Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/620229
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 27 DECEMBER 2015 34 This Week 34 The best and worst There were some wonderful surprises among the industry-churned pap this year, but TEODOR RELJIC finds that the duds more than matched the gems IN CINEMAS TODAY St James Cavalier Valletta Tel. 21 223200 Met Opera in Cinema – The Magic Flute 18:00 Embassy Cinemas Valletta Tel. 21 227436, 21 245818 Star Wars: The Force Awakens 3D (PG) 10:35, 14:30, 18:00, 21:00 The Good Dinosaur (U) 10:25, 13:45, 16:10, 18:30 Spectre (12) 10:30, 14:30, 18:00, 21:00 Bridge of Spies (12) 20:50 Hunger Games Mockingjay Pt 2 (12) 20:50 Christmas with the Coopers (12) 10:15, 13:40, 16:00, 18:25, 20:55 Victor Frankenstein (15) 16:00, 18:25, 18:50 In the Heart of the Sea (12) 10:00, 13:00, 15:50, 18:30, 21:10 Eden Cinemas St Julian's Tel. 23 710400 Star Wars: The Force Awakens 3D (PG) 11:25, 11:30, 14:30, 18:50, 20:55, 21:45 Spectre (12) 11:25, 14:25, 17:50, 21:05, 23:00 Christmas with the Coopers (12) 11:20, 14:05, 16:25, 18:45, 21:05 Victor Frankenstein (15) 16:25, 21:10 Hunger Games: Mockingjay Pt 2 (12) 11:20, 14:20, 18:00, 20:55 The Good Dinosaur (U) 11:15, 14:10, 16:30, 18:50 Bridge of Spies (12) 11:30, 14:30, 18:00, 20:50 Burnt (15) 11:30, 14:05, 18:45 Tangerine (15) 11:40, 18:00 Snoopy and Charlie Brown: The Peanuts Movie (U) 11:40, 14:10, 16:30, 18:45, 20:50 Love (18) 14:30, 20:45 In the Heart of the Sea (12) 11:30, 14:30, 18:15, 21:00, 23:45 Daddy's Home (12) 11:50, 14:10, 16:20, 18:35, 21:00, 23:15 The Nutcracker (PG) 15:00 By the Sea (15) 21:15 Empire Cinemas Bugibba Tel. 21 581787, 21 581909 Daddy's Home (12) 10:45, 13:00, 15:15, 18:00, 21:00 Snoopy and Charlie Brown: The Peanuts Movie (U) 11:00, 13:30, 16:00, 18:30, 20:55 In the Heart of the Sea 3D(12) 10:45, 13:20, 15:55, 18:25, 21:00 Star Wars: The Force Awakens 3D (PG) 11:00, 14:00, 17:00, 20:30 Spectre (12) 11:00, 14:00, 18:00, 21:00 Christmas with the Coopers (12) 10:45, 13:30, 16:00, 18:30, 20:55 Victor Frankenstein (15) 21:00 The Good Dinosaur (PG) 10:30, 13:20, 15:45, 18:10 The Face of an Angel, dir. Michael Winterbottom Michael Winterbottom is a great filmmaker. Just how he wrung this turkey out into production is possibly a mystery even more compelling than the film itself. A fictionalized take on the Amanda Knox case which sets out to explore the tenuous links between reality and conjecture, but that just ends up a mess groping for thematic relevance, and your attention. 2. Terminator: Genysis, dir. Alan Taylor When it comes to pointless reboots nobody asked for, this gets top billing. A hollow exercise in unnecessarily confusing time-travel tomfoolery, topped off with an appearance by Mr Charisma Vacuum himself Jai Courtney, and you have a recipe for nothing much at all. No amount of duplicated Arnies, or even Khaleesi herself (Emilia Clarke) can mask just what a cynical exercise this all is. Jurassic World, dir. Colin Trevnorrow It may have broken box office records and tickled the nostalgia itch for some, but this Jurassic Park reboot is a product of the same cynical machine that gave us 'Genysis', and no amount of meta-jokes about how "the old park was better, hur hur hur" will make this studio-committee-produced pile of garbage any more acceptable. Bereft of heart, soul and show-stopping set pieces, this is the Jurassic Park we deserve. A lazy re-tread through familiar story beats with CGI dinos that put its predecessors to shame. The Face of an Angel, dir. Michael Winterbottom The Face of an Angel, dir. Michael Winterbottom The Face of an Angel, dir. Michael Winterbottom 2. Terminator: Genysis, dir. Alan Taylor 2. Terminator: Genysis, dir. Alan Taylor 2. Terminator: Genysis, dir. Alan Taylor 5 Everest, dir. Baltasar Kormákur A group of climbers of varying degrees of skill decide to take on Mount Everest. One of them (Jason Clarke) has a pregnant wife back home. Why are we expected to feel sympathy for them, exactly? Various reasons are offered, but none of them is convincing or compelling. It's not a cautionary tale, and there isn't a shred of psychological depth to the characters either. So what's the point, exactly? Everest, dir. Baltasar Kormákur Everest, dir. Baltasar Kormákur Everest, dir. Baltasar Kormákur THE WORST THE WORST 4 3 2 1 No Escape, dir. John Erick Dowdle Owen Wilson takes on a role normally doled out to Liam Neeson as he protects his family from Evil Non-Americans in this derivative and disgustingly racist thriller that would have landed in the straight-to-video bin (or streaming service) had it been shorn of its star power – which in this case also includes Pierce Brosnan. An eleventh- hour apology for Western interventionism does nothing to save this questionable – and worse still, not entertaining at all – trudge through stereotypes of all kinds.