On April 24th 2009, four films are opening in cinemas across Australia: Fired Up, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Closed For Winter and Let the Right One In.
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Fired Up!
★★ ½
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The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
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Closed For Winter
★★★
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Let the Right One In
★★★★ ½
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Genre: Comedy
Rating: M
Running Time: 90min
Director: Shawn Colfax (Nicholas D’Agosto) and Nick Brady (Eric Christian Olsen), the stars of the Gerald R. F
Cast: Nicholas D’Agosto, Eric Christian Olsen, Sarah Roemer, John Michael Higgins, Molly Sims, David Walton
Official Website: View
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Synopsis:
Shawn Colfax (Nicholas D’Agosto) and Nick Brady (Eric Christian Olsen), the stars of the Gerald R. Ford High School football team, are dreading the prospect of another summer at football camp. When Nick hatches a scheme for the two to join their school’s cheerleaders at cheer camp instead, they find themselves awash in a sea of gorgeous young women. It all goes great until Shawn falls for Carly (Sarah Roemer), the beautiful head cheerleader who sees right through them.
Worth seeing?
Review: ★ ★ ½
Katina’s verdict:
“It fails to get you really Fired Up, but appreciating it’s all been done before makes it bearable.”
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The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
Genre: Drama / War
Rating: M
Running Time: 94min
Director: Mark Herman
Cast: Asa Butterfield, Zac Mattoon O’Brien, Zac Mattoon O’Brien, Henry Kingsmill
Official Website: View
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Synopsis:
What would you do if you got a second shot at life? Class of 1989, Mike O’Donnell is a star on his high school basketball court with a college scout in the stands and a bright future in his grasp. But instead, he decides to throw it all away to share his life with his girlfriend Scarlett and the baby he just learned they are expecting. Almost 20 years later, Mike’s glory days are decidedly behind him. His marriage to Scarlett has fallen apart, he has been passed over for a promotion at work, his teenage kids think he is a loser, and he has been reduced to crashing with his high school nerd-turned-techno-billionaire best friend Ned. But Mike is given another chance when he is miraculously transformed back to the age of 17. Unfortunately, Mike may look 17 again, but his thirtysomething outlook is totally uncool in the class of 2009. And in trying to recapture his best years, Mike could lose the best things that ever happened to him.
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Genre: Drama, Horror, Romance, Thriller
Rating: M
Running Time: 115 minutes
Director: Tomas Alfredson
Cast: Kåre Hedebrant, Lina Leandersson, Per Ragnar
Review: ★ ★ ★ ★½
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Synopsis:
Set in snowy 1982 Stockholm, twelve year old Oskar attracts unwanted attention from the school bully. Living with his divorced mother in a drab apartment block, he meets similarly-aged new neighbour Eli one night in the local park and immediately recognises a fellow outcast. She’s impervious to cold and absent during the daytime and Oskar soon comes to suspect his new friend may be connected to a series of local murders. LET THE RIGHT ONE IN is at once heart-warming and hair-raising and so fresh and original it transcends the limits of the vampire genre it plays with (Swedish dialogue with English subtitles).
Worth seeing?
Review: ★ ★ ★ ★ ½
My Verdict:
“It’s saddening yet heart-warming, horrifying yet beautiful – Let the Right One In is a triumph of both the horror and romance genres, combining to make a thoroughly engaging, moving and enduring cinema experience. If Twilight is the Vampire film for starry-eyed teenage girls, Let the Right One In is the Vampire film for everyone else.”
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Genre: Drama
Rating: M
Running Time: 85min
Director: James Bogle
Cast: Natalie Imbruglia, Daniel Frederiksen, Deborah Kennedy
Official Website: View
Review: ★ ★ ★
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Synopsis:
Closed for Winter is the emotional and poetic story of Elise, a beautiful young woman haunted by a tragic event in her youth. As Elise attempts to piece together the mystery of her sister’s disappearance at the beach, twenty years before when both were children, she must face dark family secrets that have remained unspoken. As the past is revealed, Elise at last finds the courage to begin to live. Based on Georgia Blain’s critically acclaimed novel of the same title, Closed for Winter, features a stunning performance by international star Natalie Imbruglia in her first leading role.
Worth seeing?
Review: ★ ★ ★
Katina’s Verdict:
“Locations are used well and the story is solid, but the awkwardness of it all is unsettling. Closed for Winter sits somewhere in the middle of recent Australian film – that isn’t a bad thing considering the industry’s recent run.”
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