Five Stars

DVD Review: Interstellar (M) (USA, 2014)

It’s easy to write about a film that was a bit more average than you’d expected; it’s much, much more difficult writing about a film like this, without making it sound like you are just gushing through a stream of superlatives between cast names and plot points. What Christopher Nolan has done with Interstellar is…

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SXSW Film Review: Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck (USA, 2015)

Full disclosure: Kurt Cobain has long been one of my music idols, and as a result, anything which grants any insight into his life is only going to receive the utmost of praise from me. I expected that Brett Morgen’s long in the works Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck would be no exception to this rule, but I…

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SXSW Documentary Short Review: Boxeadora (USA/Cuba, 2014)

Boxeadora, a short 16-minute documentary by American filmmaker Meg Smaker, starts with a brief foreword, “Since Castro’s revolution, Cuba has won more Olympic Gold Medals in boxing than any other country in the world”. Pretty mean feat for a small country, considering most of their opponents would be from nations with a lot more financial backing in sports….

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TV Review: Danger 5 Season 2, Episode 7 (Australia, 2015)

The final episode of Danger 5 has all come down to this – the international super team has timewarped to a future world completely overrun by Hitler, called (what else?) Hitlerland. Danger 5’s first reaction is one of panic and horror. After a bloody display in the Hitler Hat fast food joint, Holly and the…

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TV Review: Danger 5 Season 2, Episode 6 (Australia, 2015)

At the end of the last episode, Danger 5 went back in time with the help of a putrid tasting cocktail, in order to follow Hitler Holly and catch her before she messes too much with the space-time continuum. This episode, they’ve landed back in Austria on a Christmas Eve during WWII. The team remembers…

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TV Review: Danger 5 Season 2, Episode 5 (Australia, 2015)

This episode takes Danger 5 to Ilsa’s homeland of Russia, where she and Nikita Kruschev finally sort out their differences. Firstly, though, celebrations are in order after the death of Hitler at the end of last episode. The team are partying at a rock show in Berlin, where a band called Dead Hitler play to the…

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TV Review: Danger 5 Season 2, Episode 3 (Australia, 2015)

The tables have turned and this time it’s Danger 5 who are being chased down by major law enforcement as they are wanted for the alleged kidnapping of Holly, last episode’s ditzy blonde high school student. In the shooting range, the cops are given a pep talk by their ‘Commy’ hating Captain, whilst being fed…

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Film Review: Paddington (UK & France, 2014)

“Please look after this bear”. This is what the tag that is initially around Paddington’s neck says but it is also applicable to this movie adaptation. The film is a re-telling of Michael Bond’s stories that has been carefully updated to a modern setting. This means it’s a charming tale that doesn’t compromise on quality…

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Film Review: Interstellar (M) (USA, 2014)

It’s easy to write about a film that was a bit more average than you’d expected; it’s much, much more difficult writing about a film like this, without making it sound like you are just gushing through a stream of superlatives between cast names and plot points. What Christopher Nolan has done with Interstellar is…

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Film Review: Boyhood (USA, 2014)

With Boyhood, director Richard Linklater further asserts himself as one of the most innovative in the business, his body of work – which includes Before Sunrise and it’s sequels – already coated with more acclaim than most of his peers. He excels with minimalist plots, painting seemingly dull and everyday occurrences as happenings which are…

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Film Review: The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz (USA, 2014)

The name Aaron Swartz may not mean an awful lot to some people. But if you’ve ever used Reddit, openlibrary.net or Creative Commons or if you can remember the real reason why there was an Internet black-out in 2012 then you’ve been touched by his work. Swartz was a gifted computer programmer and activist who…

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Sydney Film Festival Review: Keep On Keepin’ On (USA, 2014)

Documentary Keep On Keepin’ On is rather naive in the way it was made. Director Alan Hicks and his cinematographer Adam Hart had never really worked on any similar projects before, so they just kept on shooting until they could piece together a film. It took five years for them to make Keep On Keepin’…

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TV Review: Game of Thrones – Season 4, Episode 10 “The Children” (USA, 2014)

So it ends; Game of Thrones’ excellent fourth season has come to it’s 10-episode conclusion, closing the book on George RR Martin’s A Storm of Swords and signalling a huge expansion in Season 5. Two pivotal characters – and consistent fan favourites – are now on journeys to places we never expected them to go;…

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Sydney Film Festival Review: Yearbook (USA, 2013)

There’s only one time in my life that I can recall having something that I can only describe as an anxiety attack. It was at a Brian Cox lecture in Sydney last year and I believe it was when the rockstar physicist was describing the moment when the Earth would cease to exist. The very…

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TV Review: Game of Thrones – Season 4, Episode 9 “The Watchers on the Wall” (USA, 2014)

Much like ‘Blackwater’ from Season 2 “The Watchers on the Wall” was big, cinematic, and focused on just one of the many poly-rhythmic arcs dancing around Westeros. While this season has remained consistently exciting throughout, some story lines have been relatively muffled and haven’t been as fleshed-out as they have been in earlier seasons; Jon…

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TV Review: Game of Thrones – Season 4, Episode 8 “The Mountain and The Viper” (USA, 2014)

Well I sure feel like one of those beatles Tyrion was so eloquently advocating for in “The Mountain and The Viper”; even if you knew what was coming, the sheer brutality of it all was shockingly affecting and – even though it crushed me – was beautifully done. Many characters moved forward in leaps and…

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Sydney Film Festival Review: Boyhood (USA, 2014)

With Boyhood, director Richard Linklater further asserts himself as one of the most innovative in the business, his body of work – which includes Before Sunrise and it’s sequels – already coated with more acclaim than most of his peers. He excels with minimalist plots, painting seemingly dull and everyday occurrences as happenings which are…

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TV Review: Mad Men – Season 7 Episode 6 “The Strategy” (USA, 2014)

What an episode! The Strategy stands up against some of the finest episodes of the entire series and will likely be looked back upon a defining moment of season 7. A whole lot happened in this one, by Mad Men standards of ‘a lot’, and much of focused on Don and Peggy. Always the most…

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Film Review: The Grand Budapest Hotel (M15+) (USA, 2014)

Stylistically, Wes Anderson remains one of the most exciting directors in the business, constantly infusing imagination into each and every one of his whimsical masterpieces. In many ways, The Grand Budapest Hotel supplants his classic works likes Fantastic Mr Fox and The Darjeeling Limited to shine as Anderson’s greatest film to date. 100 minutes just…

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Film Review: Nebraska (M) (USA, 2013)

The transitional space of the open road appears to be the setting most conducive to good storytelling for director, Alexander Payne. He gave us a disheveled Jack Nicholson on a mission to travel across the US to sabotage his daughter’s approaching wedding in About Schmidt (2002), a heartbroken Paul Giamatti taking a wine connoisseur’s tour…

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TV Review: New Girl – Season 3 Episode 14 “Prince” (USA, 2014)

It was one of the most anticipated episodes of the series and for one enormous reason: Prince. All right, maybe two: the “l word” was in there as well. The episode started out strong, laughs right from the get go before Jess and Cece regaled the boys with a curious anecdote, ending in an invitation…

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Film Review: Wolf of Wall Street (R18+) (USA, 2013)

Martin Scorsese’s three hour odyssey into the world of Wall Street excess isn’t the sort of film you might expect from the master filmmaker; one who’s brought us classics such as Raging Bull, Taxi Driver and Goodfellas. Often emotionally brutal, violent and breathtaking in their own right, Marty’s films have rarely shied away from controversy…

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BIFF Review – Only Lovers Left Alive (USA, 2013)

Seeing Only Lovers Left Alive at the Brisbane International Film Festival was the best kind of surprise. The title alone had piqued my interest, and the synopsis ensured that this would at least be an unusual film, if anything. But Only Lovers Left Alive completely and utterly stole my heart right from the first frame…

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