Author: Peter Gray

Seasoned film critic. Gives a great interview. Penchant for horror. Unashamed fan of Michelle Pfeiffer and Jason Momoa.

Interview: David F. Sandberg on returning to direct Shazam! Fury of the Gods; “It’s like you’re making a little Justice League movie.”

After cementing his status as a macabre maestro with the releases of Lights Out and Annabelle: Creation, director David F. Sandberg took perhaps the scariest step of all – into the comic book universe!  After helming 2019’s acclaimed Shazam!, Sandberg has wasted no time in maintaining the mythical momentum with its sequel, Shazam! Fury of…

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Interview: Lin-Manuel Miranda on witnessing the Australian production of Hamilton

In his first trip to Australia to meet the local company of Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda delighted the Brisbane cast and surprised the city’s audience when he made a special appearance during the curtain call of a performance this past weekend. Speaking honestly, openly and humorously about the show, its creation, and the Australian production, Miranda…

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Dreamer looks at immigration and human trafficking in a brutal, emotional manner: Mammoth Film Festival Review

The opening scrawl of Mohit Ramchandani‘s Dreamer states the horrifying statistic that there are 40 million people enslaved around the world today, and that this is more than any other time in history.  Each of those people had a dream and a destiny, and it’s Dreamer that highlights just one of those stories. Now, given…

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Film Review: The Donor Party is one invite you can decline attending

In the early 2000’s the premise of The Donor Party probably would’ve flown, and most likely would have secured a healthy box office too, but in 2023, there’s something incredibly backwards – and, dare I say, predatory – about Thom Harp‘s comedy that clearly wants to display some type of positive message about the unconventionality…

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Film Review: Pearl; Mia Goth is the gift that keeps on giving in demented horror prequel

If X was Ti West‘s homage to classic 70’s horror effort The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, then Pearl could almost be aligned with The Wizard of Oz, just with, you know, a lot more blood and dry-humping scarecrows. The fact that X was an initial singular success story was enough of a win for independent horror…

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Win a major Scream VI prize pack and double in-season passes to witness the return of Ghostface

New city. New rules. New competition. To celebrate the return of Ghostface in Scream VI – the most ruthless yet – with thanks to Paramount Pictures, Spyglass Media Group and Superdream, we are giving away a major Scream VI prize pack for one lucky winner, with 5 additional double in-season passes (Admit 2) as consolation…

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Win a double in-season pass to see 65 starring Adam Driver

Thanks to Sony Pictures Australia we have 5 double in-season passes (Admit 2) to 65, the new science-fiction action film starring Adam Driver, from the writers of A Quiet Place and producer Sam Raimi.  Exclusively in cinemas March 9th, 2023. After a catastrophic crash on an unknown planet, pilot Mills (Adam Driver) quickly discovers he’s…

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Win a double in-season pass to see Andrea Riseborough’s Oscar-nominated performance in To Leslie

Thanks to Kismet Movies we have 5 digital double in-season passes (Admit 2) to see the new drama To Leslie, starring Andrea Riseborough in her Academy Award-nominated role, exclusive to cinemas from March 9th, 2023. Inspired by true events. A West Texas single mother wins the lottery and squanders it just as fast, leaving behind…

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Film Review: Creed III is a physical and emotional gut-punch that showcases Michael B. Jordan’s strength as a filmmaker

You have to hand it to Michael B. Jordan for even attempting to take on a project like Creed III as his directorial debut.  Considering it’s the third film in a proven franchise – itself an offshoot from a six-strong film series – and it’s coming off the back of offerings from both Ryan Coogler…

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Film Review: American Murderer is an engaging true crime thriller bolstered by the disarming performance of Tom Pelphrey

It’s alarming to think that the name Jason Derek Brown is one that had been on the FBI’s top 10 most wanted list for 15 years; only this past September was his name removed, though he remains a wanted criminal. I say alarming as it’s not a name it seems people are overly familiar with,…

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Interview: Alex Bain on what she’s learned as the Prime Video Buff, streaming recommendations, and her goals moving forward

The last time Peter Gray spoke with Alex Bain, the Queensland-born film fan had secured the job of her (and, let’s face it, mostly everyone else’s) dreams; that of the Prime Video Buff. Working under the Prime Video Australia banner, Bain was the voice of recommendation and reason as she took over their social media…

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5 things we learned from Rian Johnson’s director’s commentary for Glass Onion

Those of us that still collect physical media will be all too aware of the oft-golden special feature that is the director’s commentary.  But, in perhaps a sign of the streaming model cottoning on that it needs to up its game when it comes to packaging a film, Netflix have sanctioned writer/director Rian Johnson to…

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Interview: Casper Van Dien on his uncomfortable new role in Daughter

In his new film Daughter (read our review here), Casper Van Dien is far from the personable actor Peter Gray found him to be when discussing his role as the unnerving “Father”.  A tense thriller surrounding a bizarre family and their induction of an abducted woman into their home, Van Dien spoke of being warned…

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Film Review: Daughter navigates gender, authority and autonomy in an unnerving, claustrophobic setting

Informing us that the film is based on fact more than fiction, Daughter has a certain familiarity about it when it initially begins, horrifying us with the imagery of a woman being bludgeoned by an unknown assailant.  It’s a suitable start for Corey Deshon‘s horror-leaning effort that successfully navigates mostly a singular location, a small…

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Film Review: Aftersun is a deceptively haunting film that lives in its silence and stillness

The plot for Aftersun is one that we have seen countless times before in one form or another: Adult reflects on a childhood trip with a parent that was often laced with memorable experiences.  It’s how writer/director Charlotte Wells chooses to frame such a story though – almost like a faded memory – that transforms…

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Film Review: Fisherman’s Friends 2: One and All lacks any of the charm or wit of its breezy predecessor

Whilst I can see the charm that audiences fell for regarding the original Fisherman’s Friends, a 2019 “feel-good” true story dramedy about the unlikely musical success of the titular Cornish fishermen, who signed with Universal Records and garnered a Top 10 placing album with their sea shanty renditions, none of that is remotely present in…

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Film Review: Missing is a welcome twist on the found-footage genre

When the cat’s away, the mice will play.  But what happens if the cat doesn’t come home? Such is the question posed by directing duo Will Merrick and Nicholas D. Johnson in Missing, a spiritual sequel to 2018’s technologically-inclined thriller Searching; which, wouldn’t you know it, happened to be edited by Merrick and Johnson, both…

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Film Review: Cocaine Bear is wild, high, very bloody, darkly funny, and doesn’t play well with others

They often say that truth can be stranger than fiction, and in the case of Cocaine Bear, the truth is wild, high, very bloody, darkly funny, and doesn’t play well with others.  Of course, this is only an “inspired by” truth, the type of truth that gets gloriously twisted for the sake of bombastic entertainment. …

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Interview: Producer Christopher Miller on navigating the extreme tone of Cocaine Bear; “It would be only amazing if this spawned a series of drug-fuelled animal films”

No stranger to adapting original-skewered material for the big screen, directing/producing duo Phil Lord and Christopher Miller have seen their bold visions for tiny toys, 80’s television, and animated superheroes through to critical and commercial acclaim. Now, perhaps they’re taking on their biggest challenge yet: the true story! Sort of. Kind of. Inspired by the 1985…

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Interview: O’Shea Jackson Jr. and Alden Ehrenreich on Cocaine Bear; “The bear did cocaine, right? Get in there!”

“The bear does cocaine.  Big, bang, boom, that’s your movie!” And just like that, Alden Ehrenreich and O’Shea Jackson Jr. perfectly sum up the entirety of Cocaine Bear‘s narrative and reason for being during a sometimes emotional, always entertaining conversation with our Peter Gray ahead of the film’s release.  Inspired by the 1985 true story of…

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Interview: Keri Russell on the “outlandish ridiculousness” of Cocaine Bear and why she had to say “Yes!”

Cocaine Bear, inspired by the 1985 true story of a drug runner’s plane crash, missing cocaine, and the black bear that ate it, is a wild dark comedy that finds an oddball group of cops, criminals, tourists and teens converging in a Georgia forest, where a 500- pound apex predator has ingested a staggering amount…

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Interview: Elizabeth Banks on taming the chaos and relinquishing control of Cocaine Bear

Inspired by the 1985 true story of a drug runner’s plane crash, missing cocaine, and the black bear that ate it, Cocaine Bear is a wild dark comedy that finds an oddball group of cops, criminals, tourists and teens converging in a Georgia forest, where a 500- pound apex predator has ingested a staggering amount…

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Win a double in-season pass to Elizabeth Banks’s Cocaine Bear

Thanks to Universal Pictures Australia we have 5 digital double in-season passes (Admit 2) to see the wild new comedy Cocaine Bear, directed by Elizabeth Banks, in cinemas from February 23rd, 2023. Inspired by the 1985 true story of a drug runner’s plane crash, missing cocaine, and the black bear that ate it, this wild…

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Film Review: Lonesome revels in the filthy reality of queer eroticism

You’ve really got to hand it to writer/director Craig Boreham for embracing queer eroticism and all that entails in Lonesome, a movie that revels in filth but is at its most uncomfortable when it simply lets its lead characters exist. Casey (Josh Lavery) is the embodiment of the titular state, a cowboy who has escaped…

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Interview: Paul Rudd, Jonathan Majors and director Peyton Reed on the red carpet for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

Celebrating its 15th year, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has (Hulk) smashed its way to over $26 billion dollars at the global box office, introducing an array of colourful characters along the way and changing the blueprint of what it is to be a cinematic event. Kicking off Phase Five in the biggest way possible is…

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Film Review: Sarah Polley’s Women Talking projects confronting but necessary conversations around abuse and religion

Based on Miriam Toews‘s 2018 novel of the same name, Women Talking is a complicated, multi-faceted look at religion and the complexity of abuse response. The easiest thing to ask someone – specifically a woman – when they mention abuse within a relationship is why they haven’t left.  It’s an outside perspective that is never…

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P!NK announces new dates for “Summer Carnival” 2024 tour due to phenomenal demand

Three-time Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter, international pop icon, and honorary Australian P!NK has added 3 new stadium shows on her massive Australian tour in February and March, 2024. P!NK’s “Summer Carnival” will commence in Sydney at Allianz Stadium on February 9 and 10, followed by Newcastle’s McDonald Jones Stadium on February 13, Suncorp Stadium Brisbane on February 16 and…

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Win a double in-season pass to see Paul Mescal’s Oscar-nominated performance in Aftersun

Thanks to Kismet Movies we have 5 digital double in-season passes (Admit 2) to see the new drama Aftersun, starring Paul Mescal in his Academy Award-nominated role, exclusive to cinemas from February 23rd, 2023. Sophie reflects on the shared joy and private melancholy of a holiday she took with her father twenty years earlier. Memories…

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Film Review: Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is an incoherent start to the MCU’s Phase Five

After an incredibly disjointed Phase Four, all eyes are indeed on Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (or Quantumania, as we will be noting for short throughout this review) to see how this particular threequel will set a precedent for the forthcoming Phase Five of the continued Marvel Cinematic Universe. If this is anything to go…

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Ibiza Blue is a beautiful, aching drama that bathes in poetic subtlety: SBIFF Review

Given the shared enormity that was living through the pandemic at its seeming peak throughout 2020 and 2021, it’s a surprise that few films have actually addressed it in a manner that’s relatable for audiences.  Whilst films are an escape, it’s a reality that can’t forever be ignored, and co-writer/director/star Jesús Lloveras manages to infuse…

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