Oblivion

Fabulous; another traditionally cocky Tom Cruise affair, but one where he doesn't really have to share screen time with anyone. We've been waiting so long for another one of these, and Oblivion plays pretty much precisely as you'd expect; a slightly cheesy sci-fi action romp with Mr. Cruise taking the unashamed role of 'saviour of humanity'. The visuals are actually pretty decent, but in truth, not a whole lot more than should be readily expected of a $120 million Tom Cruise sci-fi epic. Couple that with a slightly over-egged and astonishingly over-sentimental ending (that comes about 20 minutes too late) and the films plays out its two hour running time and leaves little more than a feeling of slightly over-long cringey disappointment. Perfectly watchable cringey disappointment, but cringey disappointment all the same.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

So, the second hairy-footed, axe-wielding, wizard-filled instalment is upon us after a year in the waiting. And 12 months is a particularly long time to wait in the world of Middle Earth, with such an enormous amount of active plot lines to have to remember from 2012's 'The Unexpected Journey'. Left partway through their quest, (and with Bilbo having just pocketed Gollum's precious), Desolation picks up the party (after a minor sojourn to recap on unseen events from before the first film) still being pursued by the Orc gang as they travel closer to the Lonely Mountain. Despite the somewhat aborted attempt to refresh the audience's memories though, Peter Jackson does assume a fair amount of revision on the part of the viewer, with a little too much of the mythology swept over too quickly to truly get back up to speed before a new avalanche of story to stay on top of.

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues

Now, I feel this review should really come with a blasphemy warning; the following may not be pretty. It's never easy when a review disagrees with the prevailing public opinion, much less when it's regarding such an anticipated release with an enormous cult following, but such is the situation we find ourselves in...

Gravity

Well, as awards season rolls round for another year, it is really no surprise that the number of 'genre-defining' film releases is certainly hotting up. Gravity is just one of those to be scheduled in the all-important Academy Award lead up, and just one viewing is all that's needed to demonstrate why. Quite simply, Gravity is an absolutely astonishing visual feat. Cinemagoers have long been used to the growing complexity and refinement of computer graphics and special effects in their favourite movies. What is so startling about Gravity is just how much of it falls into that category; as much as 95% of any given shot is probably computer generated (pretty much everything except the faces in the visors). And each and every pixel of it is absolutely photo real.

Ender's Game

I've made no secret of my inability in 99% of cases to compare cinema adaptations with their literary equivalents, but make no bones about it. The Film Cache is about the film itself, so regardless of real-world homophobia controversies or deviating re-imaginings from the original text, my business is reviewing the final on-screen product. In the case of Ender's Game, that result is a very competent piece of entertainment; a surprisingly in-depth psychological examination of childhood and the implications of growing up too quickly (if one was to read that much into it) married with some decent science fiction and credible acting performances.

Cloud Atlas

To say that Cloud Atlas is confusing is probably one of the biggest understatements of the year. Assuming you can get through the first 45 minutes (every single second of which with a puzzled expression permanently fixed to your face) I can promise that you'll be hooked until the end. A superbly written story (at least in book form, which most people had deemed unfilmable) combines with a perpetual succession of big name stars (including the lesser-spotted Hugh Grant bad guy) and an absolutely relentless pace to keep your attention right the way through. Don't get me wrong, it is requiring of a significant chunk of your time (and 100% of your attention) to make it all the way through and remain mentally unscathed, but it seems to me to be a wholly worthwhile investment. I also have no doubt that David Mitchell's book is probably far cleverer in telling the story than can be committed to screen. Indeed, it does rather play out as six short films in a single epic (with a running time to match), but despite the furious editing and bewildering story jumping (each of which include some outstanding performances from both the cast and production teams alike), each one of the plot lines immerses you so completely, that the final pay-off is simply six times as good.

Flight

Aghast as I was to be greeted by a female full frontal within 20 seconds of tucking into my popcorn, it was in fact the characters, not the content that really let Flight down for me. Sure, the film does drag in places, and at more than two and a quarter hours it is a little over-long which seriously doesn't help, but the biggest downer in the whole thing is in fact the lead character, which despite taking the shape of Denzel Washington, takes more than a fair amount of effort to like even remotely. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your perspective), that seems to be nothing to do with Denzel's acting, which as usual is brilliantly solid, but does mean that it's rather a trial to keep caring. That, and with yet more gratuitous shots of injections proving yet again that Hollywood cares little about those of us with trypanophobia (yes, that's a real thing), Flight fails to really make an impact in quite the right way.