Ghosthunters (PG)
Directed by Tobi Baumann
3/5

A YOUNG boy teams up with a professional ghost hunter and a slimy green ghost to rid his home town of an evil ancient ice ghost in this spooky European co-production.

Based on the bestselling book series by German kids’ author Cornelia Funke, whose Inkheart trilogy failed to spawn a film franchise in 2008, it stars Milo Parker (Robot Overlords, Mr Holmes) as the fearful Tom who finds himself befriending Hugo (Bastian Pastewka), a green apparition he uncovers in his cellar.

When they join up with the prickly ghost hunter Hetty Cuminseed (Anke Engelke) they make a bizarre trio.

With its European look and tone, and its predominantly German cast, it’s an odd but compelling concoction with echoes of Men in Black and Ghostbusters, with Hugo looking like he’s just stepped out of the latter.

Doubtless the pre-teen audience Ghosthunters is squarely aimed at will enjoy its heartwarming camaraderie, simple scares and humour.

Review by Maria Duarte

The Walk (PG)
Directed by Robert Zemeckis
4/5

GIVEN the visceral potency of the Oscar-winning 2008 documentary Man on Wire I assumed that Robert Zemeckis’s dramatisation of French high wire-walker Philippe Petit’s legendary walk between the twin towers of New York’s World Trade Centre in 1974 would pale in comparison. I was wrong.

Even so, the build-up to the stunning 40-minute restaging of Petit’s vertiginous triumph has its problems — as wirewalker Petit, Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s unique French accent takes some adjusting to while Ben Kingsley’s pantomime hamming as a celebrated wirewalker who teaches him the tricks of the trade is just plain embarrassing.

That said, the polished blend of Hollywood professionalism on both sides of the camera is enjoyable, as is a climax that brilliantly deploys Oscar-worthy special effects and stunning 3D cinematography to recreate Petit’s unique achievement — his “coup” as he describes it.

The dual suspense at the climax, visual and emotional, is phenomenal.

Review by Alan Frank

Macbeth (15)
Directed by Justin Kurzel
5/5

THEATRICAL superstition holds that Macbeth should always be referred to as “the Scottish play,” since to say the name aloud is a recipe for for bad luck.

Surprisingly, then, this bold and bloody reworking of Shakespeare’s classic of naked ambition and bloody retribution, while partly financed by Creative Scotland and richly filmed on Scottish locations, notably lacks Caledonian actors.

Michael Fassbender, magnificent as Macbeth, is German-born and raised in Ireland while French actress Marion Cotillard, armed with an impressive English accent, intriguingly plays his duplicitous wife. Director Justin Kurzel is Australian.

While the central narrative remains sufficiently faithful to the Bard — Macbeth, urged by the witches who malevolently predict that he will be “king hereafter!” and his wife resort to bloody murder to fulfill the mystical prophecy — there is nothing stagey about the film.

It opens with a rousing, bloodily convincing and supremely cinematic battle sequence and continues its potent storytelling with brutal realism.

Armed with compelling performances, this Macbeth is eminently relevant for contemporary epic-and-violence loving audiences who mistake Game of Thrones for art.

Review by Alan Frank

Fidelio: Alice’s Journey (15)
Directed by Lucie Borleteau
3/5

THE uninspiring title doesn’t do any justice to this frank and insightful study of a woman working in an all-male environment.

Ariane Labed is superb as 30-year-old Alice who joins the freighter Fidelio to replace an engineer who has died, only to discover the captain is Gael (Melvil Poupaud), her first great love.

As they rekindle their former romance it causes complications in her relationship with her partner Felix (Anders Danielsen Lie).

This subtle and understated drama by first-time director Lucie Borleteau is a thought-provoking ride as it explores sexism, love, monogamy and adultery without making any judgements.

It shows how difficult and lonely life is onboard a freighter on voyages lasting months on end and how Alice has to work and play just as hard as her male colleagues to be accepted.

A fascinating drama.

Review by Maria Duarte

The Intern (12A)
Directed by Nancy Meyers
2/5

IF YOU like your comedies saturated with saccharine and populated by characters sweet enough to induce diabetes in uncritical cinemagoers, then writer-director Nancy Meyers has delivered the perfect picture.

To her credit, this marks the first time I recall Robert De Niro giving a convincing comic performance — remember Meet the Fockers?

He’s 70-year-old widower Ben who, tired of retirement, gets a job as an intern at the online fashion site created by Jules (Anne Hathaway), a woman so keen on saving time she cycles around the open-plan headquarters.

Early on, a woman tells Ben that he’s “awfully cute” and Meyers’s script and direction goes on to stress that whenever possible as he changes the lives of everyone he interacts with for the better.

This film’s so warm it could ignite your shirt but thanks in large measure to Hathaway’s charming and credible performance in a story more fairytale than realistic, it’s enjoyable if easily forgettable.

Review by Alan Frank

Dressed as a Girl (18)
Directed by Colin Rothbart
3/5

IF YOUR cinematic images of drag queens have been fostered by John Waters and Divine, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and the unimpressive John Travolta in Hairspray, then you’re in for a rude — frequently extremely rude — awakening with Colin Rothbart’s extraordinary documentary.

He spent some six years charting the behind-the-scenes lives, ambitions, hopes and inevitable despairs as well as the gaudy over-the-top stage lives of some of London’s East End drag performers.

The contrast between performers on stage, foul-mouthed, funny and lit up in lurid costumes with enough spangles to celebrate a monarch’s diamond jubilee, and their often sad, sex and drug-dependent offstage lives is both fascinating and often deeply saddening.

Rothbart’s stars — Jonny Woo, John Sizzle, Holestar, Scottee, Amber, Pia and Ma Butcher — are eminently watchable.

Ultimately, underneath the glitz and glamour, they make potent arguments for understanding and tolerance.

Review by Alan Frank