December 1:  
Monsieur Mayonnaise
Sand Storm
The Founder
Golden Years
The Legend of Ben Hall

I'm getting rectangular eyes from all the viewing. And still it continues with the forthcoming Boxing Day releases  already being previewed to the media! Still, what a privilege to see so many fine films. I tip my hat to Eddie Tamir of Classic, Cameo and Lido cinemas who takes on such interesting films which we otherwise wouldn't get to see. Two of them are here this week, along with the excellent mainstream story of the rise of the Big Mac, a limited release of a fine film about bushranger Ben Hall, and a ho-hum Brit comedy about oldies behaving badly.  

The Founder
Director: John Lee Hancock
Length: 115 min

© Roadshow - Ray Kroc, so-called founder of McDonalds - 

a persistent man to be reckoned with.

The story of how McDonalds became what it is today is a fascinating one. Michael Keaton plays Ray Kroc, milkshake machine salesman, who stumbles across the McDonald brothers, who run a highly successful hamburger shop, based upon the concept of "speedie" service. Ray weasels his way into the business, sets himself up as head of franchising, and the rest is fast-food history. Keaton is masterful at playing an ambitious, ruthless man, who will stop at nothing to get what he wants. There is humour, pathos and food for thought in this highly entertaining film. 

4 - wholeheartedly recommended!
For a full review from Bernard Hemingway:
http://www.cinephilia.net.au/show_review.php?movieid=6141

Monsieur Mayonnaise
Director: Trevor Graham
Length: 95 min
Exclusive to Elsternwick Classic, Lido and Cameo

© JIFF Distribution - family, history, connectedness -
and baguettes with mayonnaise! 

Fresh from this year's Jewish International Film Festival comes a limited release of this uplifting, surprising and simply fabulous doco. Intertwining humour, paintings, recipes, anecdotes, archival footage and interviews, the film lovingly sprawls its way through the lives of Georges and Mirka Mora, both of whom escaped the Holocaust. He became a renowned restaurateur and she an iconic artist in Melbourne. Their story is told through the eyes of their artist and film-maker son Philippe, who is creating a graphic novel of Georges' time in the French resistance. Find out how a recipe for home-made mayonnaise helped people escape the Nazis!  

4 - wholeheartedly recommended!
For my full review:
http://www.cinephilia.net.au/show_review.php?movieid=6145

Sand Storm
Director: Elite Zexer
Length: 87 min
Exclusive to Elsternwick Classic, Lido and Cameo

© JIFF Distribution - the mores of Bedouin life are

 tough on women

Sand Storm has won well over a dozen awards from the Israeli Film Academy, along with a Grand Jury prize at Sundance. It tells of a Bedouin family living in southern Israel. When Jalila's husband Salim takes his second wife, life gets awkward, but things get seriously fraught when their daughter Layla decides she is in love with a boy from another tribe. With wonderful performances from the lead women (and indeed from the men), this is a powerful vision of a harsh society, one in which women must battle tradition to have a voice, and where modernity fights with long-held, repressive customs. 

4 - wholeheartedly recommended!


The Legend of Ben Hall
Director: Matthew Holmes
Length: 134 min

© Pinnacle - Jack Martin is a mighty handsome bushranger!

We all know of Ned Kelly, but maybe not so much about bushranger Ben Hall. This epic film portrays the last nine months of the outlaw's life, as he tracks down his estranged wife Biddy and little son Henry. He is lured back into his criminal ways by an old partner in crime, and it's all downhill from there! I can't fathom why this terrific film is getting such a limited release. It is well researched, feels historically authentic, and the cast are uniformly excellent. It's a fascinating look into the human face behind a slice of iconic Aussie history. 

3.5 - recommended!
For details of the limited screenings:
https://www.facebook.com/pg/benhallmovie/events/ 

Golden Years
Director: John Miller
Length: 96 min

© Rialto: 

Billed as Breaking Bad meets Best Marigold Hotel, Golden Years is firmly in the "oldies behaving badly" genre. Retired couple Arthur and Martha Goode find their pension fund has been savaged, thanks to a dodgy financial advisor, so they go on a crime spree to recoup some funds. There's some good old Brit talent in this - Virginia McKenna (from Born Free), Simon Callow, and Bernard Hill,. While the recurring theme of robberies performed with shopping trolleys, old fogey masks and cucumbers masquerading as guns starts off amusingly, it soon wears thin. With potentially serious themes relevant to many ageing folk, the film could have been a winner but suffers from a cliched gaucheness and politically incorrect jokes that wore thin years ago. 

2.5 - maybe!