GOLD

I don't know which is funnier - Matthew McConaughey as a pushy, balding dude or him pulling a repeat of the can-do motivational guy he played in The Wolf Of Wall Street (2013). Here, he's more failing salesman than menacing wolf as last-roll hustler Kenny Wells until he strikes gold, literally. The man goes to Borneo with a geologist (Edgar Ramirez) and finds the largest gold mine in decades in the vast jungle.

This movie is based on the true story of the infamous Bre-X gold-mining scandal of the 1990s, which turned out to be a massive fraud. In other words - it's just the kind of amazing-but-true wacky tale tailor-made for McConaughey, who'd never get out of bed for a straight, boring story.

He strings along his loyal wife (Bryce Dallas Howard) for the wild adventure. Then investors and the authorities come after him when it all goes bust, worse than the Greek branch of Lehman Brothers.

Watch for the hilarious scene where McConaughey touches a Sumatran tiger to prove he has the guts to go all the way. I think even that tiger is sold on this crazy ride.

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Guys, don't you just hate Ben Affleck? He directs himself in expensive-looking Oscarclass films like this new project, surrounds himself with gorgeous women such as Zoe Saldana, Elle Fanning and Sienna Miller here and, oh, he even gets to be Batman in his spare time.

Here, Affleck plays a gangster taking the express route from small-timer to big shark in 1920s to 1930s glitzy, seedy Florida, which basically makes this film the latest American Dream With Dames And Guns. How many times have we seen a trailer like this, where sultry stares, vintage cars, shoot-outs and explosions come with such beautiful scenery you actually want it as a postcard?

"To be free in this life, breaking the rules meant nothing. You have to be strong enough to make your own," Affleck intones as he emits his patented expression of being glum, as if he were seriously unhappy with the script of Justice League.

Tay Yek Keak