Film

It’s not a new concept by any means, but films about artificial intelligence can still cut deep into the human psyche. Ex Machina is no different – following the narrative of Caleb, a computer programmer who wins a mysterious competition at his work, and is rewarded with a week long stay in the secluded and…

In January 2013 musician, Wilko Johnson was told he had ten months to live. In The Ecstasy of Wilko Johnson, English filmmaker Julien Temple (The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle, The Filth & The Fury) chronicles Johnson’s humble farewell tour and album as well as how the patient refuses chemotherapy treatment in order to live…

Chris Rock has always been a clever comedian, but one should never doubt his flair for a bit of dramatic acting. For those who remember him as Pookie from the classic New Jack City, Rock has always been able to bring depth to his characters, masked by his always animated persona. It’s these acting chops…

In the not too distant future robots will soon become part of the police force helping to stave off rising crime rates. But what happens when the machines we program and command can think and feel for themselves? How do we reconcile the human concepts of consciousness and a soul if a robot can feel…

It’s lonely at the top and much-loved Australian comedian, Carl Barron is all too aware of this. In his feature film debut he takes a leaf out of his book of life spent on the road for the past two decades. The film is brave and has an interesting enough premise, but it is let…

Director Paul Thomas Anderson has faithfully adapted a novel of the same name by Thomas Pynchon for Inherent Vice, an hilarious look into a 1970’s L.A, awash with drugged-up eccentricity as a convoluted would-be missing persons case is sniffed around by a stoner private investigator. Said P.I is portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix who brings Larry…

Sometimes in a film, particularly when it’s about con artists and heists a case of less is more is a better approach. Focus manages to start off interesting but ends up becoming a little too convoluted and confusing along the way. Providing us of too much of some things and not enough of others. Nicky…

Adapted from Joseph Delaney’s book The Spook’s Apprentice the first book in The Wardstone Chronicles this film provides yet more YA fantasy fodder, but sadly doesn’t live up to any promises. It’s not for lack of trying but more that its sheer ridiculousness is just all too much to bear in one film. Master Gregory…

+1 or Plus One is the sci-fi horror brainchild of Dennis Iliadis. Though its original release flashed by us at the 2013 SXSW festival, Illiadis felt the production was rushed for festival screening and has since tweaked it for international release. The story takes a rapid-fire spin on horror films and the concept of identity….

The official trailer for Love & Mercy has just been released and it’s sure to pull some heartstrings! Set against The Beach Boys’ iconic catalogue of music, the story follows the life of singer, songwriter and music legend Brian Wilson from successful highs in the band to devastating lows in his personal life.

As if they weren’t already busy enough, South African rap-rave group Die Antwoord have managed to squeeze time in between touring Europe and preparing for Future Music Festival to make an appearance in Sony’s upcoming release Chappie.

The menacing atmosphere of New York in the city’s most violent year, 1981, is portrayed in J.C Chandor’s A Most Violent Year with stunning – almost creepy – realism, giving us a gritty crime drama that could have easily been mistaken for an 80’s classic. While not quite as gripping as Godfather, this film has…

As the first episode of Mom begins, titular parent Christy (Anna Faris) – a waitress at a middle-to-high-end restaurant – is crying to her customers, battling tears as she reads the night’s specials and suffering through having to sing “Happy Birthday” to elderly patrons. Although the studio audience would have you believe it’s one of the…

Melissa McCarthy is Tammy and she is having a bad day. On her way to work, she hits a deer and wrecks her car. Because she is late, her boss Keith (Falcone) fires her. She arrives home to find her husband Greg (Faxon) having a romantic meal with neighbour Missi (Collette). She leaves Greg to…

The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel once again takes the audience on a journey through India with our favourite set of English retirees. The sequel to the 2012 sleeper hit brings together the same ensemble cast as previously, as well as some new additions. The film is helmed by the same team which included writer,…

You may remember that The Daily Show‘s Jon Stewart fell away from our TV screens for several months over the Summer of 2013 as he worked on his directorial debut, Rosewater (released in Australian cinemas today). It was during this time that John Oliver took over Stewart’s show, which ended up seeing him get his…

When The Wachowskis make a new film, we take notice. There is this endless desire we have as film fanatics that we’ll see them pull out something as impressive as their classic sci-fi film The Matrix. Time and time again fans and critics are disappointed, as proven by fairly low Rotten Tomatoes scores, poor word…

Colin Firth isn’t exactly the type of guy you would imagine as a highly capable master spy, but after watching Matthew Vaughn’s Kingsman: The Secret Service it’s quite hard to get the image of him in badass mode out of your head. Firth (code name Galahad) portrays a dapper, and quite ridiculous, super spy in…

At this year’s Golden Globes, hosts Amy Poehler and Tina Fey took aim at a little movie called The Interview during their anticipated opening monologue. And it sums up the lifespan of the film to date pretty well: “The biggest story in Hollywood this year was when North Korea threatened an attack if Sony Pictures…

Take one dysfunctional family of a soon-to-be divorced couple with their three oddball children. Another family of a high strung husband with his depressed wife and their aloof teenage son. One elderly apathetic patriarchal grandfather who is dying of cancer. Set it in an elaborate 75th birthday party in the Scottish Highlands. Awkward hilarity and…

Aussie siblings Kiah and Tristan Roache-Turner put themselves forward as highly competent creatives with outback horror film Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead, delivering a no-bullshit, slightly satirical, zombie film that is speedily climbing it’s genre, standing upon the pile of dead or decaying carbon-copies while heralding something unique and supremely entertaining. Kiah directed and Tristan…

In 1968, Martin Luther King, a pastor, humanitarian and African-American civil rights activist, was shot dead in Memphis, Tennessee whilst organising a peace protest. He was 39 years old. Four years prior in 1965, King led 600 people through Selma, Alabama to Montgomery, Alabama in a mass protest to secure the rights for African Americans…

Emily (Ebony Nave) is a teenage girl who is a victim of ‘the system’, shunted from one foster home to another, finding solace only in drugs, alcohol and the dark recesses of the city nightclubs she frequents. She is also self harms as a release from her pain. This is a young girl going nowhere…

The below review (film only) was originally published alongside the film’s theatrical release.  Writing a review for Gone Girl without spoiling the film in some way feels nearly impossible. So before I continue, I’d like to take this moment to issue a public service announcement: if you have neither read the book, nor seen the…

From Academy Award winning director James Marsh (Man on Wire) comes the much anticipated film based on the Jane Hawking’s memoir My Life with Stephen, the story of world renowned theoretical physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking, as seen through the eyes and experiences of his ex-wife. Much of Hawking’s story is well known – a…

You’ve probably heard or read some of the reviews for Foxcatcher already, and possibly seen the slew of award nominations it and along with its cast have been receiving recently. To say that this film warrants the accolades is fair, because for once a movie based on a true story manages to deliver not only…

The Culture High takes one side of a polarising, public debate. It argues that marijuana should be legalised. This crowd-funded documentary is from the makers of The Union: The Business Behind Getting High and takes up where the latter one left off by giving a detailed but rather weighted perspective. Director Brett Harvey shocks us…

The Wedding Ringer is a kind of terrible fun. The film has a direct-to-DVD feel that isn’t as enjoyable as The Wedding Singer but it’s also not as torturous as seeing your enemy get married. Ultimately, it’s a high-octane series of silly shenanigans that help redeem some of the film’s flatter moments. The movie is…

The Quarantine Station in North Head, Manly, is known, internationally even, as one of spookiest places ever. When it was used as a quarantine station between 1833 and 1984, over 5000 people lost their lives from diseases like the Bubonic Plague (the freaky one where you bleed from your eyes or something) and Smallpox. Rather…

Director Jean-Marc Vallée (Dallas Buyers Club) is back for another awards season with part travelogue, part grief memoir, Wild. The film stars Reese Witherspoon as Cheryl Strayed (seems highly coincidental, but that is her real last name), who undertakes the personal challenge of hiking solo, 1,100 miles along the Pacific Crest Trail from Mexico to…