Jim Schembri Movie Reviews & Previews

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Jim Schembri

Agrees with the Tomatometer 61% of the time.

Publications:: 3AW , Sydney Morning Herald , The Age (Australia) , The Canberra Times (Australia)

Total Reviews:: 573

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Rating	T-Meter	Title \| Year	Add Date
3.5/5	71%	Fast & Furious 6 (2013)	" With an apparent brief to set a new franchise record for on-screen vehicular mayhem, the film's signature sequence involves the car-crunching daylight pursuit of a tank as it powers down the wrong side of a Spanish freeway. It's magnificently nuts." — 3AW Posted Jun 10, 2013
3.5/5	100%	Still Mine (2013)	" It's a measured, heart-felt piece...that warmly invites you to wonder over how richly symbolic the building of a house in a movie can be." — 3AW Posted Jun 10, 2013
3.5/5	64%	Sinister (2012)	" Highly effective, tense little fright rouser... If you're a horror fan, you won't be disappointed." — 3AW Posted Jun 10, 2013
3.5/5	94%	Ping Pong ()	" Terrific, uplifting, often raw and frequently funny...If the film has a theme, it's how the ageing process can often afflict the body far more than it does the mind." — 3AW Posted Jun 10, 2013
2/5	9%	Bratz: The Movie (2007)	" We are regaled with the spectacle of sparky girl characters, who are aimed squarely at an impressionable tween girl audience, walking about in the sorts of high-fashion outfits you normally see on a catwalk or in the bar of a five-star hotel." — The Age (Australia) Posted Jun 7, 2013
3.5/5	50%	The Great Gatsby (2013)	" What's truly telling about this brash, boisterous adaptation is that the director clearly understands the spirit of F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel better than most film critics." — 3AW Posted Jun 2, 2013
3/5	100%	Un bonheur n'arrive jamais seul ()	" Many French movies wear their debt to American cinema on their sleeve. This is one of them." — 3AW Posted Jun 2, 2013
2.5/5	12%	A Haunted House (2013)	" Clearly what the world needs right now is another low-rent horror movie spoof. And this one's not bad. Sticking to Paranormal Activity for its premise, it actually produces some pretty funny moments. " — 3AW Posted Jun 2, 2013
0.5/5	20%	The Hangover Part III (2013)	" A prime example of what is colloquially referred to in movie-speak as a "cash grab"...a lame, limp, lazy, lifeless reheating of a formula that got tired the second time around." — 3AW Posted May 24, 2013
1.5/5	37%	Dead Man Down (2013)	" A scatter-brained plot never quite works itself out. " — 3AW Posted May 24, 2013
2.5/5	54%	The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2013)	" Director Mira Nair is eager to explore the long-range effects of post-9/11 paranoia, but can't quite get the film's thriller element to click." — 3AW Posted May 24, 2013
3/5	57%	Snitch (2013)	" In a welcome change of gear, over-sized action man Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson puts aside his usual repertoire of grunts, wisecracks...and rampant machine gunning for a more downbeat, dramatic performance in this solid, fact-inspired tale. And it works." — 3AW Posted May 17, 2013
2.5/5	41%	The Call (2013)	" A straight-forward, race-against-time thriller...In an alternate universe, one imagines a disciple of Hitchcock making this film in real time and without any violence." — 3AW Posted May 17, 2013
3/5	62%	Evil Dead (2013)	" A spookily effective remake of the ultra-low budget 1981 cult horror classic by Sam Raimi, the gore and blood is so plentiful here it even falls from the sky...A must for fans, Evil Dead also affirms horror as the most remake-friendly genre going. " — 3AW Posted May 17, 2013
3/5	61%	Broken (2013)	" Taut, engrossing domestic tale [that] takes place in a cul-de-sac where a violent neighbour-on-neighbour attack provides the springboard for a strong story about secrets, lies and unravelling lives." — 3AW Posted May 17, 2013
2/5	86%	Tabu (2012)	" It's far-from-enthralling." — 3AW Posted May 17, 2013
4/5	87%	Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)	" The new Star Trek film by wunderkind director JJ Abrams is much, much better than his much-lauded 2009 Trek reboot. It had to be...Abrams has packed together a ripping, morally complex, highly intelligent story with some truly awe-striking visuals." — 3AW Posted May 17, 2013
3/5	65%	Spring Breakers (2013)	" While films such as Spring Breakers should never be blamed for gun violence, they can be used to gauge just how much people truly care about such issues. And how quickly they are willing to forget." — 3AW Posted May 17, 2013
3/5	63%	Stuck in Love (2013)	" A tough, well-etched portrait of the damage a broken marriage can wreak." — 3AW Posted May 17, 2013
3/5	81%	The Place Beyond The Pines (2013)	" The film is unfortunately front-loaded with more art movie cliches than you can count, but once they get out the way the trans-generational story does close its grip on you." — 3AW Posted May 17, 2013
3.5/5	91%	The Hunt (2013)	" The story is as chilling as the snow-dusted Christmas-time setting; it is measured, non-sensational and takes a sobering, slow-burn look at the way people behave when their common sense is replaced by hysteria." — 3AW Posted May 17, 2013
1/5	60%	Drift (2013)	" This lazy, over-long, poorly directed surf drama is the latest exhibit to suggest that 2013 is turning out to be a dud year for Australian film...it raises the age-old issue of whether local screenplays are properly developed before going into production." — 3AW Posted May 4, 2013
2.5/5	7%	The Big Wedding (2013)	" It's not a bad film by any means, and there is some fizz seeing Sarandon, Keaton and De Niro bounce off each other, verbally and physically. Yet the film seems stuck in first gear, seemingly reluctant to dial up its screwball potential." — 3AW Posted May 4, 2013
3.5/5	78%	Iron Man 3 (2013)	" The film's army of digital artists deliver big servings of neuron-numbing spectacle. Anyone who thinks that's not important should avoid this film." — 3AW Posted May 4, 2013
4/5	80%	The Other Son (2012)	" This moving, emotionally concise human drama is easily one of the most remarkable films about the unending conflict in the Middle East." — 3AW Posted May 4, 2013
1/5	65%	Antiviral (2013)	" As pretentious as it is boring." — 3AW Posted May 4, 2013
3/5	66%	Unfinished Song (2013)	" A modest joy to behold, the film also clicks into the recent high-quality spate of movies aimed at and starring seniors, such as The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Quartet, Performance, Amour and Hitchcock. Here's to more." — 3AW Posted May 4, 2013
2/5	67%	Haute Cuisine (2013)	" Heaven help us. More food porn." — 3AW Posted May 4, 2013
3.5/5	47%	Olympus Has Fallen (2013)	" Provided you can handle such deliberate over-kill in the chaotic swirl that goes on here, Olympus Has Fallen offers a super-sized serving of grit-tinged fantasy action guaranteed to satisfy those who don't mind splatter over style. " — 3AW Posted May 4, 2013
3.5/5	56%	The Company You Keep (2013)	" [Director Robert Redford] deftly articulates the moral morass that can arise when idealism gives way to reality; he also has some very definite things to say about the way today's sensation-hungry, click-addicted media operates." — 3AW Posted May 4, 2013
2/5	92%	No (2013)	" Shooting the entire film on video equipment of the era gives No some visual snap but it is very much a pedestrian, by-the-numbers docu-drama tale, with the emphasis on the former rather than the latter. " — 3AW Posted May 4, 2013
4/5	92%	Jurassic Park (1993)	" Some things have dated - Sam Jackson wouldn't be allowed to smoke in the office; everyone would have mobiles; Google Earth would have kept the island from being kept a secret - but the power of the film's pioneering CGI remain strangely undiminished." — 3AW Posted May 4, 2013
2/5	4%	Scary Movie 5 (2013)	" Enough. Please." — 3AW Posted May 4, 2013
3.5/5	55%	Oblivion (2013)	" Directed with pace-driven efficiency by Joseph Kosinski (who did Tron: Legacy, but don't hold that against him), the film does indulge some sci-fi movie standards but is lifted well above the pack by its "what the?" plot turns." — 3AW Posted Apr 12, 2013
3/5	80%	Warm Bodies (2013)	" A fun mashing of genres that joins the spate of recent films that recasts traditional movie ghouls as misunderstood outsiders. Seems that even the Undead need love." — 3AW Posted Apr 12, 2013
2.5/5	83%	Kon Tiki (2013)	" The historic trans-Pacific boat trip undertaken in 1947 by Norwegian hero Thor Heyerdahl and his crew of fellow adventurers is here presented as a daring sea-faring adventure with angry weather and sharks." — 3AW Posted Apr 12, 2013
1/5	64%	Thérèse Desqueyroux (2013)	" A boring French film about boring French people...sadly the final film by veteran director Claude Miller. " — 3AW Posted Apr 12, 2013
1.5/5	68%	Trance (2013)	" Director Danny Boyle goes off the boil with this meandering Inception wannabe... far from being a clever, tense heist-film-with-a-twist Trance is a laboured, over-stylised slice of pseudo-psychological babble. And it's kind of dull. " — 3AW Posted Apr 12, 2013
2.5/5	20%	Identity Thief (2013)	" Formulaic multiplex mulch, way over-long, often feels strained...That said, Identity Thief is the latest example of the disconnect that often exists between critical opinion and popular appeal. Slammed by critics the low-budget film has been a huge hit." — 3AW Posted Apr 12, 2013
3/5	85%	Sleepwalk With Me (2012)	" Though the sleep-walking episodes are funny, it's the way Mike Birbiglia captures the pains of performing comedy to tiny rooms that really fly. " — 3AW Posted Apr 12, 2013
3/5	——	Return To Nim's Island (2013)	" This message-driven film is perfectly fine for kids around 10, though it is a little light on humour. Adults accompanying said kids, though, are strongly advised not to think too hard as the predictable tale unfolds." — 3AW Posted Apr 12, 2013
3.5/5	28%	G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013)	" Dizzyingly entertaining celebration of fireballs, wire-assisted martial arts and high-calibre firepower has more grace and poise than Die Hard 5...will surely make up for those disappointed with the so-so 2009 film. " — 3AW Posted Apr 12, 2013
3.5/5	69%	The Croods (2013)	" As well as being pacy, energetically animated and stuffed full of modern-day references, The Croods also casts off any lingering doubt that DreamWorks is moving into the character-driven domain normally dominated by Pixar." — 3AW Posted Apr 12, 2013
1/5	9%	The Host (2013)	" This limply directed, solidly boring slice of sci-fi twaddle features humanoid aliens who spend much of their screen time staring blankly into the middle distance with glazed eyes. About 10 minutes into this dross, you'll know what that feels like." — 3AW Posted Apr 12, 2013
3/5	82%	De rouille et d'os (Rust and Bone) (2012)	" The notion of strings-free sex gets a good working over from director Jacques Audiard (A Prophet), who takes as much pride in exploring the workings of Stephanie's troubled mind as he does in digitally removing her legs. " — 3AW Posted Apr 12, 2013
3.5/5	27%	Escape From Planet Earth (2013)	" A ripper sci-fi comedy adventure guaranteed to galvanize the attention of the red-cordial crowd...delightful, pastel-coloured, busy piece of bubble-gum kids' cinema has fun playing up all the alien conspiracy theories." — 3AW Posted Apr 12, 2013
3/5	38%	Hyde Park on Hudson (2012)	" It's been a long time since Lost in Translation (2003), which is the last time Bill Murray did anything of real note in a film. Here he partially redeems the latter phase of his film career playing pre-war US President Franklin D. Roosevelt. " — 3AW Posted Apr 12, 2013
3/5	17%	Zambezia (2013)	" The splendid Madagascar films might have spolied us somewhat when it comes to African cartoon animals, but there is enough action and heart in the story to keep things aloft, especially during the big battle climax." — 3AW Posted Apr 12, 2013
3/5	15%	A Good Day To Die Hard (2013)	" Undeniably entertaining action-movie franchise fodder [but] had the producers [made] Mary Elizabeth Winstead the film's other action hero rather than going with the convention of casting yet another male, Die Hard 5 would have been awesome." — 3AW Posted Apr 12, 2013

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