April 25th
1985
Avengers: Endgame
Gloria Bell
Celeste

It's a huge week with the eagerly anticipated release of Avengers:Endgame. If you're not into blockbusters there are still another three new releases reviewed here for your consideration.  

1985
Director: Yen Tan
Length: 85 min

© Icon - deeply moving and powerful
film-making set at the start of the AIDS crisis

The year is 1985 and New York advertising executive Adrian (Cory Michael Smith) is returning home for Christmas to his conservative Texan family. How can he tell them he is gay, let alone dying of AIDS? This exquisitely understated film takes a deeply compassionate approach to its subject matter, both the trauma Adrian must go through and the repressive, religious ethos of the day that makes it so hard for him to reveal the truth to his family.  His relationships with mother (Virginia Madsen), father (Michael Chiklis) and little brother Andrew (Aidan Langford) each have their individual dynamic that is explored delicately and with deep insight. Especially poignant and heart-breaking is his friendship with local girl Carly (Jamie Chung), an old friend who still holds hope for some romantic connection with Adrian. The film is shot in evocative black and white, which somehow enhances the sadness and gloom of those early years of the AIDS epidemic. The film has won countless awards, not just at LGBTQI festivals. Justifiably so, as it is a small gem that tells a huge story of both a broader social catastrophe with an intimate family and unconditional love thread at its heart. 
4.5 - wholeheartedly recommended!

Avengers: Endgame
Director: Anthony Russo and Joe Russo
Length: 181 min

© Disney - what can I say? It's amazing

Eleven years and 22 films later, the MCU (Marvel Comic Universe) franchise about a group of superheroes avenging the world comes to its climactic end. I'm not normally a big fan of this type of film, and for those who are, whatever I say will have little bearing. BUT . . . this is such a full-on, exciting, at times moving, action-packed, funny and, dare I say, well-scripted film (well, some of the time) it is almost worth surrendering three hours of your life to it. As with all films of this genre you must suspend disbelief. In a nutshell, the team (including Cptn america, Cptn Marvel, The Hulk, Iron Man, Ant Man, and Thor) gather to try to undo the ghastliness that the big bad guy Thanos wreaked when he obliterated half the world's population in the penultimate film Avengers: Infinity War. If they succeed is for you to discover. Ultimately the film for me is made by the huge cast of characters, who die-hard fans know so well; they are rounded, feel real and even have provocative and intelligent things to say. (Whether the quantum physics stacks up or is gobbly-gook doesn't matter - it sounds convincing.) Of course there are the expected battles, some of them so ludicrous, but there's no denying the power and fury of the SFX. Star power of the cast is amazing and there are more cameos than you can shake a stick at. In the long run, it's just amazingly good fun, three hours flew past, and from what I read on the net, die-hard fans are not disappointed - in fact they are ecstatic.
4 - highly recommended!

Celeste

Director: Ben Hackworth
Length: 105 min

© Unicorn Films - a lovely-looking film with
a questionable plot

Celeste (Radha Mitchell) is a once renowned opera singer, living now in the tropical rainforest of far north Queensland. Her step-son Jack (Thomas Cocquerel) is running from debts and heads north to the magnificent estate where his now-dead father once lived with Celeste. As Celeste's close friend Grace (Nadine Garner) urges the singer to give a comeback concert, dire family secrets will be revealed. The film takes its time to unveil the connections between the characters, and what one initially assumes is constantly open to interpretation.  This is one of the most beautiful-looking films I've seen in a long time. The magnificent setting of the actual location, tourist attraction Paronella Park near Innisfail, is a wonder to behold, and the cinematography does it total justice. Everything is gorgeous, mysterious and misty, but unfortunately the script just doesn't live up to the film's lovely look. Some of the relationships feel forced and unbelievable, the opera singing (with dubious lip synching) simply doesn't feel credible, while the main characters of Jack and Celeste are so polarised it's impossible to believe that they ever shared a family. It's a shame, because there is a broody, sensual, almost European feel to the whole thing, and yet the overall impression is that the script simply doesn't provide a strong enough foundation.
2.5 - maybe!

Gloria Bell
Director: Sebastian Lelio
Length: 100 min

© Roadshow - Julianne contemplates mortality
and how to get the most out of middle age

Mother of two grown kids, Gloria (Julianne Moore), has been divorced for about 12 years. She loves to dance and frequents clubs playing retro disco music and offering possible opportunities to meet men. When she meets recently divorced Arnold (John Turturro) it looks as though she may have found a dance partner and a soul mate. But as we know, these things seldom go so smoothly. Director Lelio made this same film, set in Chile and called Gloria, back in 2014. It's odd that he has remade it in English, but it certainly is great to see the wonderful Moore back on the screen. She has the sort of emotional range that speaks volumes without words. Women of a certain age (and marital status) will relate to this and possibly feel quite uncomfortable. Arnold is the sort of fellow I hear single women talk about - a man who seems to offer the world but can't break loose from his past and the pressures of an ex-wife and demanding daughters. While it is a fairly low-key film, it will surely resonate with middle-aged people on the dating scene,(not to mention with parents whose kids are too busy with their phones and self-absorption to relate to their family).
3.5 - well recommended!