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STATE CINEMA
(M) This Oscar-nominated documentary introduces you to American professional climber Alex Honnold. He wants to ascend El Capitan, a legendarily intimidating, unforgivably sheer rock face standing almost a kilometre high in California’s Yosemite National Park. What transpires is one of the greatest action sequences to ever grace the big screen
(MA15+) This is a highly spirited and cunningly unorthodox costume drama in which three women jostle to run an entire country while simultaneously running each other into the ground. It features a trio of ferociously focused lead performances (Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone).
(M) Great Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen plays a cargo pilot whose plane has crashed in a region that is too close to the North Pole for any living being’s comfort. Supplies are almost gone, and the possibility of rescue is minimal.
(M) This is the true story of African-American jazz pianist Don Shirley (a majestic display from Mahershala Ali) and his Italian-American driver Tony Vallelonga (a lovably lug-headed Viggo Mortensen). The pair undertake a deceptively dangerous concert tour of the Deep South in 1962.
(PG) Poignant, funny and deceptively eloquent, Stan and Ollie’s heartfelt look at the twilight years of legendary comedy duo Stan Laurel (Steve Coogan) and Oliver Hardy (John C. Reilly) unassumingly gets on your good side and stays there. By movie’s end, you will be sorry it has to go.
(M) Looks long and hard at a family who can’t help thinking the best of their troubled eldest son, but also can’t help but expect the worst from him at any moment. If this movie does find a way to sweeten a potentially souring deal, it is via the precise and insightful performances delivered by its two main actors, Lucas Hedges and Julia Roberts.
(M) This unorthodox tennis documentary focuses on hottempered American John McEnroe at the height of his powers in the 1980s. The bulk of the doco is comprised of McEnroe shot at close range in match conditions. You rarely, if ever, see his opponent.
(MA15+) Liam Neeson plays a snow-plough driver looking to mow down every last member of the drug syndicate that iced his only child.
(M) One of the best docos of last year was RBG, a fascinating portrait of US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. By comparison, this feature biopic treatment accorded her by On the Basis of Sex — focusing on Ginsburg’s formative years as a lawyer, wife and mother — does not leave the same lasting impression worthy of such an influential and inspirational figure.
(MA15+) This is a visually dazzling but thematically drab take on the fateful rivalry between two major monarchs in the late 16th century. If the pairing of the great Irish star Saoirse Ronan and our own Margot Robbie was not the key part of the creative equation here, the end result would have been much, much worse than just so-so.
(M) At the grand old age of 88, Clint Eastwood defiantly remains one of a kind. Here he is, not only directing The Mule, but also taking the lead role. Unfortunately, he is not in the best of form, either side of the cameras. (Eastlands, Hobart) (M) See review above. (PG) See review above. (Eastlands, Hobart, Launceston) (M) This movie is based on a series of manga comics by Yukito Kishiro. Alita (played by the likeness of actress Rosa Salazar) is a cyborg, reactivated in the year 2563 after centuries of inactivity. (Eastlands, Glenorchy, Hobart, Launceston). (MA15+) See review above.