Jupiter Ascending

More accessible than their recent Cloud Atlas and more enjoyable than those Matrix sequels, the Wachowski siblings' latest sci-fi epic concerns ordinary Earth girl Jupiter Jones (Mila Kunis), who discovers she's a genetic "recurrence" of the powerful matriarch of an intergalactic dynasty, and consequently the legal heir to their fortune. This of course upsets the eldest son, Balem (a hilarious Eddie Redmayne), who makes it his mission to destroy her. With a genetically engineered dog soldier (Channing Tatum) as her guardian, Jupiter's ascension proves to be quite convoluted affair. This is one of those big, dazzling, FX-laden and overly ambitious science fiction films whose erratic tone alternates between serious and screwball - often in the same scene. And like the similarly bonkers The Fifth Element and The Adventure of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, the Wachowski's space opera is destined to attract its own cult following. Watch it a second time and it actually make sense.

 

Foxcatcher

Wearing a rubber nose doesn't necessarily guarantee you an Oscar. Nicole Kidman got one of her prominent proboscis as Virginia Woolf, but Ian McKellen didn't as Gandalf. Neither did Steve Carell, whose beak-like hooter in Foxcatcher helped transform him from funny to frightening.

Nasal jokes aside, it's Carell's spellbinding performance as eccentric millionaire and wrestling coach John du Pont that makes Bennett Miller's tragic, true-life sports story an absolute must-see - we'll leave you to discover the grim details of what transpired on the Foxcatcher ranch, when du Pont secured the services of Olympic Gold Medal-winning wrestler Mark Schultz (Channing Tatum) and his brother Dave (Mark Ruffalo) to train a team for the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

The theme of a naive youngster being seduced by wealth, drugs and success recalls both Boogie Nights and Behind the Candelabra, and a disturbing and uncomfortable tone saturates this intense character study; a mood heightened by Carell's incredibly creepy portrayal (full of awkward silences and calculating stares) of a man stewing in his own emotional repression.

While Carell's transformation is a highlight, Channing Tatum undergoes an equally impressive metamorphosis from hunky rom-com regular and Jonah Hill comedy sidekick to brooding and bitter former champion consumed by a similar sense of self-loathing. Ruffalo (always good) received the film's supporting actor Oscar nom, but it was Tatum who really deserved it.

Foxcatcher offers much more than just watching two Hollywood stars playing against type - it's the antithesis of all those feel-good, formula American sports films.

 

Poltergeist

A modest family relocate due to financial troubles and soon find themselves knee deep in a haunted house with a difference. When the youngest daugher is simply 'taken' by a poltergeist into an alternate dimension...cue the CGI and all manner of ridiculous mayhem modern cinema can conjure! Tobe Hooper's Spielberg-produced 1982 original is a remarkable film that still to this day has people shuddering at the thought of a toy clown, a tree, a dwarf paranormal expert, and impending storms to trigger the other side into making contact most violent. To remake this film was of course a cash decision to generate cheap thrills and box office smash 'n' grab to naive teens, not to bring anything new, and actually drop some of the true resonance of the original masterpiece (kids counting the time between lightning and thunder, Indian burial mystique, dark humour instead of obvious gags). What we are left with is a half-arsed attempt at chills forgoing the accessible WTF felt along after the lights come up in a cinema. Rockwell is miscast, hungover and bored as the misbelieving dad who quickly goes along with whatever's put in front of him, and while the kids are solid enough, you simply don't get scared after the first 20 minutes. And as for the 'clown' sequence now being a 'clowns' sequence; poor form in extinguishing the potential thrill too quickly, whereas the original left the stamp inside an audience's head for generations. 

Pitch Perfect 2

The guy gets the girl, that kid sees dead people, Darth Vader is Luke's father...the Bellas win the International A Cappella Championships?

Ah, collegiate a cappella - apparently a "thing" over in America. Colleges around the country form (sometimes multiple) teams to fight their way to the top of the instrument-free music world. Pitch Perfect saw the debut of Anna Kendrick as the "alt girl" who can sing, joining the Barden University Bellas and taking them on to win at the National Championships.

Now, the second time round, having lost Anna Kemp but gained Hailee Steinfeld as a young Legacy, Kendrick is joined again by Rebel Wilson, Brittany Snow, Adam DeVine and Skylar Astin to out-voice the competition.

With an opening performance by the Bellas for Obama's birthday, things don't quite go according to the arrangement, and the Bellas find themselves disqualified from competing at the collegiate level. That would have been it for the film had podcasters Elizabeth Banks and John Michael Higgins not offered to reinstate them, should they win the international Championships. The rest of the film follows the Bellas as they journey to "find their sound" again, having seemingly fallen into the trap of being showy rather than, well, pitch perfect.

I've seen Pitch Perfect more times than John Higgin's character has been misogynistic. I adored it. The mash-ups and humour never really got old, and I could watch it again and again and still laugh at Judd Nelson jokes.

The best part about the sequel is it doesn't try to be anything else. Yes, it's full of lame jokes at the expense of the black lesbian. Yes, Fat Amy is always the one making the jokes. Yes, Bumper is still awkward. But it works. Throw in some international competition and a cameo from Snoop Dogg and I'm more out of breath than Rebel Wilson vertical running.

Pitch Perfect 2 is a perfect sequel. It's still upbeat, it's still unique, and it's still itself.

Tomorrowland

When you are the director of one of Pixar's greatest achievements in The Incredibles, the pressure to deliver another box office smash is well and truly on.

With this, his second live-action feature, writer-director Brad Bird pulls out all the old-school 'kid's own adventure' stops and thankfully delivers an action romp with far more bravado than a mere feel-good family sci-fi.

George Clooney plays Frank Walker, a former child-genius with a heart full of dreams whom we witness in the intro of the film being lured by a mysterious young girl into a Twilight Zone-style alternate future through the 'It's A Small World After All' ride at the 1964 World Fair (well, this is a Disney film!)

This utopian paradise is eons ahead of our current reality, and young Frank, complete with his very own self-designed jetpack, eventually fits right in.

Flash forward to present day and teen rebel Casey (Britt Robertson), hellbent on sabotaging the demolition of her father's place of work (an abandoned NASA launch station), is soon in possession of pin similar to the one Frank acquired 50 years ago.

A chain of events leads Casey to realize this acquisition has not only put her life in danger, but when introduced to Frank today, his conspiratorial paranoia (that has seen him reclusive and holed up in a techno fortress) is well founded and the danger is very, very real.

Packed with in-jokes, action aplenty (at times extremely violent for a kids flick) and a wicked sense of humour that dances between Back to the Future escapism and Goonies meets Da Vinci Code outlandish disbelief, Tomorrowland is a perfectly formed adventure romp for ages 10 and above.

Smart, fun and full of naive wonder, this plays to the smarter end of town at that delicate age between packing up the Lego and moving into role-playing games.

Spy

Depending on how much you liked Bridesmaid and The Heat, you were either apathetic or ecstatic to hear that writer-director Paul Feig and actress Melissa McCarthy had teamed up again for the comedy crime-caper Spy. It turns out that even if you dislike those former two flicks, you will doubtless find something to love in the latter. Feig's story - about a jovial deskbound analyst in the FBI who ends up having to go undercover when two field agents are compromised - is still full of dumb/hilarious absurdities, but manages to transcend its Big Momma's House-like premise with the most rewarding script McCarthy (who ain't no Martin Lawrence) has ever run with. Moreover it's the best opportunity she's had to showcase her winning mix of dry and slapstick humour, not to mention her ability to wring real empathy from an audience. The support of Jude Law and Jason Statham lend it ample kudos (and who doesn't love seeing either of those two stretch their funny bones).

Chris Pratt's Jurassic Success Story

Chris Pratt's success story could be a movie script in its own right. Aged 19, the struggling actor was living in a tent before managing to land minor roles in hit teen TV shows The O.C. and Everwood. The ever ambitious Pratt auditioned for blockbusters Star Trek and Avatar but found his niche in the idiosyncratic Parks and Recreation. Then Zero Dark Thirty came along, and casting agents from Guardians of the Galaxy were knocking.

Chris Pratt in Guardians of the Galaxy

Pratt's career trajectory was subsequently revolutionized and frankly, he's still getting his head around it. "I was the big comedy guy, the fat friend, sidekick, and I was working. I didn't want to fix it if it wasn't broken...The Zero Dark Thirty came out and I suddenly saw myself as this believable badass."

Pratt the 'badass' is now taking on another beloved franchise, playing Owen Brady, a dinosaur behaviourist, in Jurassic World. He calls it a milestone role. "A milestone like it's marked your journey into manhood. Jurassic Park is one of the most influential movies in my life," he says, adding, "I'm precious about Jurassic Park, so I didn't want this f-ed up."

Chris Pratt's Jurassic World poster.

For a childhood superfan, winning the lead was a "weird" experience. "Now I don't just feel like a fan of the franchise. I feel like a peer of the artistic creators, which is really strange and surreal to think of."

His success is especially impressive considering the Hollywood heavyweights he was up against, including Bradley Cooper, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Eddie Redmayne and Aaron Paul. "Let me just pat my back here," the down-to-earth actor jests.

It's has been 22 years since the first Jurassic Park, and sixteen years since part three came out. Pratt's lowdown of the Jurassic World plot sounds promising: "The Park is up and running, with 20,000 visitors a day. John Hammond's dream came true and everything he dreamed of and more is there. But it's been opened long enough where people are no longer intrigued. It's a sign of the time. Not impressed. So then they create this new attraction that will hopefully generate some new interest in the park...and things go horribly wrong."

Pratt and co. are bringing dinosaurs back into the limelight, but that's not the actor's only animal association. "Monkeyboy became my nickname in high school," he confesses. "Every Monday I would do a comic strip of monkeys and that's how it first started, and every time I would see a stuffed monkey, I would buy it. Even when I was a salesman, everyone had a nickname and I became Monkeyboy and it sort of stuck. Some of my closest friends still call me that. 

Pratt has definitely tasted success. But never fear; he promises not to let anything go to his head: "My brother said to me if I get 'too Hollywood', he will find me and fart on me or something." he laughs.