This Week in Theatres – The REEL ANIME Edition – 26/09/13

Posted by Daniel Mann

Hello fellow Maniacs, Dan here. Well I’m fresh off the heels from my trip to Japan last week. What a week it was. I got to see Hayao Miyazaki’s latest opus – which you can read my thoughts about right here – I got to meet interesting people, including the screenwriter Yoshihiki Takahashi who wrote Sion Sono’s devastatingly brutal film COLD FISH. I got to visit the Ghibli Musuem and indulge in the absolute wonder of that place. I attended Tokyo Game Show and found that being apart of a massive TGS crow is the equivalent of being in a hoard of Zombies. But instead of having me name-drop a bunch of things I saw and I did, I’ll just skip to the end and say that I had an absolute blast in Japan for the week.

But now I’m back home and as always, it is another week of Cinema releases to cover. So lets not waste any further time and get to it shall we? After all, we have a big week to cover including Reel Anime, which is happening this weekend. So here we go again with another edition of THIS WEEK IN CINEMAS.

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GROWN UPS 2 Director: Dennis Dugan Release Status: Wide Synopsis: After moving his family back to his hometown to be with his friends and their kids, Lenny finds out that between old bullies, new bullies, schizo bus drivers, drunk cops on skis, and 400 costumed party crashers sometimes crazy follows you.

Dan’s Take: Oh great, its another friggin’ lazy Adam Sandler comedy. A movie that is less a movie and more so an excuse for Sandler to hang out with his old buddies, go to some fancy vacation resort and get paid while doing so. Congratulations, you’re basically paying for this guy’s vacation time by seeing these movies. Can I just say SKIP IT and move on? You’re not going to get a rant on this because Adam Sandler has gone way past the ranting stage. He doesn’t deserve the pleasure of a rant. No, at this point, he deserves to be ignored all together until he does something that is actually noteworthy. It pains me to say this too; I used to like Adam Sandler at one point in time. But now, every time I see his smug arrogant face I just want to turn my back on him and ignore him all together. So it gets a SKIP IT from me. Just don’t put any more money into his already overfilled pockets and the world will be a better place. Take a cue from the title Sandler, Grow Up and Do Something Noteworthy instead of resorting to this lazy garbage.

RUNNER RUNNER

Director: Brad Furman

Release Status: Wide

Synopsis: When a poor college student who cracks an online poker game goes bust, he arranges a face-to-face with the man he thinks cheated him, a sly offshore entrepreneur.

Dan’s Take: I haven’t read a single review for RUNNER RUNNER yet, but the trailer does make it look like a pretty average “in over your head” thriller. From the trailer, it just looks to be completely filler as it plods it way through bunch of familiar clichés that we’ve seen many times before. But on the flip side, I like Ben Affleck – or is that Batfleck now? – And I know that Justin Timberlake has turned in good work before – most notably his turn in THE SOCIAL NETWORK. The leads are likable enough but the trailer didn’t stand out to me as being anything but average.

LOVELACE Director(s): Rob Epstein and Jeffery Friedman Release Status: Limited

Synopsis: The story of Linda Lovelace, who is used and abused by the porn industry at the behest of her coercive husband, before taking control of her life.

Dan’s Take: I have seen it and I am going to give a marginal recommendation. With that said though, it is a perfect case of a film that has potential to be something better then it was. The one glaring problem with it is that it only ever scratches the surface of the truly harrowing story of the real Linda Lovelace and I don’t think it ever truly goes any deeper beyond that surface level.

Which is a shame because I think there is relevance regarding Linda Lovelace’s harrowing life story and I don’t think the film ever has the courage to truly go beyond the surface. With that said though, I thought the performances were fine; I think Amanda Seyfried did a good job with what she has to work with. And I think out of everything that came out in General release this week that LOVELACE is the most interesting and noteworthy of the bunch. I just felt it could have gone further then it did.

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And Last But Not Least…

REEL ANIME 2013

We have a quick reminder to pass along. Don’t forget that starting this weekend Madman’s Annual Reel Anime festival commences in select cinemas across the country. Full details can be found over at Madman’s Official Site.

We have a quick rundown of this year’s line-up to pass along.

EVANGELION 3.0 You (Cannot) Redo

Director: Hideaki Anno

The Eagerly Awaited Third Chapter of the Reimagined EVANGELION Theatrical trilogy. If you’re an Evangelion fan then you’ve probably already got your ticket lined up for it at this point

009 RE: CYBORG Director: Kenji Kamiyama

A new instalment in the long running CYBORG 009 series that stems all the way back to the sixties. Helmed by Kenji Kamiyama, the director behind GHOST IN THE SHELL: STAND ALONE COMPLEX.

A LETTER TO MOMO Director: Hiroyuki Okiura

A LETTER TO MOMO is small drama piece focusing on a young girl named Momo whose father has recently passed away. Her mother decides its best to move them both away from the hustle and bustle of Tokyo to a remote Japanese island Shio. Upon arriving at the Island, Momo discovers certain bizarre occurrences crop up around the island. Momo grows curious of these occurrences and decides to investigate leaving her to embark on a supernatural journey which will also lead her to discover a few secrets about her own father and his connection to the island.

GHOST IN THE SHELL: ARISE Director: Kazuchika Kise ARISE is a four part OVA series, which is a re-imagining of the original GHOST IN THE SHELL. The four part OVA series has been decked out with new-everything. New character designs, new voice actors, new, new, new we say.

THE GARDEN OF WORDS Director: Makoto Shinkai

Takao skipped school and is sketching shoes in a Japanese style garden. He meets a mysterious woman, Yukino, who is older than him. Then, without contacting one another, the two start to see each other again and again, but only on rainy days. I can’t say I’ve seen anything by Makoto Shinkai yet but I have heard nothing but good things about the man’s work so far. I keep hearing a lot of good things about his previous film CHILDREN WHO CHASE LOST VOICES so this might be worth taking a look at based on that good word.

All of these films will be showing across the nation from this Thursday for a limited engagement. Full details can be found below.

ADELAIDE // SEPT 26th – OCT 9th

PALACE NOVA EASTEND CINEMAS

PALACE - off 250 Rundle St, NOVA - 251 Rundle St

PH: 8232 3434

AVOCA BEACH // OCT 3rd – OCT 16th

AVOCA BEACH PICTURE THEATRE

69 Avoca Drive, Avoca Beach

PH: 4382 1777

BRISBANE // OCT 3rd – OCT 16th

DENDY PORTSIDE

Portside Wharf, Remora Road, Hamilton