Tis the season . . . .

It’s school holiday season suckers and that means more movies released on a Thursday than 13-year-olds in a Supre store. Naturally most of these flicks are targeted at the easy to please kiddies let loose in movie theatres nation wide so here is brief guide to the first round of films released this school holiday Thursday, April 9.
17 Again
Sigh. That’s the best word to describe every detail of this film which has a premise used more often than Chris Brown’s fists. 17 Again is about some lame father played by lame actor Matthew Perry who wishes he could do his youth over again and then BHAM! he’s somehow magically transported back in to the body of his 17-year-old self played by Zac Efron. Boredom ensues. The trailer looks flat with tired jokes and clichéd everything but no doubt tweens and horny housewives will flock along to catch a glimpse of Efron with his shirt off. If you’re not in the latter, avoid 17 Again at all costs.
The Boat That Rocked
This period musicial, romance, comedy about an illegal radio station in the North Sea in the 60's has had an advertising campaign more severe than Kevin07. If the promotional saturation hasn’t turned you off than this looks quite promising with a stellar cast featuring Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Rhys Ifans, Bill Nighy, Kenneth Branagh Nick Frost and everyone’s favourite Kiwi Rhys Darby (in another strong career move). I think The Boat That Rocked will have a massive opening at the box office as audiences will be keen to escape the economic doom and gloom with this uplifting comedy. Frankly, this looks well-deserving of your hard earned cash considering it comes from British comic legend Richard Curtis. You know you’re in good hands with Curtis who not only directed my personal fav Love Actually but also has writing and producing credits on such Brit classics as Bridget Jones’ Diary, Notting Hill, Four Weddings & A Funeral, Blackadder and The Vicar Of Dibley. Early word from critics has this shaping up to be the feel-good comedy of the year.
Dragonball Evolution
Yeah, so, remember that cartoon where a bunch of dudes with big hair growled at each other for half an hour and occasionally blew shit up? Well, in a completely unsurprising move Dragonball Z has been adapted in to a C-grade movie with a no-name cast and some semi-impressive special effects. James Wong is directing, the guy behind Final Destination 3 and a bunch of X-Files episodes. Consensus? This is strictly for hardcore fans of the cartoon series.
Mary & Max
Easily the film I’m most excited about this Thursday and one I’ve have looking forward to all year. After his 2003 Oscar win for animated short film Harvie Krumpet, Aussie director Adam Elliot has put together his first feature film and it has been receiving no shortage of hype. It became the first animated movie to open the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year and is a tale of friendship between two unlikely pen pals: Mary, a lonely, eight-year-old girl living in the suburbs of Melbourne, and Max, a forty-four-year old, severely obese man living in New York. With celebrated actors like Toni Collette, Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Eric Bana lending their voices to the central characters and the beautiful (if not restricted) colour palette, I’m amped to see this. The animation is all stop-motion claymation, similar to Wallace & Gromit and it looks incredible. Combined with the intriguing story line this is set to be a shadowy, intriguing exploration of the human condition and a must see.
Good

It’s always a pleasure to watch Viggo Mortensen on screen and the one-time king of Middle Earth stars in this World-War-II-era drama as a professor who is reluctant to join the Nazi party. As anti-Semitic feelings grow, he is forced to choose between his career and loyalties to a Jewish friend. Jason Isaacs and Jodie Whittaker round out an impressive supporting cast and with Austrian director Vicente Amorim, Good makes an enticing choice for those looking for a serious, historical drama as opposed to the lighter cinematic offerings mentioned above.