After May: Young radicals after a good time
After May is a snapshot of a time when Paris couldn’t handle its youth
Catching Fire really delivers
CATCHING Fire, the second Hunger Games film, marks a gradual, but notable improvement upon its predecessor, says Leigh Paatsch.
Flick Picks: Swansong of a Soprano
LAUGH and love James Gandolfini’s final movie Enough Said says film guru Leigh Paatsch, as he offers up his weekend movie guide.
File under Wiki lacks
The Fifth Estate, about controversial Australian info-warrior Julian Assange and the Wikileaks saga, falls at the first hurdle
Clever, cute with class
The late James Gandolfini makes one of his final screen performances in this clever rom-com, Enough Said
Love can rewrite a life sentence
Ain’t Them Bodies Saints is a gripping drama from a rising star of American indie filmmaking, David Lowery.
Old fella goin’ against the greyin’
Beware of the old dog with new tricks in the fourth film of the Jackass franchise, a familiar combo of the lewd, crude and disarmingly imaginative
Flick Picks: Mr. Pip will jolt you
THERE’S severe jolts in Mr. Pip set in Bougainville Island and Fruitvale Station is a powerhouse drama. Plus Searching for Sugar Man now on DVD.
Just an all-star miscast
The Counselor is a tangled mess and will leave viewers consistently baffled by a tale that remains in a state of cryptic cluelessness throughout
Big ideas from a small beginning
One friendship speaks all languages in this Australian documentary about the first detention centre for asylum seekers in Tasmania
Wrenching and shockingly real
Fruitvale Station, which brings to life the tragic true story about the shooting death of a US man, could be a contender for an Academy Award
There’s barely a scare in there
Insidious: Chapter 2 kills time slowly for those who need a few undemanding shocks to their senses but it’s not a worthwhile option for anyone else
A tale of two cultures
Set in Papua New Guinea, Mr Pip is a movie coming from a good place, destined to take you to a bad place
Soulful acting steals the show
When it comes to crafty tactics to stay fed, 12-year-old Simon lives by the creed: don’t get mad – get thievin’
Return of hammer time
Thor’s new offering is the first of the modern Marvel Entertainment films to settle for something approaching second-best
A presidential parable from the White House
Lee Daniels uses his sugar-sweet style to show how one man overcame severe adversity to land the privileged job of a White House butler
There’s gold in them thar hills … maybe
This fascinating documentary revisits the legend of Lasseter’s Reef, a mythical seam of gold lodged deep in the Australian outback
Hanks the master of the high seas
FLICK PICKS: TOM Hanks gives a deep performance in Captain Phillips, Steve Coogan channels Alan Partridge and Snow White is given a retro reboot.
Crisis mismanagement
Have your wits about you, and be prepared to laugh hard and often as Steve Coogan brings the great Alan Partridge to life for the first time on the big screen
There’s no business like snow business
Spanish filmmaker Pablo Berger has magically transformed the famous fairy tale Snow White and the Seven Dwarves in his latest film Blancanieves
The second cut is not the deepest
Missed the original Machete in 2010? Then you might need to know it was actually a feature version of a fake trailer wedged inside Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez’s 2007 Grindhouse double-bill.
Always loving in the past
HERE we have yet another classy crowd-pleaser from Richard Curtis, the clever mind behind such popular British feel-gooders as Love Actually and Notting Hill.
Pfeiffer lights up dark comedy
ROBERT De Niro seems vaguely interested by his role as a decommissioned mobster. Which is a subtle way of saying he’s actually trying for the first time in ages.
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