Posterposer
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY
What it looks like:
The galaxy is in HUGE trouble! It's only being guarded by five guys, one of whom is a raccoon-man. There's also a green babe and a guy with a leaf-blower.
Frankly speaking, they don't look as if they could guard a suburban shopping centre, never mind the galaxy.
What it's really about:
Marvel's next super team battles a villain over an orb.
MONUMENTS MEN
Clooney, Damon, Blanchett, Murray, Goodman.
Beats me how the collective awesomeness of the cast in Monuments Men didn't make for an unstoppable two-hour joyride.
This George Clooney-directed-and-starring movie is based on a real group of men - curators, architects, etc. - who waded into WWII to find and save works of art by greats like Picasso and Michelangelo that were stolen by the Nazis.
It could have been a Raiders of the Lost Ark-type snatch-and-dash caper, but aside from a couple of great, random light-hearted moments, the movie is a little blah.
The comic talents of Bill Murray and John Goodman as well as the dramatic chops of Matt Damon and Cate Blanchett are ultimately much under-utilised, thanks to dreary directing and a meandering script.
- Juliana June Rasul
HAUNTER (PG13)
It's unusual to see a Canadian movie in Singapore, probably about as rare as it is to see a Singaporean movie in Canada.
Let's face it, neither Canada nor Singapore are setting the world on fire movie-wise.
Anyway, Haunter is a rather atmospheric and sensitive little horror flick that isn't too scary, but is plenty entertaining.
Abigail Breslin stars as Lisa, a girl who's been living the same boring day in the same boring house with her same boring family for decades.
Then she wakes up.
It turns out she's a ghost.
She ends up making contact with a living girl, and then sets out to save the girl from the same demon who murdered her and her family.
Haunter has an unusually cosy look and feel for a horror movie. I like it.
- Jason Johnson
SAVING MR BANKS (PG13)
Anyone who loves movies must watch Saving Mr Banks.
I don't think I've ever seen a film that explores the film-making process in quite the same way.
Emma Thompson stars as PL Travers, the uptight author who wrote the Mary Poppins books.
Tom Hanks stars as Walt Disney, the movie mogul who promised his daughters he'd bring Poppins to the big screen.
The two end up at loggerheads, and the film basically explores how Disney tries to seduce Travers into accepting his sunshiney vision of the story. Along the way, he seduces us as well.
Why is she so resistant?
Well, it has a lot to do with her beloved but doomed dad (Colin Farrell), who we get to meet in flashbacks.
This is a beautiful film about the redemptive power of creative expression.
- Jason Johnson
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