Based on the best-selling autobiography of the same name, Clint Eastwood’s new film American Sniper is the gripping story of Chris Kyle, the “Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History”. Starring Bradley Cooper in the lead role, the film avoid the typical “war movie” plot twists or convolution, endeavouring instead to focus on a man who…
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Make no mistake about it, the story which has inspired director Angelina Jolie to bring this film to life is equal parts heartbreaking and genuinely inspiring, digging into the crux of the human spirit – or rather a particular human spirit – and a resilience that seems almost impossible. Unbroken is a biopic about remarkable…
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The Mindy Project is back for 2015 and it begins with Mindy moving to California to begin her 8 month fellowship at Stanford University. This is a great move, as I was certain that there was going to be a time jump and we’d soon be seeing Mindy back in New York City. As it…
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In the last decade society has experienced an enormous upheaval with technology and the effect of that on people and their social relationships has also changed drastically. In Men, Women & Children we take a stark look at the interactions between parents and their kids and how the digital age is both a help and…
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The Mule marks the Directoral debut of Angus Sampson and Tony Mahony, starring Sampson as Ray Jenkins alongside Leigh Wannell (Gavin) as “brothers in life”, with Gavin roping Ray into becoming a heroin mule following a trip to Bali. After getting nervous at Sydney Airport, he gets taken away by the police for suspicious behaviour and in…
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As great and effective the character focuses post-Governor were, The Walking Dead was still yet to turn Abraham, Eugene, and Rosita into characters as compelling as their comic book counterparts; though, it hasn’t been that long since they first came onto our screens. After all the fast paced chaos of Terminus, it seemed necessary to…
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In a world dominated by sensationalist news, Kill The Messenger is part biopic part political thriller part ethically charged drama, that follows the story of investigative journalist Gary Webb and his attempts at uncovering the US Government and CIA’s involvement with Nicaraguan drug cartels. Adapted from the book of the same name by Nick Schou…
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Maggie stating to Father Gabriel that the church isn’t a house of lord but “just four walls and a roof” while numerous, chopped up bodies lay at her feet is a nice comment on the post-apocalypse. Because that’s all anything such as a house or a church is now in this world. Iconoclasm or not,…
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Today on American Horror Story we’re learning about Edward Mordrake – Ssh quiet down children. Now with the third installment of Freak Show, American Horror Story has brought us a two part Halloween treat with episodes three and four. Episode three tells the tale of Edward Mordrake; a man with two faces. AHS is keeping…
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The charm of this week’s Bones was its return to everyday routine, even more so than the previous episode which still dealt with the emotional fallout from Sweets’ death. The show begins with young Christine refusing to eat her breakfast, while Booth and Brennan try to reason with her. It seems Christine is taking after…
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Liam Neeson had a career revival back in 2008 film Taken, showing the world that his scowl and straight-faced determination naturally lends itself to playing the kind of outside-the-law American hero he has now been sort of typecast in to. In Scott Frank’s A Walk Among The Tombstones, Neeson adapts to a similar role, albeit…
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The creators of South Park, Matt Stone and Trey Parker, have entered the show’s eighteenth season (their second that runs over one ten week block rather than two seven episode periods over the course of the calendar year) by doing something a little different. Much like, say, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, they’ve made the South…
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Ai Weiwei is a fascinating figure, both as an artist and as one of China’s most influential and outspoken dissidents. Ai Weiwei: The Fake Case portrays the oppression and danger that Weiwei encounters as he continues his political activities. Andreas Johnsen’s quietly important documentary picks up where Alison Klayman’s 2012 Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry left…
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Better known for his intense stare and inaudible grunts as Khal Drogo on the original Game of Thrones series, Jason Momoa proves there’s more to him than meets the eye with his work in Road To Paloma. As the film’s lead he provides his most emotive performance yet, as the director he displays his strength at…
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When we consume every day, household products we assume that the ingredients have all been tested and are safe for humans to use. But what if this assumption was wrong? The Human Experiment is a documentary that looks at the pervasive, hidden chemicals that are found in all of the things we commonly use- from…
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Cloudstreet director Matthew Saville brings an honest, raw approach to Aussie crime drama Felony, illustrating the script by writer, producer and lead actor Joel Edgerton with flair and enough restraint to keep the film grounded in it’s tactile web of emotional quandary and brutal honesty. Opting for the quieter approach to the slow-burning thriller, the…
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Unravel is a short film that lifts the veil on the recycled garment industry. It is produced and directed by Meghna Gupta and travels to the Northern Indian town of Panipat. It is here that over 100,000 tonnes of discarded clothes from the West wind up each year and are subsequently recycled. The film mainly…
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In the bleak Icelandic countryside, Hera (Thora Bjorg Helga) lives with her brother Baldur and their parents on a dairy farm in a small, isolated community. After her brother dies in a tragic tractor accident, Hera immerses herself in the heavy metal culture that he loved so much. Throughout her teenage years, while her parents…
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One of the entries in MIFF’s Big Scene – Small Screen program, Doll & Em is an unassuming portrait of a friendship that succeeds with a delightful mix of undeniable heart and unobtrusive style. Doll (Dolly Wells) and Em (Emily Mortimer) have been best friends since childhood. When Doll unceremoniously breaks up with her boyfriend,…
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It’s a simple question with no straight-forward answer, “What would you do?” if it really was your last day on the earth, if you knew it was all going to end, how would you spend your final waking moments? These Final Hours examines the dystopian world that James (Nathan Phillips) must navigate as the remaining…
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Tokyo Tower: Mom and Me, and Sometimes Dad (Tôkyô tawâ: Okan to boku to, tokidoki, oton) will warm your heart and tug at your heartstrings. The winner of the best film award at the Japanese Academy Awards as well as winning a host of others, is a slow-burning and detailed family drama. It’s also the…
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To say Irreversible is tough viewing is an understatement to say the least. When first released in 2002 the film was both universally acclaimed and condemned due to its confronting nature, and now, 12 years on from its initial release, the film is no less threatening. Given that Irreversible deals with unadulterated violence and brutal…
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Heart Of A Lion (Leijonasydän) is a Finnish drama that asks the question, “Should you be ruled your head or by your heart?” It’s an age-old conflict and yet, this film manages to deal with this along with two sensitive and timely topics (racism and nationalism). Directed by Dome Karukoski, Heart Of A Lion is…
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Up until the mid-to late- twentieth century the Indian Act in Canada imposed various forms of control over its Native Indian citizens, most notably in the form of Residential Schools, which all Indian children under fifteen were forced to attend, and the Caucasian ‘Indian Agents’ that ran them. These rules are at the centre of…
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“It’s life, you go to bed unsatisfied” in the words of police chief Bill Oswalt, and he’s expressing how we feel too, we’re unsatisfied, and this episode does leave you feeling a little bit that way. Not in a negative sense at all, more in a “we’re at episode 8 of 10 and we still…
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The Queen is a gritty and dazzling short presented by Argentinean director Manuel Abramovic. I’ve called this one gritty and dazzling because it is full of sequins, incredible glittering costumes but also suffering. This film is a short 15-minute vignette of Memi’s life. Memi is only 11 years old and she is going to be…
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Not everything or everyone is quite what it seems in this gripping thriller that brings a wealthy American couple and a young shady tour guide together on an increasingly tense journey across the Mediterranean as they try to evade the law. Chester MacFarland (Viggo Mortensen) and his gorgeous young wife Colette (Kirsten Dunst) are holidaying…
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Since premiering at Sundance earlier this year, Lenny Abrahamson’s new film Frank has become one of the most talked about films of the festival circuit, lighting up cinemas with its iconic papier-mâché head from SXSW all the way to Sydney Film Festival, where it had its Australian premiere this weekend; the place where Abrahamson’s What…
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Agnès Varda – the Grand Dame of French New Wave Cinema – has lived one rich and vibrant life. And in Les plages d’Agnès (The Beaches of Agnès) this is captured perfectly. The film is a strange documentary that is helmed by the doyenne art house director and lovable eccentric, as she candidly takes us…
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“Today is gonna be a good day. Because, today is ideal day to commit suicide.” The tagline for Yuichi Suita’s short film is both poignant and funny in an absolutely guilt-inducing way. It’s also telling of how viewers are likely to feel throughout the seven-minute film. We watch the un-named and silent protagonist as she…
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