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photographs and One Shot Reviews from Leigh Paatsch, appearing in your local NewsCorp Australia every Thursday and Saturday

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One Shot Review - A ROYAL NIGHT OUT ... A ferociously fluffy light comedy set on VE Night, 1945. World War 2 is over. The whole of London has lost its stiff upper lip, and is now off its face. Meanwhile, inside Buckingham Palace, King George VI (Rupert Everett) is keeping all high times on the down-low. Getting blitzed on champers and dancing in a fountain like the common folk just isn't the done thing. Which, of course makes it the very thing teenage princesses Elizabeth (Sarah Gadon) and Margaret (Bel Powley) will covertly be doing on this once-in-a-lifetime evening. None of this feather-brained malarkey actually happened, but it doesn't really matter. A movie as silly, charming and utterly disposable as you allow it to be. Co-stars Emily Watson. **1/2 #queenelizabeth #princessmargaret #aroyalnightout #royalnightout #belpowley #sarahgadon #ruperteverett #julianjarrold #OneShotReview

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One Shot Review - MAD MAX: FURY ROAD (MA15+)  Challenging and aggressively captivating throughout, Mad Max: Fury Road will come to be regarded as a modern masterpiece of action filmmaking.  While Fury Road is simply one protracted, adrenalin-guzzling chase sequence that cannot and will not ever let up, it never gets ahead of itself. Exploring an exciting new tangent of the Mad Max myth, Fury Road sees post-apocalyptic nomad Max (Thomas Hardy, ably replacing Mel Gibson) join forces with female freedom fighter Furiosa (a stunning Charlize Theron) on a devastating journey across the baddest badlands imaginable. Where Fury Road is destined to truly leave a massive mark is with its astonishing visual composition. The contents of every frame - from the mind-boggling camera placements to the breathtaking (and reputedly CGI-free) stunt choreography - contributes to what becomes a sustained assault upon the senses. The viewer is strapped into this throttling thrill-ride from the get-go. Once everything begins barreling forward at ever-increasing speed, there can be no turning back. A directorial triumph for veteran filmmaker George Miller. ***** #OneShotReview #madmaxfuryroad #madmax #tomhardy #charlizetheron #maxrockatansky #furiosa

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One Shot Review - KURT COBAIN : MONTAGE OF HECK. Just months after the release of their 1991 album Nevermind - a supersonically anthemic cry of pain that instantly sold millions - Nirvana was the biggest band on the planet. What's more, Nirvana's enigmatic singer-songwriter, 24-year-old Kurt Cobain, was unanimously hailed as "the voice of a generation." The fact that Cobain refused to play the publicity game - remaining aggressively silent on the meaning of his songs - did nothing to shrug off a tag he clearly loathed. Kurt Cobain died by his own hand at age 27. While Cobain's short life and extensive body of work has been examined on film and TV many times, this epic new documentary achieves a definitive portrait of the man, his music, and most importantly of all, his art. Filmmaker Brett Morgen has been granted unprecedented access to Cobain's immense personal archives, and uses these largely unseen materials (which include 4000 pages of notes and sketches, and more than 100 hours of home movies and performance footage) to mesmerising and revealing effect. #kurtcobain #montageofheck #brettmorgen #nirvana #courtneylove #nevermind #OneShotReview

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One Shot Review - PITCH PERFECT 2. You can safely file Pitch Perfect 2 under ‘fans only affair.’ Of course, given there are so many fans of the original Pitch Perfect - a breezy breakout hit in 2012 - a sequel serving up more of the same will probably do just nicely. For the uninitiated, more of the same means wall-to-wall a cappella singing routines, broken up by lots of wonky comedy, a little romance and an unbreakable girl-gang camaraderie. A slender storyline covers an international comeback from disgrace at home for collegiate competition songbirds The Barden Bellas. The overall effect is not unlike a couple of Glee episodes tacked together for no particular reason, other than to keep the catchy songs and sketchy gags coming. While the plentiful and diverse musical offerings can’t really be faulted, the comedy cupboard is disappointingly bare when it comes to any fresh humour in play. Stars Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson, Hailee Steinfeld. #pitchperfect #pitchperfect2 #annakendrick #sequel #acappella #bardenbellas #rebelwilson

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One Shot Review - CLOUDS OF SILS MARIA. The cruelly short professional life of an actress is no life at all : not so much a race against time, as a long and agonising wait for time to pass you by. Unless you're Meryl Streep, that day when the phone stops ringing and the offers disappear is never far away. In this fascinating, flawlessly performed drama, Juliette Binoche plays Maria, a decorated star of stage and screen staring her own impending demise square in the eye. Though the efforts of her dedicated personal assistant Valentine (Twilight heroine Kristen Stewart, winner of a French Cesar award for a fine display here) form a much-needed buffer from reality, the writing remains on the wall for Maria. Proceedings do stray towards the unnecessarily pretentious at times because of preciously over-written dialogue, but the film's X-ray-like understanding of its characters carry it a long way. Co-stars Chloe Grace Moretz. #juliettebinoche #kristenstewart #cloudsofsilsmaria #chloegracemoretz #olivierassayas

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One Shot Review - EX MACHINA. A searing slow-burner of a drama about technology, innovation, and the point where the need to break the rules is overpowered by a desire to play God. Oscar Isaac plays a reclusive search-engine genius whose latest project is implanting perfectly-programed artificial intelligence inside eerily lifelike robots. The experiment goes increasingly haywire once a young research assistant (Domhnall Gleeson) loses his heart to a beautiful new prototype (Alicia Vikander). First-time director Alex Garland (a noted screenwriter and novelist) exerts a clinically conniving control over events that captures the complete attention of the viewers. The three leads (particularly Isaac, a rapidly evolving talent) are equally effective at conveying the ethical perils posed by a future that could be closer than we are prepared to admit. #aliciavikander #oscarisaac #domnhallgleeson #alexgarland

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One Shot Review - AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON. This blockbuster sequel has been made for one of the most massive captive audiences in movie history : the first Avengers from 2012 is the third highest-grossing release of all-time behind Avatar and Titanic. However, Age of Ultron falls slightly short of its predecessor in every department. While it couldn't be labelled a disappointment, this sprawling action epic marks a distinct downgrade from the high standards set by the first instalment. The story centres on a new enemy named Ultron, a mechanised villain powered by an artificial intelligence that reasons mankind should be wiped from the planet. The fact that Ultron is a computer-rendered bad-guy does undercut the intended impact here. In most battle sequences, you could be forgiven for thinking you're watching a preview of the next Transformers movie. Therefore the scenes where iconic Marvel superheroes such as Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth) dominate must be cherished. Co-stars Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo. #avengers #marvel #avengersageofultron #ageofultron #ultron #blackwidow #scarlettjohansson

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One Shot Review - BANKSY DOES NEW YORK. This fun, funky crowd-sourced documentary depicts a month in the life of the celebrated guerilla artist Banksy. Not just any old month, mind you. In October 2013, Banksy declared himself New York City's artist-in-residence, and spent those thirty days unleashing a steady stream of signature works all over the Big Apple. As always, Banksy himself remains the mischievous man of mystery he has always been in this doco. However, the reactions provoked by his art - especially on emotional, critical and financial levels - continue to throw warped and fascinating shapes. #OneShotReview #banksy #guerillaart #graffiti #tagger

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One Shot Review - BOYCHOIR. Veteran actor Dustin Hoffman just doesn't get out of his easy chair for any old job these days. So his venerable presence immediately diverts this syrupy triumph-over-adversity affair away from the too-sweet-to-stomach zone. Hoffman plays the head of an exclusive music academy for boy sopranos who isn't convinced the newest student on his books has what it takes. 11-year-old Texan poor boy Stet (newcomer Garrett Wareing) isn't so sure either. But then again, who can blame him? His alcoholic mum has just died, and his dad barely acknowledges his existence. The musical interludes are indeed quite lovely, and a fine support cast including Kathy Bates, Eddie Izzard and Josh Lucas do what they can. Nevertheless, this is tear-jerkin' telemovie stuff you've seen many, many times before. #boychoir #DustinHoffman #choral

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One Shot Review - KUMIKO, THE TREASURE HUNTER. A slow, enigmatic and faintly disconcerting drama, which could also be read as a bleak one-joke comedy if the fancy takes you. The premise has a certain something, that's for sure. Rinko Kikuchi plays Kumiko, a beaten-down Japanese office worker who becomes obsessed with an old VHS copy of the Coen brothers movie Fargo. The famously false 'based on a true story' angle of Fargo is lost on poor Kumiko, who scrambles her ordered life to travel to rural Minnesota to find the buried bounty that ruined so many lives in the movie. But what of this movie? Well, it's an acquired taste, gently measuring the full delusion of this woman's quest from every noble, poignant and pointless angle possible. #Fargo #Kumiko #KumikoTheTreasureHunter #rinkokikuchi #OneShotReview

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One Shot Review - TESTAMENT OF YOUTH. Traditional wartime weepie with real emotional gravity. #ww1 #aliciavikander #verabrittain #TestamentOfYouth

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One Shot Review - UNFRIENDED. Economical, yet effective teen horror set entirely on a laptop screen ... #unfriended #horror #OneShotReview

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Mike Tyson, Atlanta, 1986. photograph by Albert Watson. #miketyson #albertwatson

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Portrait of the legendary 'night photographer' Weegee taking an afternoon nap in his apartment, NYC, 1953. #weegee

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One Shot Review FAST & FURIOUS 7 : Another lap around a familiar circuit. #VinDieselFumes http://t.co/GD9y1PrVJ4 

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One Shot Review WHILE WE’RE YOUNG : Acerbic comedy is the best Ben Stiller’s been in yonks.

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One Shot Review : THE AGE OF ADALINE : here’s how eternal youth can get old very quickly.