Seasoned film critic. Gives a great interview. Penchant for horror. Unashamed fan of Michelle Pfeiffer and Jason Momoa.
The road from video game to cinema screen has often been an arduous trek – to say the least. Often made with the best of intentions, but seldom able to satisfy the expansive fanbase, video game adaptations are usually starting at a disadvantage. Sure, there’s a certain campy pleasure to watching Jean Claude Van Damme…
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The best performances within the biopic genre are those that aren’t just simply imitations or impressions of the subject at hand, but an honest appraisal of the person, one where the performer vanishes on screen. And so often with such grand performances, it can lead to the rest of the film surrounding them to feel…
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Celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2021, the Fast & Furious series has defied all expectation and grown to exponential heights as Vin Diesel and his motley crew have graduated from street racing to international espionage. The latest trailer for Fast & Furious 9 only adds to the franchise’s penchant for athletic lunacy as Diesel’s Dominic…
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Marketed as “Lord of the Flies in space”, Voyagers – whilst occasionally leaning in to that description – is a confused genre effort that feels like a more reflective, psychological film has been edited down to a tween crowd who may appreciate its melodramatic personality. Written and directed by Neil Burger, his first original script…
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Ascendant is one of those films that’s equally as difficult to write about it as it is deceptively simple. A film that banks entirely on the fact that it unravels and reveals its narrative in an unexpected manner, Antaine Furlong‘s ambitious sci-fi-leaning action/thriller is a testament to the first time Australian filmmaker’s bold vision and…
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Academy Award® Winner Emma Stone brings the legacy of the wicked Cruella de Vil to life in the new trailer for Cruella, ahead of its Australian release in both theatres and Disney+ with Premier Access* on May 28th, 2021. Set in 1970s London amidst the punk rock revolution, Cruella follows a young grifter named Estella (Stone),…
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Neil Burger‘s 30-year career as a filmmaker has taken the director on a varied journey. From his beginnings as a music video director and faux documentarian, Burger became a staple name in mainstream cinema thanks to such commercial and critical successes as The Illusionist, Limitless, and Divergent. Now working off his first original script in…
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Marvel’s long awaited Black Widow has finally landed on a release date after being shifted around the last year (thanks COVID). Marvel Studios have announced July 9th for Scarlett Johansson‘s solo outing as Natasha Romanoff as she confronts the darker parts of her ledger when a dangerous conspiracy with ties to her past arises. Pursued…
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It goes without saying that the ending of a film is as crucial to its success as any other major component. And in horror films especially, the satisfaction element of its climax is one the genre often lives or dies by. Hunter Hunter, from writer/director Shawn Linden, is such a film that almost relies entirely…
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Once a staple of Australian television – having worked on such notable homegrown series as McLeod’s Daughters, Underbelly, and Home and Away – Jonny Pasvolsky has since been making ground for himself across the Pacific, starring in such profile productions as Mortdecai opposite Johnny Depp, The Front Runner with Hugh Jackman, and the acclaimed series…
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So much of Blithe Spirit‘s ingredients point to signs of a tasty meal, and yet one can’t help but feel entirely ready to return this flavourless chaff to the kitchen within minutes of its arrival. Adapted from Noel Coward‘s 1941 play and boasting the appealing quartet of Dan Stevens, Leslie Mann, Isla Fisher and Judi…
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British businessman Greville Wynne (Benedict Cumberbatch) doesn’t have the most suave persona. And it’s because of this very reason that MI5 and the CIA have collaborated in their bid to maximise the potential of an insider during the time of America and Russian intensifying their nuclear arms race. “You drink too much and you’re not…
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With Australian cinema exceeding expectations at the box office in 2021 alone, now feels like as a perfect a time than ever for homegrown productions to thrive within their own country. Founding his own company to pursue his passion of filmmaking, Dublin-born Antaine Furlong had followed his dream to technical fruition as his debut feature…
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To coincide with the trailer launch of Spirit Untamed, the latest from Dreamworks Studios telling of the epic adventure of a headstrong girl and the wild horse she shares a kindred spirit with, Peter Gray chatted with the film’s director, Elaine Bogan, detailing her experience as a first-time feature director, her background in animation, and…
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An award-winning French novelist and playwright that the Times of London referred to as “the most exciting playwright of our time”, Florian Zeller has transitioned from the stage to the screen with the adaptation of his award-winning production, The Father. Set for release in Australian cinemas on April 1st (you can read our review here),…
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Given the fact that Tom & Jerry screenwriter Kevin Costello has a duo of self-aware, critically acclaimed projects to his name – the dramedy Brigsby Bear and Jean Claude Van Damme’s underrated television series Jean Claude Van Johnson – one might think he’d be able to create something innovative off the basis of 7-minute cartoon…
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Following its box office success in the US – the film topped the North American chart as one of the few films to maintain a cinema-only rollout – Nobody is planning its Australian unleashing on April 1st (no joke!). In relation to the film’s release (you can read our review here), Peter Gray chatted with…
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When New Zealand-made horror film Coming Home in the Dark premiered at Sundance earlier this year, its use of sound was perhaps its most deceptive feature. Forgoing the usual jump scare queues and obvious musical encouragement to goad audiences into a reaction, the film opted for a more subtle approach, utilising naturalistic sounds to give…
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You would think by now that the proprietors of the particular cinematic universe that encompasses films surrounding a giant ape and a radioactive lizard would gather that we really don’t care about the human characters involved. Sure, it’s great for there to be suitably formed players, and in the case of these films they’re often…
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One of the first 2020 titles to delay its release substantially from its original bowing date (in this case, March 2020) due to the Coronavirus, Peter Rabbit 2 has finally hopped to a release window that makes sense. In a country where cinemas have been open and thriving (and how!) for the better part of…
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A film like Nobody is inevitably going to be likened to similarly-themed actioners such as John Wick and Taken. And that’s not a bad thing, given how well-liked those films are (or, in the context of Taken, at least the first one), with the middle-aged-man-defending-what’s-rightfully-his narrative proving an easy sell. Nobody is perhaps the easiest…
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As much as The Mauritanian can boast Jodie Foster (in her Golden Globe-winning role), Benedict Cumberbatch and Shailene Woodley as its headliners, it’s the central performance from the lesser-known Tahar Rahim that ultimately impresses and grounds the film around him. A factual-based dramatic thriller detailing some of the supposed inner workings of the 9/11 terrorism…
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Grief is often something that runs throughout the core of the horror narrative. And depending how it is structured, it can act in a nature that’s either cathartic or repressive. In Alex Noyer‘s Sound of Violence it’s a mixture of both psychological expressions, with the additive intricacy of music production – another key element to…
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Right from the opening moments of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier – an extended action sequence amid rock formations spearheaded by Anthony Mackie‘s Falcon – it’s evident that the intent of this show is to link it to the prototype of the Marvel canon we’ve come to expect. After WandaVision took bold swings, this…
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German character actor Udo Kier is so synonymous with villainy that his role in Swan Song appears all the more revelatory. But given the actor’s own queer identification and penchant for theatrical performances, a character like his at the centre of Todd Stephens‘s gentle dramedy feels quite in tune with the actor’s aesthetic. Based on…
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Not unlike the professional front Katy Perry put forward in her Part of Me documentary, where she grinned and performed for a mass crowd only moments after being informed that her marriage (at the time) was over, Demi Lovato similarly bravely faces her adoring fans night after night in the early seconds of Dancing with…
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Written and directed by Sophie Mair and Dan Gitsham, The Thing That Ate The Birds is an atmospheric short that teases a darker universe we can only hope could be expanded on. Abel (Eoin Slattery) and Grace (Rebecca Palmer) are on the verge of separation, but the tragic circumstances surrounding their farmland have pushed their…
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One of those films that has a log line that feels all too familiar, Lee Haven Jones‘s The Feast presents itself as a supernaturally inclined horror film on the surface, only to gradually morph into an allegory of sorts that runs deeper than the film’s initial mentality would have you believe. Set in a secluded,…
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Australian actress Danielle Macdonald has wasted no time racking up an impressive resume in the near-decade she’s been working on screen. Biding her time between acclaimed Australian dramas (I Am Woman) and Netflix successes (Dumplin’, Bird Box), the Sydney-born talent is furthering her mark in Azazel Jacobs’s surreal comedy French Exit (Read our review here)….
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As displayed by her effortless wit and charm in the opening seconds of Introducing, Selma Blair, the actress’ own self-awareness has been one of her pillars of strength as she battles multiple sclerosis (MS). Always aware of her supporting actress stance in Hollywood – the star noting as such throughout – the Legally Blonde alum…
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