Inspired by the 1985 true story of a drug runner’s plane crash, missing cocaine, and the black bear that ate it, Cocaine Bear is a wild dark comedy that finds an oddball group of cops, criminals, tourists and teens converging in a Georgia forest where a 500-pound apex predator has ingested a staggering amount of…
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Not only were they voices that spoke loud enough to break a cycle of abuse within the Hollywood system, they are now the faces of a ceiling-breaking movement that has forever changed the entertainment industry. Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey were the New York Times journalists who investigated the abuse allegations against mogul Harvey Weinstein. …
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Given the weight and influence that came with the #MeToo movement – founded in 2006 by American activist Tarana Burke – and, by extension (and association), the overwhelming allegations of sexual assault against once-famed producer Harvey Weinstein, it makes sense that a film detailing as such has come to fruition. Based off the 2017 New…
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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…
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There’s something incredibly refreshing about The Good Nurse in that its true-crime temperament isn’t marred by overt manipulation – as so many of such adapted tales can be. Jessica Chastain (as typically great and committed as expected) is Amy, the titular good nurse, a single mother who is hiding her own ailment as she dedicates…
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When looking at the treatment of indigenous populations the world over, it would be safe to say that any “crime” they have committed is simply existing. Largely white populations, who have so often taken away the rights and lands that they inhabited originally, hope that apologies and acknowledgements are enough to reconcile their behaviour, but…
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There’s something incredibly refreshing about The Good Nurse in that its true-crime temperament isn’t marred by overt manipulation – as so many of such adapted tales can be. Jessica Chastain (as typically great and committed as expected) is Amy, the titular good nurse, a single mother who is hiding her own ailment as she dedicates…
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Fired from her seventh job in two years and estranged from her family, Audrey (Jena Malone) is restless and dwells in a distinctly modern solitude, relying on YouTube for companionship. After falling down a video rabbit hole, she discovers the world of adult adoption and decides to try it herself in hopes of finding a…
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In June of 2018 when thirteen members of a Thai boys’ soccer team were trapped underground in a cave that flooded out through early monsoon rains, it didn’t take long for the story rights to be snapped up by various studio heads, all looking for their own take on an initially tragic then, thankfully, happily…
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For the past decade-or-so, Welsh actor/writer/director Craig Roberts has made sure that his career could never be pigeonholed. The darker aspects of comedy have often been his exploration as a filmmaker, having penned and directed the acclaimed duo of 2015’s Just Jim and 2019’s Eternal Beauty, whilst as an actor he’s just as likely to…
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Whilst not always the most prevalent sport to celebrate cinematically, golf has had its share of theatrical engagement over the decades; more often than not linked heavily to the comedy genre, too. Caddyshack (1980), Happy Gilmore (1996) and Tin Cup (1996) have arguably courted the most humorous notice, whilst The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000)…
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One of those true story tales that is so intricately outrageous it couldn’t possibly be fiction, Operation Mincemeat details a WWII espionage plot that centres itself around a heightened take on the classic Trojan Horse malware that so successfully aided the Greeks in their invasion of Troy. There’s a background story to the titular operation…
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Blending his knack of humour, tenderness, and dramatic stakes that speaks to his strength as a storyteller, there’s a bittersweetness to Roger Mitchell‘s The Duke. Sadly passing away prior to the film’s release, his swan song couldn’t seem more perfect as it encapsulates his talents in all the best ways possible. And The Duke just…
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Detailing a film and its lead actress adored by the queer community, and uncovering within that connection a story so juicy it seems almost too dramatic to be true, Boulevard! A Hollywood Story is a fascinating look at the intended musical iteration of Billy Wilder’s 1950 classic Sunset Boulevard, Gloria Swanson‘s determination to see its…
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A film that’s likely to resonate with, or at least feel more familiar to American audiences, The Eyes of Tammy Faye does its best to clue in local Australian viewers as to just who was the larger-than-life personality Tammy Faye Bakker Messner. An only-in-America type tale, Tammy Faye’s small-time Minnesota upbringing, where she “found Jesus”…
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As much as King Richard has all the trappings of a biopic – and a sports drama, for that matter – it’s a testament to everyone involved that it manages to entirely transcend expectation and feel like something that’s so much more. It’s easy to wax lyrical about the fact that we’re getting a film…
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Much was said about Being the Ricardos before it even screened for critics, with the fact that stars Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem were somewhat controversial casting choices to play Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. Neither looks considerably like the legendary comedic performers, which left a certain sour taste in the mouths of those wondering…
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As much as King Richard has all the trappings of a biopic – and a sports drama, for that matter – it’s a testament to everyone involved that it manages to entirely transcend expectation and feel like something that’s so much more. It’s easy to wax lyrical about the fact that we’re getting a film…
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A film that’s likely to resonate with, or at least feel more familiar to American audiences, The Eyes of Tammy Faye does its best to clue in local Australian viewers as to just who was the larger-than-life personality Tammy Faye Bakker Messner. An only-in-America type tale, Tammy Faye’s small-time Minnesota upbringing, where she “found Jesus”…
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The Port Arthur Massacre of 1996 was horrific. Perpetrated by a violently disturbed young man who shot and killed 35 people at a Tasmanian tourist site, with a legally purchased semi-automatic rifle, it, to this day, remains Australia’s worst massacre committed by a single person in the country’s history, as well as serving as the…
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A film that perhaps tries a little too hard to embellish the emotionally manipulative story its true-to-life basis can conjure on its own accord, 12 Mighty Orphans’ “classic underdog” mentality is both a help and a hindrance to its overall delivery. Set during the Great Depression, Ty Roberts’ syrupy drama lays focus on the saintly…
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Exactly the type of film you expect it to be from its title, Dream Horse is a syrupy, stereotypically inspiring drama that embraces the underdog narrative – or should that be under-horse? – and runs (gallops) with it to no end. Set in the mid-2000’s in a sleepy Welsh country town, Dream Horse places its…
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Having essentially built itself around the “based on a true story” hook, the Conjuring universe of films have been served well by a selling point that’s either something you buy into or simply accept as neat marketing. Whilst there’s no denying that Ed and Lorraine Warren did exist and built a name for themselves as…
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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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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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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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After proving a formidable plot point in last year’s The Trial of the Chicago 7 – however secondary it may have been – the killing of Black Panther chairman Fred Hampton in 1969, at the age of only 21 years, is given the right, timely treatment in Shaka King‘s equally impactful (perhaps even more so)…
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After proving a formidable plot point in last year’s The Trial of the Chicago 7 – however secondary it may have been – the killing of Black Panther chairman Fred Hampton in 1969, at the age of only 21 years, is given the right, timely treatment in Shaka King‘s equally impactful (perhaps even more so)…
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Likely to appeal to the Nicholas Sparks crowd, All My Life is a particularly sweet (almost too much so for its own good) true story-inspired tearjerker that, in many ways, gets away with being so cookie cutter because – as we are informed in the opening monologue – we only remember the most beautiful and tragic…
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Given the fact that Hostage has something of a reputation for being one of Australia’s biggest Ozploitation films, you’d be forgiven for assuming it would live up to its supposed status. And whilst the opening credits suggest the film to come will be one heavy on uncomfortable violence – there are sudden, furious flashes of…
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