The best films of 2015 so far – Australia

Ben Stiller and Naomi Watts in While We’re Young

January

The Imitation Game
Director: Morten Tyldum
Running time: 114 minutes
Certificate: M
Oscar-winning drama that tells the true story of Alan Turing whose code-breaking helped to win the second world war while homophobic laws hastened his tragic downfall.

Birdman
Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu
Running time: 119 minutes
Certificate: MA 15+
One-shot, double-Oscar-winning comedy starring Michael Keaton as an actor who tries to put his movie superhero past behind him by classying it up on Broadway.

Paper Planes
Director: Robert Connolly
Running time: 96 minutes
Certificate: G
Warmly-received look into the competitive world of paper plane throwing with a big homegrown heart and driven by Sam Worthington and a charming young cast.

American Sniper
Director: Clint Eastwood
Running time: 134 minutes
Certificate: MA 15+
Clint Eastwood’s most commercially successful film to date stars Bradley Cooper as US Navy SEAL Chris Kyle who became one of the most lethal snipers in American history.

The Theory of Everything
Director: James Marsh
Running time: 123 minutes
Certificate: G
In an Oscar-winning turn, Eddie Redmayne plays physicist Stephen Hawking, whose relationship with wife (Felicity Jones) is tested by his motor neurone disease.

Foxcatcher
Director: Bennett Miller
Running time: 134 minutes
Certificate: M
Brooding true story of eccentric billionaire John du Pont, who invited a down-on-his-luck wrestler (Channing Tatum) to train at this estate, with tragic results.

February

Kingsman: The Secret Service
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Running time: 129 minutes
Certificate: MA 15+
This box office comic book adaptation stars Colin Firth as an agent who mentors a rufty-tufty youth training to become a super-spy.
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The Interview
Director: Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg
Running time: 112 minutes
Certificate: MA 15+
Controversial comedy with James Franco and Seth Rogen as a TV host and producer who are recruited to assassinate Kim Jong-un during an interview.

Selma
Director: Ava DuVernay
Running time: 128 minutes
Certificate: M
The story of Martin Luther King’s struggle to get African-American people the right to vote without fear of discrimination by focusing on a march in Alabama.

A Most Violent Year
Director: JC Chandor
Running time: 125 minutes
Certificate: MA 15+
A crime drama starring Oscar Isaac as a business-owner trying to keep on the right side of law, despite mounting pressure from all around him.

March

Inherent Vice
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Running time: 149 minutes
Certificate: MA 15+
Woozy, polarising adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s cult novel, with Joaquin Phoenix as a perma-stoned PI investigating the disappearance of an ex.

Home
Director: Tim Johnson
Running time: 96 minutes
Certificate: PG
Animated comedy with Rihanna voicing a young girl who befriends an alien that helps her to find her mother after the human population is relocated.

Big Eyes
Director: Tim Burton
Running time: 106 minutes
Certificate: M
The true story of an artist, played by Amy Adams, who is convinced by a new boyfriend to put his name on her paintings to achieve more success in 60s California.

Shaun the Sheep the Movie
Director: Mark Burton & Richard Goleszowski
Running time: 85 minutes
Certificate: G
In the Aardman creation’s first big screen outing, this kids adventure follows Shaun as he heads to the big city with his flock to save the farmer.

Leviathan
Director: Andrey Zvyagintsev
Running time: 142 minutes
Certificate: M
Nominated for best foreign language film at the Oscars, this Russian drama follows a man as he tried to maintain control of his property as the authorities try to break him.

April

Furious 7
Director: James Wan
Running time: 140 minutes
Certificate: M
Already one of the five most successful films of all time at the worldwide box office, this action-packed sequel brings back Vin Diesel and Paul Walker, in his final role, as they are pitted against a revenge-seeking Kurt Russell.

X+Y
Director: Morgan Matthews
Running time: 111 minutes
Certificate: M
A young maths prodigy must overcome is social anxiety when he lands a spot on the British squad at the International Mathematics Olympiad.

While We’re Young
Director: Noah Baumbach
Running time: 97 minutes
Certificate: M
Hipster satire starring Ben Stiller and Naomi Watts as a couple stuck in a rut who befriend a younger couple, played by Adam Driver and Amanda Seyfried, causing them to reassess their outlook on life.

Avengers: Age of Ultron
Director: Joss Whedon
Running time: 141 minutes
Certificate: M
Smash hit Marvel sequel which brings back the supervillain-fighting band of heroes who are faced with a new enemy, played by James Spader via motion capture, intent on destruction.

May

Wild Tales
Director: Damián Szifron
Running time: 122 minutes
Certificate: MA 15+
A collection of darkly funny tales from Argentina, revolving around themes of anger and revenge that was nominated for the best foreign language film Oscar.

Mad Max: Fury Road
Director: George Miller
Running time: 120 minutes
Certificate: MA 15+
Long-awaited reboot of the dusty apocalyptic action saga with Tom Hardy taking on the lead role, with support from a one-armed Charlize Theron.

Ex Machina
Director: Alex Garland
Running time: 110 minutes
Certificate: MA 15+
A young computer programmer is chosen to spend time with his company’s reclusive CEO, played by Oscar Isaac, who reveals a humanoid robot with her own agenda.

Clouds of Sils Maria
Director: Oliver Assayas
Running time: 125 minutes
Certificate: MA 15+
Juliette Binoche plays an actress who is forced to examine her life when she takes on a role in a play that she starred in 20 years before.

Jurassic World record: dinosaur reboot scores monstrous $511.8m on debut

Dinosaur blockbuster Jurassic World made Hollywood history this weekend after rampaging to a monstrous $511.8m worldwide.
The gargantuan total, the first time a movie has ever opened north of $500m, was helped by a gigantic $204.6m US total and huge $100.8m Chinese bow, as well as $29.6m in the UK. The previous world record opening was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2’s $483.2m bow in 2011.
Colin Trevorrow’s film stars Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard as employees on a fully operational dinosaur park who discover its newest creation, an enormous genetically modified carnivore named Indominus Rex, has escaped from captivity. It is the fourth film in the Steven Spielberg-created action adventure saga, following 1993’s Jurassic Park, 1997’s The Lost World: Jurassic Park and 2001’s Jurassic Park III.

In the wake of the $150m film’s staggering financial success, it has emerged that Pratt is signed on to shoot a number of sequels, though Safety Not Guaranteed director Trevorrow is not expected to return. “We’re saying if the film-makers agree, we’d love to have another movie,” Universal’s Nick Carpou, told the Hollywood Reporter. “But right now we are concentrating on this movie.”
The film has benefited from a decent, if rarely glowing critical appraisal, and currently boasts a 70% “fresh” rating on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw called it a “terrifically enjoyable and exciting summer spectacular” in his four-star review on Wednesday, though The Observer’s Mark Kermode flagged up a number of T-Rex sized plot holes.
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Jurassic World’s box office success augurs well for an excellent 2015 for Hollywood, with a more than reasonable chance that five movies released this year could now cross the $1bn mark. Furious 7 and The Avengers: Age of Ultron have already done so, and Trevorrow’s film looks to be well on course. Studios still have James Bond’s latest adventure, Spectre, to come in November, while Star Wars: The Force Awakens bows in December.
Elsewhere on the north American box office it was a quiet weekend, with studios wisely keeping their new offerings as far away from Jurassic World’s frenzied giant reptiles as possible. Paul Feig action comedy Spy, starring Melissa McCarthy, slipped from first to second with $16m in its second week for a total of $56.9m, while Dwayne Johnson disaster flick San Andreas pulled in a third-week total of $11m for an overall haul of $119.3m in third. The top five was rounded out by low budget horror sequel Insidious: Chapter 3, in fourth, with $7.3m in its second week for a $37.3m total, and comedy Pitch Perfect 2, with a fifth-week haul of $5.9m for a total of $170.6m.
US box office chart, 12-14 June
1. Jurassic World: $204.6m - NEW
2. Spy: $16m, $56.9m
3. San Andreas: $11m, $119.3m
4. Insidious: Chapter 3: $7.3m, $37.3m
5. Pitch Perfect 2: $5.9m, $170.6m
6. Entourage: $4.3m, $25.9m
7. Mad Max: Fury Road: $4.1m, $138.6m
8. Avengers: Age of Ultron: $3.6m, $444.7m
9. Tomorrowland: $3.4m, $83.6m
10. Love & Mercy: $1.7m, $4.7m