Vice
Director: Adam McKay
Stars: Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Steve Carell

Christian Bale is superb in this comedy drama biography of Dick Cheney, VP to George W Bush, and one of the individuals most responsible for the mess in Iraq, and many other things that define the current state of the world. Amy Adams plays wife Lynne, Steve Carell is Donald Rumsfeld, and Sam Rockwell is George W. Bush (43) so really the cast alone is reason enough for you to get along to this.

There is a lot more to like than the cast though. Director Adam McKay, brings some of the look and feel he brought to The Big Short to this story of how Cheney was the most influential VP in US history, and, from the perspective here, the power behind the throne. While the central thread is "scenes from a life", there are generally successful flashes of metaphorical imagery, illustrated exposition, historical footage and other sleights of hand that combine into a highly watchable, funny, engaging and even emotive film. This is an artful film, deploying subtlety alongside over the top what-the-fuckery, drama with comedy, and it offers perceptions of both the processes of power within the US government and some of the most influential players of recent history.

Yes, there is more than some truth to the accusations of a clear "liberal" bias, as the US would have it, but to the more centrist Australian eye there are obvious moments of balance, and the overall slant is just context to be aware of. You already know that you need to take everything with a grain of salt, because it is a Hollywood film.

Sadly, it seems to have limited screen times, but having just collected a swag of Golden Globes and with "good word of mouth", it should have a long run on the big screen.

Aquaman
Director: James Wan
Stars: Jason Momoa, Amber Heard, Patrick Wilson

100% popcorn, big screen, leather recliner mayhem of the sort only $160m can produce. Over the top, awesome and great fun, but a hot mess. Terrific visualisations and some great concepts of Atlantis and Atlanteans are genuine highlights.

Momoa’s casting years ago was genius, and everyone else at least does their job, though character wise the make-up, costuming and effects teams do a lot of lifting for the actors. Amber Heard, Nicole Kidman, Patrick Wilson, Willem Dafoe, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Temuera Morrison all feature.

Mostly well-paced, there is too much going on. Not for you - it is comic book plots after all - you will keep up, but for the director and editors. More of this, especially some of the clunky Manta storyline, needed to hit the cutting room floor. Part origin story, part vengeful nemesis, part current mega-crisis, part romance and too much clunky inter-linking.

Most of you can stop reading here and just catch this if you enjoy the blockbuster superhero genre. For a riff on director James Wan (Saw) keep reading.

Aussie director James Wan has transformed his success with Saw into a serious Hollywood career and, blitzing the box office with Fast and Furious 7, was given the keys to this potentially difficult continuation of the DC Extended Universe. The first major problem; it is full blown memetic that Aquaman is the lamest Justice Leaguer. More importantly Marvel, having stolen a huge jump on DC, have been busy kicking box office arse. At about the time principal photography was wrapping on this, Justice League hit screens and was only a very muted success, while Marvel’s subsequent Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War both went top ten all time gross. Talk about pressure. Ultimately a guy known for tight budgets and earnings at brilliant multiples has produced something incredibly loose here, but it has already grossed a billion, so he has another winner. Hopefully that means if he directs another DCEU film he will have enough sway to dump $10m scenes which should have happened a couple of times here.

Released for the season of excess so maybe they made the right choice in hoping the audience would be blown away by it all.

Instant Family
Director: Sean Anders
Stars: Rose Byrne, Octavia Spencer, Mark Wahlberg

My expectations were low, but I admit this is a slick Hollywood treatment of a tough subject; adopting foster kids. Yes, it is sanitised, but it is genuinely part comedy and part tear-jerker in that much underestimated low-key Hollywood style of throwing up gentle progressive notes rather than in-your-face realism. You know you are being manipulated, but you like it.

No idea how they spent $48M on this, but presumably hefty amounts to stars Mark Wahlberg, Rose Byrne and Octavia Spencer inflated the budget. Marky worked with director Sean Anders on Daddy's Home (1 and 2) and is comfortable here. Isabela Moner, future Dora and the kidnapped girl in Sicario: Day of the Soldado, plays the eldest of three siblings being fostered with an eye to adoption by the married couple played by Wahlberg and Byrne. Clichés ensue, sure, but this is tight, reflecting the commitment of Anders to delivering the message as it is based on his own experience.

Peppermint
Director: Pierre Morel
Stars: Jennifer Garner

By-the-numbers revenge porn. Sympathetic victim; Jennifer Garner, check. Evil wrongdoers; death worshipping Mexican cartel flunkies, check. Corrupt police and judicial figures; check. This is a typical example of the genre, directed by Taken’s Pierre Morel, though without anything approaching Taken’s viral potential.

Just enough to keep you interested throughout, but too many bland scenes, a few too many lines of forced dialogue, and too many easy kills for this to get genuine traction. John Ortiz is good as one of the cops, easy to see why he is currently winning a lot of roles, and young Cailey Fleming - currently little girl Judith in The Walking Dead and who was the little Rey in The Force Awakens - also makes an impression.

Few screen times, and this won’t be long in cinemas.

Juddy keeps busy consuming cultural media thus shirking real work while posing as a student at a major Sydney university. He hosts pub trivia, and tutors at said university, for beer and book money.