A sexy comedy of errors about a very modern family. The Allgoods are a close family experiencing life's typical ups and downs: 18-year-old daughter Joni is heading off to Stanford University and starting to distance herself from her parents; 14-year-old Laser is hanging out with a deadbeat friend who constantly leads him into trouble. The only difference is that this family has two mums. Jules (Julianne Moore) and Nic (Annette Bening) have been together for years, deeply in love, and had both children through artificial insemination. This loving but strained home life is thrown into comic disarray when the kids track down their biological donor-Dad, Paul (Mark Ruffalo), and invite him home for dinner.
During September in select cinemas around Australia, the State Cinema presents REEL ANIME 2010, showcasing five of the freshest anime feature films this side of Tokyo.
Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance(PG)
Summer Wars(PG)
King of Thorn (M)
Redline (M)
Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone (PG)
All films are subtitled. For more program information please refer to the official ReelAnime website: Official Site
Grégoire, a Parisian film producer, has it all — a beautiful wife, three adorable daughters, and a buzzing career. On the surface he seems invincible, maintaining humour and charm as he tirelessly juggles the demands of his production company with his family's needs. But when Grégoire's reserves — both financial and emotional — reach a dramatic breaking point, his family's love and resilience is
tested. Winner of the Un Certain Regard Special Jury Prize at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival and featured at the Toronto and London Film Festivals, The Father of my Children is an extraordinarily
perceptive new drama from emerging young talent Mia Hansen-Love, and a deeply moving portrait of family in tumult. Subtitled
Based on the novel by legendary pulp writer Jim Thompson, Michael Winterbottom's latest work tells the story of handsome, charming, unassuming small town sheriff's deputy Lou Ford. Lou has a bunch of problems. Woman problems. Law enforcement problems. An ever-growing pile of murder victims in his West Texas jurisdiction. And the fact he's a sadist, a psychopath, a killer. Suspicion begins to fall on Lou, and it's only a matter of time before he runs out of alibis. But in Thompson's savage, bleak, blacker than noir universe nothing is ever what it seems and it turns out that the investigators pursuing him might have a secret of their own. Starring Casey Affleck, Kate Hudson and Jessica Alba.
Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a skilled thief, the absolute best in the dangerous art of extraction: stealing valuable secrets from deep within the subconscious during the dream state when the mind is at its most vulnerable. Cobb's rare ability has made him a coveted player in this treacherous new world of corporate espionage, but it has also made him an international fugitive and cost him everything he has ever loved. Now Cobb is being offered a chance at redemption. One last job could give him his life back but only if he can accomplish the impossible-inception. Instead of the perfect heist, Cobb and his team of specialists have to pull off the reverse; their task is not to steal an idea but to plant one. If they succeed, it could be the perfect crime.
Could there be a more hot-button topic than terrorism these days? Although it is historically the subject of serious documentaries and intense dramatic films, renowned British comedian Chris Morris finds the humour (and ultimately the humanity) in this extremist world. Four Lions tells the story of a group of British jihadists who push their abstract dreams of glory to the breaking point. As the wheels fly off, and their competing ideologies clash, what emerges is an emotionally engaging (and entirely plausible) farce. In a storm of razor-sharp verbal jousting and large-scale set pieces Four Lions is a comic tour de force; it shows that - while terrorism is about ideology - it can also be about idiots.
Marie-Jeanne and Robert have three children: Albert, Raphaël and Fleur. This portrait of their family is sketched out over twelve years, through five key days. Five crucial days in the life of a five-person family. Five days that are more important then any others, and after which nothing will ever be the same again.
When a successful British ghost-writer, The Ghost (Ewan McGregor), agrees to complete the memoirs of former British Prime Minister Adam Lang (Pierce Brosnan), his agent assures him it's the opportunity of a lifetime. But the project seems doomed from the start - not least because his predecessor on the project, Lang's long-term aide, died in an unfortunate accident. The Ghost flies out to work on the project, in the middle of winter, to an ocean-front house on an island off the US Eastern seaboard. As The Ghost works, he begins to uncover clues suggesting his predecessor may have stumbled on a dark secret linking Lang to the CIA. Resonating with topical themes, this atmospheric and suspenseful political thriller is a story of deceit and betrayal on every level - sexual, political and literary.
The year is 1927, and the setting is South Solitary Island, off the coast of Tasmania - a remote lighthouse island which is cold, rainy, and directly in the path of the Roaring Forties. Meredith Appleton (Miranda Otto), 35, arrives with her uncle, George Wadsworth (Barry Otto), the replacement Head Keeper of the lighthouse. She is a "chin up!" sort of a girl, and she needs to be in these circumstances. Meredith tries to make the best of a bad situation by attempting to make friends with the few occupants of the island, including Assistant Keeper, Fleet (Marton Csokas). However, with a little bit of time, Meredith finds much more than friendship.
This is a small film with a big heart. Set in a time when e-bay threatens the primeval urge for a first-hand crack at the second-hand, the film follows the fortunes of the Rose family, who live on the idyllic Kapiti Coast of New Zealand, where the sunsets are spectacular, parking is still free and bargains abound. Jill and Brian Rose are happily married and looking forward to their daughter Cheryl, following in their footsteps when long-time boyfriend, mechanic Stu, proposes. Clouds gather, however, when it becomes clear that Cheryl has issues with her mother’s voracious bargain hunting, which she fears will ruin her wedding. Covering up the truth has consequences for everyone involved. Will Cheryl be able to get out of the hole she’s dug for herself, and go through with the widding?
The 16-year old girl Harriet Vanger disappeared without a trace, on September 29th 1966. Nearly forty years later a journalist by the name of Mikael Blomqvist gets an unusual assignment. He's contacted by the industrial leader Henrik Vanger, who wants him to write the history of the Vanger family. The family chronicle is just a cover for the real assignment: to find out about what really happened to Harriet.
He gets help from the young and troubled computer hacker Lisbeth Salander. Together the odd couple starts to dig in the past of the Vanger family and meet a darker and bloodier history than they ever could have imagined... Subtitled
Mikael Blomkvist, publisher of Millennium magazine, has made his living exposing the crooked and corrupt practices of establishment Swedish figures. So when a young journalist approaches him with a meticulously researched thesis about sex trafficking in Sweden and those in high office who abuse under-age girls, Blomkvist immediately throws himself into the investigation. Subtitled
Two ex-cons kidnap a young woman and plan to make a mint on the ransom. Their hostage is Alice Creed, daughter of a rich businessman, chosen by Danny and Vic as their passport to a better life. Terrified and immobile at first, it soon becomes clear that Alice isn't about to let her captors use her as capital without a fight. As determined to escape as Vic and Danny are to succeed, Alice enters into a battle of wills which strains the already fractious relationship between the two men. As the deadline for the exchange draws nearer, all three are brought close to breaking point, with Vic and Danny's foolproof plan descending into a desperate struggle for survival.
Winner of the Audience Award for most popular film at the Sydney Film Festival, the second feature from Oscar-nominated director Taika Waititi (Eagle vs Shark, TV's Flight of the Conchords) is a semi-autobiographical tale of growing up in the 1980's. On the East Coast of New Zealand eleven-year-old Boy lives with his brother Rocky, several cousins and their beloved Nan in a scenic rural town. Spending his days dreaming about the amazing dance moves of superstar Michael Jackson, his classroom crush Chardonnay and a reunion with his jailbird father Alamein, Boy is thrilled when his Dad arrives out of the blue accompanied by his "gang", the Crazy Horses. A refreshingly hilarious coming-of-age tale about heroes, magic and Michael Jackson, Boy has become one of the biggest hits of all time in it's native New Zealand.
As a CIA officer, Evelyn Salt (Angelina Jolie) swore an oath to duty, honour and country. Her loyalty will be tested when a defector accuses her of being a Russian spy. Salt goes on the run, using all her skills and years of experience as a covert operative to elude capture. Salt's efforts to prove her innocence only serve to cast doubt on her motives, as the hunt to uncover the truth behind her identity continues and the question remains: "Who is Salt?"
Paul Conroy (Ryan Reynolds) is a US citizen working as a contract driver in Iraq. After a swift and sudden attack on his convoy, he awakens to find himself buried alive inside a coffin with nothing more than a lighter, a cell phone, and little memory of how he ended up there. Faced with limited oxygen and unlimited panic, Paul finds himself in a tension-filled race against time to escape this claustrophobic death-trap before it's too late.
Acclaimed film-maker Diane Kurys pays homage to another Frenchwoman of the arts in this screen biography of internationally acclaimed writer Françoise Sagan. As the film opens, it's 1954 and Sagan, still in her teens, has become a literary celebrity overnight with the success of her first novel. Sagan is enjoying the high life with her close friends Jacques and Bernard, while spending her royalties on liquor, sports cars, partying and evenings at the casino. Sagan, bisexual, enjoyed short-lived romances with lovers of both genders but in the sixties she made an effort to settle down, marrying American expatriate Robert Westhoff. While Sagan continued to write, her appetite for alcohol and cocaine grew dramatically, and as her addiction became stronger, her literary output shrank and after years of failing to pay her taxes, she became dependent on the generosity of friends to survive and became a stranger.
This highly-rated film has the war in Iraq as backdrop, while set solidly on American soil. An injured American soldier gets to serve out his last three months visiting relatives of soldiers killed in the war, to tell them of their death. He struggles with an ethical dilemma when he becomes involved with a widow of a fallen officer.
Based on the remarkable life of iconic French singer, poet, writer and actor Serge Gainsbourg, the film is a surreal and evocative record of Gainsbourg (Eric Elmosnino) growing up in 1940s Nazi-occupied Paris, when he was called Lucien Ginsberg, through to his transformation into the hard-living showman, enfant terrible and successful song-writer of the 50s and 60s, and a famous womaniser who bedded some of the era's most beautiful women including Brigitte Bardot and Jane Birkin, to his notoriety in the 70s and 80s. A visually and narratively innovative project that features special effects from the makers of Pan's Labyrinth, in Gainsbourg we glimpse the fantasy world that drove his inspiration, the women he loved and lost and most of all, the music that made him a legend.
In a small French village, the world moves past the window of Madame Clos. Over countless cups of tea she remembers the things she’s seen, the people she knew and the world as it was.
The ever-vivacious Madame Clos is a part of the daily dramas, the local weddings, the lives of the children and the other villagers. In her talks with filmmaker Jane Oehr, Madame Close recalls the moments from her life, happy and sad, remaining full of exuberance as she approaches her 100th year.
“I want to invent words that have never been said before, new words from which tenderness flows.” – Madame Clos
