Dynamic duo: Tom Hanks and director Clint Eastwood on the set of Sully.
SULLY ****1/2 (96 minutes) M
Any lingering doubts that Clint Eastwood, at 86, was at the top of his game as one of America's premier film directors are swept away by his taut, compelling retelling of the forced landing on New York's Hudson River on 15 January 2009 in which 155 lives were saved.
While the world is hailing him a hero, airline captain Chesley Sullenberger (Tom Hanks, in what might be his ultimate everyman role) finds himself the subject of an inquiry questioning his judgement. Though both engines were out, he's quizzed as to why he didn't fly to an airport and land the plane in tact rather than drop the expensive airliner into the river.
This tension between his public adulation - even a hotel manager hugs him - and his vilification by bureaucrats speaks directly to the theme Eastwood addressed in his previous film American Sniper, which turned into a much bigger hit than anyone expected ($350m domestic; $550 global), chiefly because it hit such a patriotic nerve and offered a sound backhander to political correctness.
By unashamedly celebrating another real-life American hero, Eastwood is again pushing back against the post-9/11 atmosphere of self-loathing, apathy and self-blame that has turned the notion of national pride into a cringeworthy concept only rednecks champion.
What Eastwood is essentially doing with Sully is holding up a genuinely remarkable person and declaring to all the liberal naysayers and apologists: "This person is an American hero. Deal with it."
There has been some dispute as to whether the National Safety Transport Board really did conduct itself as a modern-day Inquisition, but the portrayal suits the film's need to reflect a general reluctance to embrace heroes.
But above and beyond all that - and it is only an interpretation - Sully is an absolutely compelling drama about the triumph of common sense and the importance of facing extreme adversity with cool and resolve.
It's an early call, but with Hanks putting in such a great, understated, dignified performance and Eastwood showing his mastery of concision - he could so easily have bloated this out into a 140-minute "event film" - it's likely the film will be all over the Oscars next year.
Keep watch.
A BEAUTIFUL PLANET *** (40 minutes) G
Another eye-popping Imax doco set largely in orbit and looking down at our humble planet. The film offers some amusing insights into the realities of long-term visits to the International Space Station (the stuff about recycling liquids might gross you out) but the real pay-offs are the highly detailed shots of our planet, in parts beautiful, in parts damaged by climate change. The takeaway image is the one showing the Korean peninsula at night where the difference between living in a free society and an oppressive Communist one is all too clear. A good doco, but why so bleeding short? Most people would happily sit through 80-90 minutes of space footage.
CAPTAIN FANTASTIC *** (118 minutes) M
The ever-versatile Viggo Mortensen shines as an eco-warrior father raising his motherless family off the grid in the hopes of giving them a richer life than the one available in capitalist, hive-minded suburbia. A tragedy leads to a road trip during which the alleged evils of a supposedly degenerate and corrupt society are exposed to the children, whose semi-brainwashed minds respond with varying degrees of enthusiasm.
An emotionally strong, heartfelt film written and very well-directed by Matt Ross, who fills the running time with plenty of colour and conflict as the father slowly realises he is being confronted by a choice about what is more precious to him; his family or his idealism.
GIRL ASLEEP **1/2 (77 minutes) M
Lovely, quirky, highly stylised left-field Aussie comedy set in the 1970s about adolescent awkwardness, peer pressure and the importance of throwing a killer party. Greta (Bethany Whitmore) is about to turn 15 and is forced by her adorable parents (Amber McÂMahon and Matthew Whittet, who adapted his play) and red-headed friend Elliot (Harrison Feldman) into throwing a soiree.
Directed by Rosemary Myers, the film sprouts from her successful stage production at Adelaide's Windmill theatre, which has obviously influenced the heightened theatricality of its costumes and set design, with many of the compositions made to look symmetrical.
It's a fun frolic that borrows heavily from Wes Anderson and a little from David Lynch, with just enough substance to keep its flighty microcosm of 1970s teenagehood together.
However, a major mistake - hailed by some as a stroke of aesthetic brilliance - is that the film was shot in the square 4:3 ratio. Intended to replicate the frame size of the period - in that case, why not shoot in the corresponding format of the period on 16mm or videotape? - it actually makes the film look a bit cheap and gimmicky.
Other films set in the 1970s are completely relaxed about shooting wide and the virtues of Girl Asleep would no doubt have been enhanced had it opened up the window into Greta's weird world a little more.
THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS *** (91 minutes) G
From the manic makers of Despicable Me and Minions comes a cutely subversive talking-animals cartoon that delves into the lives of pampered pets once their owners leave for the day. It's a typically fast adventure graced by a diverse range of critter characters as a slavishly loyal Jack Russell pooch (voiced by Louis CK) goes to war with his large new roomie (Eric Stonestreet) and they both end up on the street.
There are story holes - it seems post-content cinema has caught up to animation - but that matters about as much as it usually does for undemanding, easily digested disposable multiplex fodder.
And it's academic. The film has already taken about $790 million at the global box office, which is now standard for most studio franchise animations, and will easily please kids.
As lovely as Finding Dory was, Pets is certainly more fun than much of Pixar's recent slate - they've really got to inch away from all the touchy-feely stuff - even if it can't match the creative spark and sass we saw in Disney's Zootopia.
