Return of hammer time
Thor’s new offering is the first of the modern Marvel Entertainment films to settle for something approaching second-best
Leigh Paatsch
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.
Thriller just what doctor ordered
THIS remake of the 1978 Australian cult shocker Patrick doesn’t let its love or respect for the original get in the way of a good time.
Moving portrait of rebel with a cause
FATHER Bob Maguire is one of those types who’s so easy to get to know, but bloody hard to describe.
Leigh Paatsch’s weekend film guide
WITH the weekend nearly upon us, time short and choices aplenty, let Leigh Paatsch’s movie guide point you in the right direction.
Naomi is Lady Di-re
WELL, Diana isn’t quite the cinematic car crash many English critics have pre-emptively proclaimed it to be.
Metallica film sticks to funda-metals
WHILE there are a stack of Metallica concert films, Through the Never in 3D might just go down in history as the one to see.
Skywatcher’s guide to the galaxy
THE best of what’s left is the beguiling IMAX doco Hidden Universe 3D, which cherrypicks stunning imagery from the world’s powerful telescopes.
Ammo, aggro & chat-a-tat-tat
IF Quentin Tarantino was contractually obliged to do a boilerplate Bad Boys-style action movie, the end result would not be unlike 2 Guns.
A formula for intense rivalry
DIRECTED by Ron Howard from a workmanlike script, Rush goes about its business like Hunt and Lauda themselves: briskly and bluntly.
Out of this world
AT once a stunning work of science fiction and a truly heartfelt work of human drama, Gravity casts a powerful spell that cannot be broken.
Laugh or Cry, it’s SERIOUSLY CONFUSED
MANY of the characters in this muddled rom-com-drama have one thing in common. There’s a party going on in their pants, and everyone’s invited.
Evil brings heinous deeds to life
WHERE The Act of Killing will end will shock you to the core. As a sociocultural experiment, it’s a doco about the survivors of a 1960s massacre.
Lights! Cameras! Fornication!
LOVELACE is a fascinating biopic tracking ‘70s porn star Linda Lovelace’s swift rise to infamy, and a long, slow journey to the bottom of the barrel.
Taking a turn for the diverse
WITH characteristic frankness, Australian author Tim Winton says he is “still trying to make sense of the damned book” he wrote in 2005.
Risky bet Runner pulls up lame
AFTER the Town and Argo, Ben Affleck is undoubtedly one of the finest directors splashing about in the mainstream today.
Adults act up and dumb down
GROWN UPS 2. A deer enters a house and wee-wees in the face of selected residents.
Leigh Paatsch’s guide to movies
THIS compact and comprehensive movie guide gives you an an idea of what to expect from the films now showing.
Home Time: Rest and relax
THANK God it’s fabulous. Here are our dinner and TV picks for tonight which include a risotto and some home renovation TV.
The Internship is a feature-length ad
Google is great! That’s pretty much the key message of Vince Vaughn’s new comedy The Internship.
After Earth a test of Will power
There is an eerie, dreary stillness to After Earth that can only be the work of director M. Night Shyamalan.
Finally time for Big Star to shine
If you’ve been hanging out for another music documentary every bit as great as Searching for Sugar Man, the wait is over.
Leigh Paatsch’s guide to movies
THERE’S a cinematic smorgasbord from which you can pick each time you go to the movies. Leigh Paatsch has reviewed your selections.
Cast brings class to French drama
IN the early days of the French Revolution, a key lady-in-waiting to Queen Marie Antoinette has the prime position to watch a kingdom crumble before her.
True love builds something good
As they say in the classics, true love will conquer all. This love story overcomes all cynicism as it goes down to the wire.
Leigh Paatsch’s guide to movies
FEEL like watching a film but can’t decide which one? Leigh Paatsch has you covered with this quick and honest movie guide.
Jokes that go kerplunk in the night
It was only last month that the triumphantly terrible Scary Movie 5 successfully drilled through the bottom of the spoof-horror barrel.
Super-8 is Sinister’s key creeper
Should you give your horror movie a title as forbidding as Sinister, then you better not be light on with the heavy stuff.
Review: Is Gatsby really so great?
Finally, after all the hype, The Great Gatsby is here. But is it worth your time? Our peerless film expert Leigh Paatsch delivers his verdict.
Leigh Paatsch’s guide to movies
FEEL like watching a film but can’t decide which one? Leigh Paatsch has you covered with this quick and honest movie guide.
Film reluctant to cut to the chase
The new political thriller The Reluctant Fundamentalist is not unlike a new brand of margarine.
Hangover to end all Hangovers
The mega-popular comedy franchise The Hangover is, well, permanently hungover.
Thriller confusing yet captivating
A comprehensively strange and intermittently compelling crime thriller, Dead Man Down both fascinates and frustrates in equal measure.
Hangover III no match for original
THE mega-popular comedy franchise The Hangover is still hungover.
Emotionally-layered film not Broken
The nicely naive world view of an 11-year-old girl living in suburban London is nastily changed when she witnesses a violent incident near her home.
Likeable dram-edy hard to fault
Australia is just about the only place on the planet that has given A Place For Me a place in its cinemas.
Halle humanises half-baked script
Here we have a good example of getting a little something out of a whole lot of nothing.
Dramatic and odd turn for The Rock
In Snitch, that likeable lunk Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson puts on his serious acting hat.
Original URL: https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/entertainment/movies/leigh-paatsch/page/35