SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN
Dir: Malick Bendjelloul

I've been left a little surprised by this rather wonderful film. Not because of the fascinating story it tells but simply because I hadn't realised that its central character, Detroit singer/songwriter Sixto Rodriguez, was obscure. Both his albums were widely available in New Zealand and favourites in the seventies and eighties amongst folkies, Dylan fans and many others.

But apparently the rest of the world forgot him. Apart from South Africa, where in apartheid days his songs were bootlegged and he became a pop music icon and inspiration for generations. But his worldwide obscurity led to many rumours – in some he committed suicide on stage, burned himself alive or shot himself. He rose to mythical status until in the ‘90s a couple of fans headed out to find the truth. I guess it's OK to reveal now that they found him still working construction in Detroit.

The rest of the story is a happy one – he's now touring the world, playing at Byron Bay Blues Festival in March before heading on to do shows in New Zealand. The film is fantastic, telling a great story really well. It's inspiring and surprising stuff. Whether or not you know Rodriguez music I highly recommend it.

End Of Watch is a police drama starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena as partners in the LAPD, slightly larrikin but dedicated cops patrolling the mean streets. The distinctive feature of the film is that most of it is presented as 'found footage” from car cameras, handicams, and even mini cameras the pair wear. While this brings an immediacy, inconsistencies in the approach are also distracting. It's gritty stuff and the central relationship is well drawn (both Gyllenhaal and Pena are excellent) but it's very much slice of life and character-centred rather than plot-driven.

Shark's have once again become a popular movie trope in everything from the serious (Open Water) to the silly (Shark Night 3DD). From its synopsis, Bait sounds like it's going to be the latter: a bunch of Aussies battle a great white shark... in a supermarket! I can see the sequels slogan right now - 'Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the Four Square”. Actually, this takes itself seriously and does quite a good job of it. The supermarket is in Queensland, the coast of which has just been hit by a Tsunami, thus stranding the disparate bunch in said store. With a shark. There are some cheesy moments but overall, not too bad.

Savages presents director Oliver Stone at his most lurid and over the top. Not that it's necessarily a bad thing. When leaving aside politics and conspiracies Stone has made the likes of bizarre noir thriller U-Turn and that, crossed perhaps with the drug craziness of Scarface is what this most resembles. It's a film about a couple of blokes selling marijuana (very high quality, lots of it) who run foul of a vicious Mexican cartel headed by the formidable combination of Salma Hayek and Benicio Del Torro. There's also a double dealing DEA bloke (a bald John Travolta) and much violence ensues. It's extreme and very silly, but should certainly enliven a dull Saturday night.

Even given the current trend of horror-themed cartoons (Paranorman, Hotel Transylvania), Frankenweenie is a most peculiar film. It shares the same eccentric design and black and white stop-motion style as Tim Burton's previous animated outings (Nightmare Before Christmas, Corpse Bride) and again riffs on 1930's horror conventions, telling the story of young Victor Frankenstein, a film-mad schoolboy with a cute dog, Sparky. After Sparky's unfortunate demise Victor's school science project takes a turn in keeping with his surname. Adults will think it looks great, is very clever and is a beautifully told story. Kids will think it looks old, isn't very funny and The Dog Dies! Neither group will probably want to watch it. I've tried it on five kids (ages five to fourteen) and none got past Sparky snuffing it. Great film, but for whom?