Seasoned film critic. Gives a great interview. Penchant for horror. Unashamed fan of Michelle Pfeiffer and Jason Momoa.
Whilst it’s fair to be tired of the “elevated horror” tag that so many genre pieces aim for nowadays, and the attachment of the-little-studio-that-could A24 only fans the fire, one needn’t worry with Talk To Me, an Australian-made horror effort that was acquired by the aforementioned studio for US distribution following wild reactions out of…
Read MoreWork hard. Fail hard. The “true story” of the meteoric rise & catastrophic demise of the world’s first smartphone, BlackBerry is a whirlwind ride through a ruthlessly competitive Silicon Valley at breakneck speeds. A loose adaptation of Jacquie McNish and Sean Silcoff’s “Losing the Signal: The Untold Story Behind the Extraordinary Rise and Spectacular Fall…
Read MoreAfter previewing at the 2022 Adelaide Film Festival, before taking the world by storm at its global Sundance Film Festival premiere earlier this year (read our review here), Talk To Me has become the little horror that could. A supernatural horror experience unlike any other, Talk To Me is the twisted brainchild of Australian filmmaking…
Read MoreThanks to Maslow Entertainment and Umbrella Entertainment we have 5 double digital in-season passes (Admit 2) to see the acclaimed new horror film Talk To Me, the directorial debut from Danny and Michael Philippou (aka RackaRacka) and from acclaimed Australian producers, Causeway Films (The Babadook). After an international premiere at Sundance Film Festival 2023, the cinematic and authentic horror sparked…
Read MoreYou have to hand it to Christopher Nolan for convincing a major studio to spend $100m (USD) on a 3-hour long drama detailing the development of the atomic bomb and releasing it in the prime film season that is the US summer. Whilst the film itself will prove drastic counter-programming to its fellow ambitious release…
Read MoreUndoubtedly 2023’s most anticipated – and most aggressively marketed – filmic event, Barbie has finally arrived in cinemas for the masses to ingest in droves. It’s understandable though that some audiences still are unsure as to how it’ll taste as a whole, as despite its candy-coated aesthetic, pitch-perfect casting, and amusing, if ambiguous trailers, there’s still a…
Read MoreShe’s everything. We’re just living in her world. Undoubtedly one of this year’s most anticipated films – if not THE most anticipated – Barbie is a pink-splashed comedy that’s all about living in the Barbie world, where giant summer blowout parties, planned dance choreography and Ken’s beaching make it the perfect place to live. That…
Read MoreThough 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…
Read MoreTo celebrate the release of Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (now screening exclusively in cinemas), with thanks to Paramount Pictures Australia we are giving away 5 major prize packs of the film’s poster signed by cast members Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg, Hayley Atwell and Pom Klementieff and a double in-season pass (Admit 2),…
Read MoreAs he celebrated his 61st birthday, Tom Cruise proclaimed there was nowhere else he’d rather be than in Sydney to premiere his latest action spectacle, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One. Returning as IMF agent Ethan Hunt, Cruise touched down on Australian soil to greet his fans alongside the film’s director, Christopher McQuarrie, and…
Read MoreIn Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his IMF team embark on their most dangerous mission yet: To track down a terrifying new weapon that threatens all of humanity before it falls into the wrong hands. With control of the future and the fate of the world at stake,…
Read MoreIn Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his IMF team embark on their most dangerous mission yet: To track down a terrifying new weapon that threatens all of humanity before it falls into the wrong hands. With control of the future and the fate of the world at stake,…
Read MoreIn Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his IMF team embark on their most dangerous mission yet: To track down a terrifying new weapon that threatens all of humanity before it falls into the wrong hands. With control of the future and the fate of the world at stake,…
Read MoreWhen it’s said that Tom Cruise saved cinema in 2022, it isn’t a statement made lightly or with any false sincerity. Top Gun: Maverick was the invitation needed to truly bring audiences out of the comfort of their home after almost 2 years of enforced hibernation and the ease of the streaming services. Had the…
Read MoreAfter 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…
Read MoreThe 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…
Read MoreWith 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…
Read MoreThanks 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…
Read MoreDescribed 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”…
Read MoreThere’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…
Read MoreContinuing 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…
Read MoreWhilst 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…
Read MoreOriginally 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…
Read MoreTwo 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…
Read MoreThe 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…
Read MoreThere’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…
Read MoreFrom 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…
Read MoreConjuring 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…
Read MoreAn 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…
Read MoreThanks 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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