Seasoned film critic. Gives a great interview. Penchant for horror. Unashamed fan of Michelle Pfeiffer and Jason Momoa.
Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has undoubtedly divided fans like no other that has preceded it. Whilst there was a certain uniqueness in how characters and narratives were handled – say what you will about Eternals or Thor: Love and Thunder, but they at least attempted to separate themselves from the norm –…
Read More
Just when you thought remote working was good, along comes remote-control working. Prime Video Australia today announced a nationwide search for a content junkie to fill a brand-new role—the Prime Video Buff. Prime Video is on the hunt for someone who lives and breathes entertainment to be employed in a full-time role** over summer and get…
Read More
There was a point in Romuald Boulanger‘s On The Line where a character utters the line “Elvis has left the building”, here referring to Mel Gibson‘s character Elvis Cooney, a late-night shock jock who has seemingly made a name for himself due to his on-air pranks and general volatile personality. The line clearly wants to…
Read More
A low-key slice of independent cinema that you imagine wouldn’t be given as big of a spotlight had it not been for lead Jennifer Lawrence, Causeway nonetheless deserves its attention as it’s a determined and moving picture about one’s healing, both emotionally and physically. Adhering to the stripped-away mentality that drove her to her first…
Read More
Given how wild everyone – or teenage girls, to be a little more accurate – are for pop’s main man-candy Harry Styles, it will no doubt throw much of his female following off as to how graphic the sexual scenes are in My Policeman, a queer love story that perseveres with grand intentions but, sadly,…
Read More
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…
Read More
Though she was born in New York, was on the Broadway stage by age 13, and working in Hollywood only years later, securing roles opposite such talent as Matthew Fox (1994’s Party of Five), Jared Leto (Cool and the Crazy in 1994) Shannen Doherty (1997’s Friends ‘Til The End), and Jessica Alba (in James Cameron’s…
Read More
Director Karl Malakunus is a filmmaker and journalist who has been based in Asia, covering environmental issues, conflict, natural disasters and political upheavals, for two decades. Karl is the Asia-Pacific Deputy-Editor-In-Chief for Agence France-Presse based in Hong Kong. He is a Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program Fellow and a recipient of the SFFILM Vulcan Productions…
Read More
The idea of a Fletch remake/reboot/sequel has long been discussed for almost three decades now. The obvious suggestions of Jason Lee and Jason Sudeikis were thrown around for contention to follow in Chevy Chase’s comedic footsteps during its production, but after consistent stop/starts it has fallen to Jon Hamm to pick up the mantle and…
Read More
When The Wonder first begins there’s a rather pretentious and, ultimately, unrewarding additive that runs the risk of undoing all that will follow. Niamh Algar‘s soothing vocal tone greets us as our eyes glaze over a constructed film set. Algar informs us that we are indeed watching a film, but the players involve believe in…
Read More
From the beaches of Home and Away to starring opposite Michael B. Jordan in Without Remorse, by way of the acclaimed sword-and-sandals epic series Spartacus, Australian actor Todd Lasance is another homegrown success story carving his own international career. In the lead up to the Brisbane and Adelaide legs of the Supanova Comic Con &…
Read More
Whether it was his tenure as sensible teen Geoff Campbell for 567 episodes on long-running Australian soap series Home and Away, his turn in the acclaimed Tomorrow When the War Began, or his recurring role as the love interest to one of the country’s most notorious underworld figures in Underbelly: Razor, the fourth season of…
Read More
There’s a scene in the first third of Call Jane that I can only imagine would infuriate the female audiences in attendance. Abortion is not a subject I have any real right to comment on – I am pro choice, for what it’s worth – but, in 2022, it’s almost insulting that sequences taking place…
Read More
After earning a swarm of likes from SXSW audiences earlier in the year and from the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA), where it earned nominations for Best Film, Best Direction, and Best Lead Actress (for Aisha Dee’s committed performance), the social media slasher Sissy is ready for local audiences to like and…
Read More
Whether we like them (or follow them) or not, influencers – sorry, “content creators” – are a cultural mainstay in our society that often extends beyond the environment of social media. In Australian horror effort Sissy, co-writers/directors Hannah Barlow and Kane Senes seem all too aware of the faux importance influencers place upon themselves, a…
Read More
The rich eat, but then suffer mercilessly in Ruben Östlund’s Triangle of Sadness, a wicked, at-times horrifically and humorously gross, satire that takes aim at the wealthy in a manner that is deliciously void of any subtlety. Divided into three chapters – all linked by a young, glamorous couple – the film promises one observation…
Read More
Whilst Resurrection never deviates from its grim examination of motherhood, Andrew Semans‘ gripping, ultimately bonkers thriller refuses to stay on the course you expect it to. Portraying very much the type of Rebecca Hall-encapsulated character that Rebecca Hall effortlessly portrays, the actress here, strong-willed and properly presented, is Margaret, a pharmaceutical company representative who offsets…
Read More
The type of filmmaker who’s able to create stories so bombastically silly that they are somewhat brilliant, Quentin Dupieux once again expresses straight-faced frivolity in Incredible But True, a tightly-paced (a lean 74 minutes) twilight-zoned comedy that, somehow, is one of his more level-headed features in spite of its ludicrous plot. Said ludicrous plot revolves around Alain (Alain…
Read More
An agonising drama if ever there was one, Mass details the type of conversation that instantly makes you feel sickeningly uncomfortable. And then to watch it unfold in a suffocating location for 110 minutes is a test of endurance that audiences may be unprepared for. The tragedy at the centre of the conversation is one…
Read More
Turning the lens on himself to explore his own childhood in both a nostalgic and informative manner to almost act as a type of assessment on how he came to be where he is today, James Gray‘s Armageddon Time is a reflective, personal drama that immediately announces its almost hostile personality through its title alone….
Read More
Following their debut show earlier this year, award winning Meanjin performance collective T!TS AKIMBO are back with a brand new beast – SEX FEST 2022. This one day festival is happening across eight hours, in seven different rooms, with fifty femme and non-binary artists and experts giving you the sex talk you wish you had. Presented as…
Read More
After wowing audiences at South By Southwest earlier in the year, before spreading some serious joy in her homeland, writer/actress Krew Boylan got all dolled up for her, appropriately enough, Dolly Parton-inspired comedy Seriously Red, a film about taking chances, following your dreams, and channelling your inner Dolly. As Krew and her co-star Daniel Webber…
Read More
Though he certainly didn’t lose any of his sense of comfort by travelling across the Atlantic for his last film – 2017’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri – there’s a sense of grandeur in writer/director Martin McDonagh returning to his homeland for The Banshees of Inisherin, an impossibly funny and, at times, heartbreakingly bleak dramedy…
Read More
As The Woman King continues to dazzle Australian audiences, Peter Gray spoke with director Gina Prince-Bythewood and cast members Lashana Lynch, Sheila Atin and John Boyega ahead of its premiere at this year’s Toronto Film Festival. Following on from his chat with Viola Davis and Thuso Mbedu, Peter discussed working together on location, the importance…
Read More
The Woman King is the remarkable story of the Agojie, the all-female unit of warriors who protected the African Kingdom of Dahomey in the 1800s with skills and a fierceness unlike anything the world has ever seen. Inspired by true events, the film follows the emotionally epic journey of General Nanisca (Viola Davis) as she…
Read More
Black is beautiful, and never has it felt more apt a saying than when viewing Gina Prince-Bythewood‘s stunning historical actioner The Woman King. Inspired by true events, The Woman King centres itself around an all-female unit of warriors known as Agojie, who protected the African kingdom of Dahomey during the 17th to 19th centuries; the…
Read More
Going into a film like Terrifier 2, audiences can’t help but be versed in the news surrounding the film that has largely focused on just how spectacularly gory this thing is and the fact that such splatter has caused American cinemagoers, who have pushed the micro-budgeted horror film to rope in over 5 times its…
Read More
An “exercise in kindness and couture”, Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris (read our review here) is the cinematic warm embrace we need in this age of blockbusters. The enchanting tale of a seemingly ordinary British housekeeper whose dream to own a couture Christian Dior gown takes her on an extraordinary adventure to Paris, the film…
Read More
It doesn’t seem to matter what time of year it is, there’s always room for a movie like Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris to warm our hearts and prove simple, undemanding counter programming to the usual loud blockbusters, or, in 2022’s case, creepy horror films, that are often occupying the multiplexes. An exercise in kindness…
Read More
Based on an incredible true story centred in the world of hospitals and health care, about how one woman’s growing suspicion of her co-worker led to America’s most prolific serial killer being brought to justice after 16 years of quietly killing patients across the US, The Good Nurse is a chilling true crime story that…
Read More