SHORTCUTS

NEW RELEASES

Disconnect: The absorbing, if hysterically pitched Disconnect is a cautionary tale of the internet age centred on a roundelay of occasionally intersecting storylines that culminate in dramatic individual catharses, each staged with melodramatic, too-tidy overstatement. ★★★ The Lone Ranger: Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer star in a revisionist adventure with franchise and theme park intentions written all over it. After proving himself a crack shot on his first pranky Western, Rango, director Gore Verbinski appears not to have had enough ammo left over to score as well with The Lone Ranger, but it has enough entertainment value to make it worth watching. ★★★ The Big Wedding: The fact that the three actors who do most of the fooling around – Robert de Niro, Diane Keaton and Susan Sarandon – have a combined age of 202 pegs this as a sex romp for the Viagra crowd. ★★★ Bustin’ Chops: A local comedy about stuntman Eugene Koekemoer and his crew of misfits who left a TV show and started regular jobs. They seem to be doing well except Eugene, so he plans to reassemble his crew to make a movie to show Steven Spielberg when he visits South Africa. Not reviewed

ON CIRCUIT

Despicable Me 2: While not quite as charming or unique as the original, this animated sequel comes pretty close. The movie is smartly calculated to deliver squeals to kids and amuse accompanying adults. ★★★ Killer Joe: A condescending tale of lowlife conspirators who are as gullible as they are homicidal, the movie begins as a pitch-black comedy, but the final act saps the humour and pushes the boundaries of taste. ★★ Die Laaste Tango: When a disgraced cop, De Wet (Louw Venter), withdraws to a Karoo town to escape the fallout of a botched arrest, he soon falls for a local girl, Ella (Antoinette Louw), who is slowly dying. When he finds out that her dying wish is to dance the perfect tango, he decides to help her make it come true… but his past is about to catch up with him. Not reviewed Man of Steel: Man of Steel serves up what could be as much spectacle and action as any movie anyone could think of. Zack Snyder’s extravaganza is a rehab job that is so overwhelmingly insistent in its size and strength that it’s hard not to give in. ★★★★ Song for Marion: Sixties stars Vanessa Redgrave and Terence Stamp bring gravitas and pathos to this well- worn tale of pensioners competing in a choir competition. ★★★★ White House Down: A preposterously entertaining film that borrows from Die Hard, Air Force One, Lethal Weapon and Homeland, resulting in an action thriller that doesn’t know when to quit. Jamie Foxx plays the US president and Channing Tatum is a Secret Service agent who must protect him. ★★★ To The Wonder: Director Terrence Malick’s meditation on love and the disintegration of a relationship wafts along to no particular purpose. However, this meditative drama manages to be oddly moving. ★★★ Spud: The Madness Continues: Spud

This movie only looks like a sci-fi film. At heart, it’s a tale of reconciliation between a callow boy and his jerk of a father. Director M Night Shyamalan lays on the schmaltz thick and heavy. ★ A Haunted House: Found-footage horror movies are long overdue for parody, but this blandly titled film fails to rise to the occasion. ★ Shadow Dancer: James Marsh’s gripping thriller set in Northern Ireland demands patience and concentration, but is impeccably crafted. ★★★★ The Sapphires: First-time film-maker Wayne Blair has crafted an exuberant celebration of Aboriginality; its soulfulness goes beyond the embrace of a jukebox full of Stax, Motown and Atlantic Records hits. ★★★★ The Great Gatsby: A hyperbolic adaptation of F Scott Fitzgerald’s novel that spares nothing in bringing Jazz Age decadence to life. ★★★