Director John Swab, a gritty aesthetic and the gruff likeability of Frank Grillo have proven a welcome parcel over the last few years, and following on from both Body Brokers and Ida Red is Little Dixie, a formulaic but no-less investing thriller that exists in a rough, dirty reality. Though there’s plenty of genre tropes…
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Given her career achievements, and that name alone, it’s quite a surprise that Margaret Moth isn’t more of a well known figure. Working as a full-time camera operator in 1970s New Zealand at a time when no other women held such a position in her homeland, nor Australia, Moth – born Margaret Wilson (she was…
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We’ve tested a few BlueAnt speakers over the past couple of years and can safely say that they’ve established a presence in the Australian market by providing versatility and value across their range of products. I’m still using the larger BlueAnt X6 speaker to this day. The BlueAnt X5i feels like a repackaged version of…
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At 2 hours and 40 minutes, there’s a lot of Wicked. And this is only the first part of the story. Yes, despite the advertisements simply marketing this as “Wicked”, the opening credits inform us that this is the first half of the mammoth Broadway adaptation that expanded the wonderful world of Oz by letting…
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An Australian road movie that wisely operates beyond such genre simplicities, Henry Boffin‘s Strange Creatures finds organic humour in the tragic circumstances of its two main characters – estranged brothers Nate and Ged Taylor (Riley Nottingham and Johnny Carr, respectively) – as they respect the dying wish of their recently deceased mother. The opposing personalities…
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It’s too easy for any British romantic comedy of sorts to be likened to the works of Richard Curtis. With Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, Bridget Jones’s Diary and About Time amongst his credits, we can see why he’s often something of a benchmark for the genre, but whatever formula he established, director…
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Whilst his latest efforts have wavered in their quality and execution, you still have to hand it to director Ridley Scott, who, at almost 87-years-old, is one of the few filmmakers who commits to the notion of epic storytelling to be played out on the format God intended: the cinema screen. And such is the…
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Following the massively positive reception of Hogwarts Legacy last year, one of the lingering questions among fans—particularly sports and mini-game enthusiasts like myself—was simple: where’s the Quidditch? Despite being a key part of the books and films, Hogwarts Legacy skirts this glaring omission with the headmaster cancelling the season due to an injury from the…
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Given that the trailer for We Live in Time very much informs audiences that it will be a tale of potential emotional manipulation, with the Nick Payne-penned script basing itself around a family dealing with late-stage cancer, it proves worth the screentime as Brooklyn director John Crowley breathes a certain life into proceedings, aware that…
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A character losing themself to nature in order to find solitude or correct the course of their life is not a road seldom travelled on screen. And in the case of The Outrun, it’s the windswept Orkney Islands off the northeastern coast of Scotland that serve as a place of rejuvenation for Rona (Saoirse Ronan,…
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Even though something like The Problem with People is a film that very much plays by a certain rulebook, you can’t help but still feel the charm of Chris Cottam‘s dramedy across its breezy 100 minutes. Co-written by Paul Reiser, the Mad About You alum layers a certain American view to the Irish countryside that…
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For a movie centred around the festive season and attempts to drive home the importance of joy, there’s very little on offer when it comes to the unnecessarily long 122 minutes of Red One. Less outright bad than it is bland – which can often be worse – Jake Kasdan‘s potential-filled holiday actioner creates a…
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There’s a certain period-piece sexuality billowing through Widow Clicquot that brings to mind other such similarly-set efforts as Atonement and Pride & Prejudice. And given that those films’ second-unit director, Thomas Napper, is at the helm here, it makes perfect sense that such detail and intimacy is adhered to; fittingly, Joe Wright, director of the…
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Whether you actually want to admit it or not, there’s something admirable about a comedy that revels in the fact that it doesn’t play well with others. Audrey is very much that bitch. It delights in being psychologically grotesque, and despite the fact that it features the type of teen mean girl embodiment that would’ve…
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Can you believe it’s been 10 years since the last Dragon Age game? For as decent as Dragon Age: Inquisition is, I can understand the hesitation that many would feel when it comes to diving back into this, given developer BioWare’s recent track record. Mass Effect: Andromeda was average at best, while Anthem barely had…
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There’s always a gamble when picking up a game aimed at younger audiences—wondering if it will transcend the typical “kids’ game” boundaries to captivate players of all ages. Classics like Super Mario, Spyro, and Crash Bandicoot have found this balance, creating worlds that invite a younger and older crowd. However, new releases often raise the…
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It’s too easy to claim that writer/director Sean Baker makes inaccessible films due to the fact that so many of his narratives centre around the society underrepresented, chief among them being sex workers. As we saw in such previous works as Tangerine and Red Rocket, Baker seeks to remove such a stigma around pornography performers, prostitutes…
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For almost 50 years, Saturday Night Live has been an institution of (primarily) American culture. Every weekend it invites audiences to surrender to the thrill of live television, where anything could go wrong at any given moment, amongst a staple of regular segments and musical performances. Its structure has shifted over time, but the core…
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When I reviewed Venom: Let There Be Carnage in 2021, I noted that it was an entirely overwhelming sequel that was unpretentious and, due to its absolute ludicrousness, never boring. Some of that sentiment can be shared for Venom: The Last Dance, the supposedly (and hopefully) final instalment in this surprisingly fertile series that is,…
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It’s no surprise, but I’m sure many would consider the original Silent Hill 2 on the PlayStation 2 not only one of the best horror games to date, but also one of the best games that generation of consoles has produced. It probably broke much more ground at that time, but I would also argue…
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Lee Miller is the type of figure that feels as if she should’ve already had a biopic made about her, due to her staggering spirit and defiance in the face of what was expected of her. Lee is ultimately the only film that Miller deserves, with director Ellen Kuras, a cinematographer making her directorial debut,…
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While their popularity is certainly growing, I hadn’t tried open earphones until we reviewed the Shokz OpenFit headphones last year, and I was pleasantly surprised with the results. Certain situations do call for these nowadays. Be it cycling, working out, or simply being out in public and wanting to keep an ear on things, the…
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Whilst there is a sense of an on-the-nose metaphorical aspect to Pools, and a whole lot of “girl who is going to be okay” mentality to it too, Sam Hayes‘ dramedy manages to just keep itself afloat enough in the self-discovery genre it serviceably adheres to. College student Kennedy (Odessa A’zion) doesn’t have her shit…
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As we learned from “the rules of a horror sequel” in one of the few horror sequels that actually held its weight against the original – 1997’s Scream 2 – things are always bigger and bloodier in a Part 2; “Carnage candy,” as it was so deliciously described. And, indeed, Parker Finn has a sweet…
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Of all the ways to ruminate on grief and loss, a stop-motion animated dramedy is not the most obvious option, but, despite the whimsical nature of the medium, Adam Elliot‘s heartbreaking Memoir of a Snail proves such a catharsis on the emotion. Animated it may be, Memoir of a Snail is not a child-friendly affair,…
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I’ve dabbled in the Diablo games for almost two decades now. But I have to say, Diablo 4 still stands as my favourite. It simply refined and deepened every mechanic and aspect of the overall franchise, and kept me around for months after my official review. Over a year later, Diablo 4 has released its…
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I’m a huge boxing fan, and I still jump on Fight Night Champion to this day. While that’s still accessible on my Xbox Series X via backwards compatibility, I’ve eagerly awaited the next great boxing game. Enter Undisputed. From developer Steel City Interactive comes that next big swing, attempting to receive the sport in the video game…
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The fourth live-action adaptation of the much-loved comic creation Hellboy, and the third iteration of the character following two well-received Guillermo del Toro-helmed, Ron Perlman-starring outings and a less-said-about-the-better reboot with David Harbour, Brian Taylor‘s take on the character in Hellboy: The Crooked Man has a distinct personality of its own and a well-suited Jack…
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In a media age where remakes, sequels, and reboots dominate, the weaponising of nostalgia has brought both glee and despair to gamers everywhere. When handled with care, recycling the old can be a fun exercise but there is something to be said for finding something new in the familiar. Akimbot, the latest release by Evil…
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Terrifier 3 continues the story of both Sienna Shaw (Lauren LaVera) and her brother Jonathan (Elliot Fullham). After narrowly surviving the brutal Halloween massacre of the terrorizing Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton), the two siblings are estranged and struggling to piece together the remains of a normal existence in the time of peace, while…
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