Avatar teaser posterRighto, back again with a quick run down of what’s new in cinemas this week­end. First up, a spe­cial treat for film fans who want to some free enter­tain­ment tomor­row lunch­time – Read­ings are host­ing a spe­cial fif­teen minute pre­view of James Camer­on’s Avatar in their digit­al 3D Cinema 5. Three ses­sions (11.45am, 12.30pm & 1.15pm) are run­ning and tick­ets are avail­able on a first-come first-served. If you can­’t sneak out for these you’ll have to wait until the whole film opens world­wide on 17th Decem­ber.

Quentin Tarant­ino’s Inglouri­ous Bas­terds is only play­ing at Read­ings and Sky City Queens­gate but don’t let that put you off. I saw it this even­ing and enjoyed myself tre­mend­ously – there really is a lot of enter­tain­ment to be had at the pic­tures at the moment. Brad Pitt plays the lead­er of a Dirty Dozen type squad of jew­ish sol­diers, para­chuted behind enemy lines in WWII to extract extreme ven­geance on the Nazis. Fea­tur­ing impec­cable cast­ing (even the non-act­ors are some­how right) and his usu­al eclect­ic soundtrack, Tarant­ino is in fine form.

[The rest of this week’s new releases after the jump]

The win­ner of this year’s Oscar for Best For­eign Film was a sur­prise to a few com­ment­at­ors: lyr­ic­al Japan­ese drama Depar­tures beat the anim­ated doc­u­ment­ary Waltz With Bashir which many loc­als loved. Now we get a chance to see that the fuss was all about as it opens at the Pent­house and the Light­house in Petone. Cel­list Masahiro Motoki loses his job with the orches­tra and takes a job as an “encoffin­eer”. Graeme Tuck­ett reviews Depar­tures on Nine to Noon here.

Anoth­er in the long line of envir­on­ment­al doc­u­ment­ar­ies, from An Incon­veni­ent Truth through The 11th Hour and Earth, The Age of Stu­pid is dir­ec­ted by Franny Arm­strong of McLi­bel fame so it should be pretty hard-hit­ting. You can hear Franny McDon­ald on Kim Hill’s radio show here and the film is play­ing at the Para­mount and the Light­house Petone.

Finally, a spe­cial treat for nos­tal­gia fans. This year marks the 70th anniversary of the release of The Wiz­ard of Oz and the Embassy is play­ing a spe­cially pro­duced new print of the tech­nicol­or clas­sic this Sunday. Fol­low the Yel­low Brick Road at 2.30 and 4.45pm and evid­ently tick­ets are selling fast. Now, if only someone will bring back The Wiz in hon­our of Michael Jack­son’s passing we could “ease on down the road” at the same time.

All these films will be reviewed in the Cap­it­al Times next Wed­nes­day and online at Funer­als & Snakes when I can get the time to update.