Author: Peter Gray

Thanks to Universal Pictures we have 5 double in-season passes (Admit 2) to see the new bromantic comedy Bros, the first romantic comedy from a major studio about two gay men maybe, possibly, probably, stumbling towards love. Maybe. They’re both very busy. From the ferocious comic mind of Billy Eichner (Billy on the Street,) and the…

Given his imposing stature, it makes sense that all the 196 centimetres of chiselled muscle that make up Dwayne Johnson would be put to good use within the superhero genre.  But just why has it taken so long for the artist formerly billed as The Rock to don a skin-tight suit and get to saving…

Having breathed new life into the legendary Rocky franchise as the son of Sylvester Stallone’s long-time rival, Adonis Creed, Michael B. Jordan drove the Creed films to critical and commercial acclaim. Now, five years on from 2018’s $200 million success Creed II, Jordan is both stepping back in and out of the ring, putting on…

“Power born from rage” may be the tagline selling Black Adam, but the film’s vision was born from the creative and collaborative minds of producers Beau Flynn and Hiram Garcia. Long-time partners with Black Adam himself, Dwayne Johnson, Flynn and Garcia spoke at the global press conference for the anticipated action film – which our…

The world needed a hero… It got Black Adam! A passion project for Dwayne Johnson over a decade in the making, Black Adam is the first-ever feature film to explore the DC Universe anti-hero – an ancient God freed from his tomb of 5,000 years ready to unleash his power on an unsuspecting modern world….

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…

Selected as New Zealand’s official submission for the 2023 Academy Awards in the category of ‘Best International Feature Film’, Muru is a searing response to real-life events of 2007, which saw police invoke new anti-terrorism powers by launching an armed raid on the Tūhoe people in New Zealand’s Ruatoki region. Directed by Tearepa Kahi and…

The premise for Barbarian is almost insultingly simple that its ultimate outcome feels all the more revelatory, thanks to writer/director Zach Cregger expanding on his narrative familiarity with intrigue, dark humour and unsettling terror. A film that has two distinct halves but manages to still feel cohesive in spite of its shift, Barbarian initially sets up…

Despite the fact that last year’s Halloween Kills drove the chant home that “Evil Dies Tonight”, the contrary proved more accurate as the series’ central figure quite brazenly refused to go down with the bloody beatings he was afforded towards the climactic moments of David Gordon Green‘s divisive sequel. Said figure, Michael Myers, has been…

She’s more than just a toy. She’s part of the family. From the most prolific minds in horror – James Wan, the filmmaker behind the Saw, Insidious and The Conjuring franchises, and Blumhouse, the producer of the Halloween films, The Black Phone and The Invisible Man – comes a fresh new face in terror; M3GAN!…

Before Romeo & Juliet, there was Romeo & Rosaline. Adopting a personality that takes inspiration from the likes of Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo & Juliet, 10 Things I Hate About You, and A Knight’s Tale, Rosaline is a charming romantic comedy that manages to present its meta commentary on the pros and cons of Shakespeare’s work…

After skewering the narrative of the Halloween films with the direct name-same sequel in 2018, David Gordon Green took a massive kitchen knife to all that had come before and created a brand new series within the horror franchise. After reviving the iconic Michael Myers for Halloween and Halloween Kills, the epic conclusion to his…

Thanks to Warner Bros. Australia we have 5 double in-season passes (Admit 2) to see the new DC’s newest superhero Black Adam, starring Dwayne Johnson. Dwayne Johnson stars in the action adventure “Black Adam.”  The first-ever feature film to explore the story of the DC Super Hero comes to the big screen under the direction…

Thanks to Sony Pictures Releasing Australia we have 5 double in-season passes (Admit 2) to see the acclaimed action/drama The Woman King, starring Viola Davis, John Boyega, Thuso Mbedu and Lashana Lynch. The Woman King is the remarkable story of the Agojie, the all-female unit of warriors who protected the African Kingdom of Dahomey in the 1800s with…

Maybe you can try a little too hard sometimes? David O. Russell is no stranger to big swings, both from a narrative point of view and in his casting.  And here have been times that such an effort has paid off, with Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle standing as (arguably) his most accessible titles. …

Santa Claus: Action hero? The jolly man in red is getting a violent, twisted makeover in Violent Night, and whilst it may seem like an odd premise, when you realise it comes from the brains behind Nobody, Bullet Train, and Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters it makes perfect sense! As the trailer for the film…

You’d be forgiven for knowing more about Don’t Worry Darling‘s on-set drama and supposed promotional tension than the film itself at this point.  It feels redundant to mention the specifics of such because, ultimately, it has very little bearing on the film’s quality itself; though there is a certain irony in director Olivia Wilde having…

It’s time to literally save the day for Jennifer Lopez and Josh Duhamel in the first explosive trailer for Shotgun Wedding. Darcy (Lopez) and Tom (Duhamel) gather their lovable but very opinionated families for the ultimate destination wedding, just as the couple begin to get cold feet. And if that wasn’t enough of a threat…

As casting director Jill Anthony Thomas states herself, those involved in the casting process are “the unsung heroes of the industry”.  Actors aren’t always handed a role.  And two performers on paper doesn’t equate to them working well in person.  So, thank the movie and television Gods that we have people like Jill to steer…

From its literary origins with queer authors Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker and Oscar Wilde to the pansy craze of the 1920s that influenced Universal Monsters and Hitchcock; from the “lavender scare” alien invasion films of the mid-20th century to the AIDS obsessed bloodletting of 80s vampire films; through genre-bending horrors from a new generation of queer creators; Queer for Fear re-examines genre stories through a queer lens, seeing them not as violent, murderous…

There’s always a certain joy in seeing someone you know personally excel in their chosen field of expertise. And for Peter Gray it was chatting with Queensland actress (and long-historied friend) Melanie Zanetti in conjunction with the release of Raven’s Hollow. After catching up and filling more than a few interview minutes on celebrating each…

Like so many of the House of Mouse’s IPs, Hocus Pocus has been conjured once more.  Disney weren’t entirely sure they had a success on their hands some 30 years ago with the release of the original film – what with the studio releasing a Halloween-themed family film in July, for starters – and were…

A buddy comedy centred around a suicide pact isn’t exactly going to be the easiest sell (or the most pleasant viewing experience), and coming out on the other side of a global pandemic where mental health issues surged certainly doesn’t help matters either, but here we are with On the Count of Three, an at-times…

Celebrating its 28th year, Queensland’s brightest celebration of film, the Brisbane International Film Festival (BIFF), announces its eagerly awaited program and new festival hub, lighting up screens over 11 days from October 27 to November 6, 2022.  This year BIFF will delight audiences with a diverse selection of Award-Winning films, anticipated releases from acclaimed directors,…

As the Edgar Allan Poe-inspired Raven’s Hollow begins to haunt horror streaming service Shudder just in time for the spooky season (you can read our review here), Peter Gray spoke with writer/director Christopher Hatton about navigating gothic horror, what he hopes Poe purists will take away from the film, and their own personal connection to each…

Not exactly an origin story in the traditional – or autobiographical – sense, but a healthy start all the same as to how legendary horror writer Edgar Allan Poe fuelled his creativity for all things macabre, Christopher Hatton‘s Raven’s Hollow indulges in the author’s aesthetic for an atmospheric chiller that favours story over scares. In…

Given how wild everyone – or teenage girls, to be a little more accurate – are for pop’s main man-candy Harry Styles, it will no doubt throw much of his female following off as to how graphic the sexual scenes are in My Policeman, a queer love story that perseveres with grand intentions but, sadly,…

One of the more unlikely franchises of a resilient nature, V/H/S/, a retro-appearing horror anthology effort that often compiles a series of genre directors flexing their creative muscle through short horror narratives, is now in its fifth iteration in the form of V/H/S/99. The horror tales that often are confined within the V/H/S/ films are always…

When The Wonder first begins there’s a rather pretentious and, ultimately, unrewarding additive that runs the risk of undoing all that will follow.  Niamh Algar‘s soothing vocal tone greets us as our eyes glaze over a constructed film set.  Algar informs us that we are indeed watching a film, but the players involve believe in…

Though he certainly didn’t lose any of his sense of comfort by travelling across the Atlantic for his last film – 2017’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri – there’s a sense of grandeur in writer/director Martin McDonagh returning to his homeland for The Banshees of Inisherin, an impossibly funny and, at times, heartbreakingly bleak dramedy…