Seasoned film critic. Gives a great interview. Penchant for horror. Unashamed fan of Michelle Pfeiffer and Jason Momoa.
After a genuinely scary first offering in James Wan‘s Insidious (2010), the Leigh Whannell-created series has failed to make good on any of the unnerving potential with its sequels (and prequels) going forward. As each subsequent film seems to earn less and less favourable word from critics and audiences, there’s an almost immediate sense of…
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The themes tackled throughout Warwick Thornton‘s The New Boy are presented with symbolic, almost-magical and allegorical physicality. And though its 1940’s Australian setting lends interesting conversation to its religious outlay and the clashing of beliefs at the time, the film itself doesn’t quite contain the spark needed to earn true impact; though it’s not for…
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With No Hard Feelings reminding audiences that, yes, adult-aimed comedies do in fact belong on a big screen, and the streaming model doesn’t have to be a singular option now that we have shifted primarily out of the pandemic mentality, Adele Lim‘s raunchy Joy Ride continues that temperament that the big screen will always benefit…
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Thanks to Madman we have 5 double in-season passes (Admit 2) to see the romantic and exhilarating Carmen, starring Melissa Barrera and Academy Award nominee Paul Mescal, in cinemas from July 13th, 2023. Carmen, a captivating and determined young woman, leaves her family and community behind to escape a brutal Mexican cartel. Grief stricken following…
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Described as a “verbatim description” of what happened to Reality Winner (yes, that’s an actual name), an American Air Force veteran, who was suspected of leaking classified government information to the media while she was working as a translator with top-secret security clearance in June 0f 2017, Tina Satter‘s stage play “Is This A Room”…
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There’ll always be a certain excitement in seeing Harrison Ford don a fedora and crack the whip when embodying one Indiana Jones. After a tight, though not always flawless, original trilogy across the 1980’s (Raiders of the Lost Ark in 1981, Temple of Doom in 1984, and Last Crusade in 1989), many believed the magic…
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Continuing from the toned-down sexualism that 2018’s Bumblebee adopted – the first Transformers sequel that was directed by someone other than series staple Michael Bay – which, coincidentally, earned the franchise its highest praise from collective critics, Steven Caple Jr.‘s Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is a similarly wholesome, Saturday morning popcorn flick that is…
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Whilst Jennifer Lawrence has lightly flexed her comedic muscle over the years – her Golden Globe-winning turn in 2013’s American Hustle probably the closest she’s come to being the comedienne she so clearly is – No Hard Feelings finally allows the supremely charismatic and comedically capable performer to embrace the genre with all the shamelessness…
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Originally conceived as a long short by director Angus McDonald, Freedom Is Beautiful is a timely documentary about the refugee experience in Australia, the cruciality of human rights, and the value in equality for all citizens living under the same rule. Shining a necessary light on the brutal processing regime that takes place on the…
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Two of Temuera Morrison’s most noteworthy career milestones have truly come from opposite ends of the galaxy. 1994’s Once Were Warriors was a painfully truthful examination of urban Maori life that continues to cast a long shadow across New Zealand film and culture. And his first Star Wars appearance in 2002 sparked a unique character arc that will place…
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The fifth directorial effort from actor Steve Buscemi, and his first since 2007’s Interview, The Listener is an intensely quiet film, one that hones a sobering nature that can’t help but speak to its prime pandemic nature. COVID-19 is never specifically stated across the film’s sensitive 96 minutes, but the loneliness in the story’s set-up…
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There’s an utterly fascinating (and still unsolved) murder case at the centre of Maggie Moore(s), the second directorial feature from Mad Men alum John Slattery, which aims for Coen Brothers-esque comedic darkness, but unfortunately falls short of Fargo greatness. The real case at hand was a dual assassination of sorts in 2000 Texas, where two…
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From the opening shot of Barnaby Clay‘s The Seeding there’s a sense that nothing will be as it initially appears. There’s an immediate knowing that hell will break loose over the 94 minutes that are to come when we see the imagery of a baby chewing on human flesh in quite the most casual of…
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Conjuring a metropolis that separates the elements – fire, water, earth and air – as if they were diverse ethnicities, Elemental, in the guise of a romantic comedy, operates as a metaphor for the opposing views of race and class. For a Pixar movie it all may seem a little heavy-handed, but Peter Sohn‘s delightful…
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An eco-terrorism thriller where the bombers are the good guys, Daniel Goldhaber‘s How To Blow Up A Pipeline is structured as if it’s playing to a heist movie temperament, but it’s layered with a topical, current commentary that lends the film a young freshness; very much a movie of the “now”. Relying on ideas realised…
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Thanks to Sony Pictures Australia we have 5 double in-season passes (Admit 2) to see the raunchy new romantic comedy No Hard Feelings, starring Jennifer Lawrence, in cinemas from June 22nd, 2023. Maddie (Lawrence) thinks she’s found the answer to her financial troubles when she discovers an intriguing job listing: wealthy helicopter parents looking for…
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Described as a “verbatim description” of what happened to Reality Winner (yes, that’s an actual name), an American Air Force veteran, who was suspected of leaking classified government information to the media while she was working as a translator with top-secret security clearance in June 0f 2017, Tina Satter‘s stage play “Is This A Room”…
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As The Flash speeds into cinemas around the world this week (you can read our review here), where the titular superhero uses his powers to alter the events of his past, changing the course of the very future he once knew, we’re entering a new dawn of DC superheroes – including none other than Supergirl!…
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A historical figure whose achievements are all the more remarkable due to the obstacles faced as the son of a white father and black mother, Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, is highlighted, but not quite as richly celebrated in Stephen Williams‘s Chevalier. And given the extraordinary details of his life story, it’s a shame that…
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There’s a palpable sense of unrest that litters the core of Catching Dust, Stuart Gatt‘s feature debut that speaks to one woman’s sense of autonomy and choosing between the devil she knows and that she doesn’t. The woman in question is Geena (Erin Moriarty), whose isolated Texas desert locale is the result of her violent…
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The themes tackled throughout Warwick Thornton‘s The New Boy are presented with symbolic, almost-magical and allegorical physicality. And though its 1940’s Australian setting lends interesting conversation to its religious outlay and the clashing of beliefs at the time, the film itself doesn’t quite contain the spark needed to earn true impact; though it’s not for…
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Despite the simple premise of Celine Song‘s Past Lives and its romantic comedy connotations, the film is anything but. Burning slow and composing its emotions until it knows when to release them in a flood of responsive passion, Song’s impeccable debut is a drama of humanism and quiet complexity. Set over the span of 24…
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Premiering at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, Bill Oliver‘s Our Son is where drama meets mindfulness as audiences explore contemporary relationships between two men (played by Luke Evans and Billy Porter) trying to make their way in the world of parenting their child in the aftermath of their separation. This story unabashedly unfolds with the…
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Whilst the breakdown of a marriage and the impending custody battle that will take place as to whose time favours the child in question has been a reliable staple for cinematic drama over the years – most recently displayed in Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story and perhaps most famously in 1979’s Kramer vs. Kramer – queer…
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In this era of streaming taking priority (unfortunately), there’s a whole generation of movie watchers – if they aren’t on their phone during said watch – who are unaware of just how special a time the video store truly was. I Like Movies indulges in that time. Set amongst the backdrop of teen angst, Blockbuster…
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There’s both a sense of adhering to the temperaments of action films gone by and embracing the current and future state of the genre present in Jalmari Helander‘s Sisu. Matching its dark sense of humour (and I mean dark) with a violently bloody mentality (and I mean bloody!), Sisu manages to present the simplest of…
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Another Wes Anderson creation, where the sheer cast alone is unfathomable in their collective talent and the twee is as twee as can be, Asteroid City, with its distinct colour pallet and deadpan performances, won’t convert any viewers over to the Wes way of watching, but those that have stuck with the auteur through his…
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Whilst it’s easy to pick how Scrapper – Charlotte Regan‘s impossibly charming comedy/drama – will end when all is said and done, the central performances from newcomer Lola Campbell and Harris Dickinson as a feisty, self-reliant 12-year-old and her man-child father, respectively, are what keeps the quirky narrative continually engaging. It’s one of those “message”…
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“Before we continue I’d like to apologize to anyone who might be upset or offended by what you saw before the break. It’s not every day you see a demonic possession on live television.” Not the most typical sentence you’d expect to hear from a late night host, but such is the statement made by…
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Though the title of Benjamin Millepied‘s feature directorial debut Carmen – the dancer-turned filmmaker having cut his teeth on short films and music videos – suggests a connection to Georges Bizet‘s French opera of the same name, his script – co-written with Alexander Dinelaris Jr. and Loïc Barrere – only mildly references its narrative mentality and…
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