Film

Take two of Hollywood’s heavy-weight legendary actors, both who’ve previously starred in boxing related films, throw in as many nods as you can to the sport, as well as a good helping of comedy and a little drama and that pretty much is Grudge Match. Two aging boxers Henry ‘Razor’ Sharp (Sylvester Stallone) and Billy…

Long weekends don’t usually end up changing your life. Henry is in that tricky period of being 13 years old and belies wisdom beyond his years in choosing to live with his single mother Adele who is coping with depression, played by a beautifully elegiac Kate Winslet. The story is set in 1987 and revolves…

“No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin … People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart” With such beautiful and moving lines, gracefully unaltered from the original source material…

Take some of Hollywood’s greatest actors all in their twilight years and the storyline from The Hangover and you basically have Last Vegas, with a lot more tact and an evenly balanced dose of comedy and drama. A lot less risqué but I guess that’s what happens when you’re targeting the baby-boomer market. Meet our…

A free black man living in New York, Soloman Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor) accepts a job working as a violinist with a circus, does a few gigs in different cities and ends up in Washington. His travel companions trick him, sell him in to slavery and, as the title suggests, the film tells the story of…

Trudging through the wasteland of found-footage, Paranormal Activity has always managed to stay afloat where others – that attempted a similar style – were quickly dismissed. The feel of amateur footage lends itself greatly to the typical tropes of supernatural horror, adding a slightly more effective dose of realism and making it so much more…

Martin Scorsese’s three hour odyssey into the world of Wall Street excess isn’t the sort of film you might expect from the master filmmaker; one who’s brought us classics such as Raging Bull, Taxi Driver and Goodfellas. Often emotionally brutal, violent and breathtaking in their own right, Marty’s films have rarely shied away from controversy…

It’s been quite some time since we’ve seen Keanu Reeves in a Hollywood blockbuster; it’s been even longer since he’s been in a decent film. Reeves’ famously silent, wooden way of acting has always been strangely endearing, but in Carl Rinsch’s 47 Ronin, his presence is lacking as he quietly broods throughout the film, occasionally…

Based on the Tom Clancy Jack Ryan series, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit is director Kenneth Branagh’s foray into the political and economic espionage thriller field. It’s also the first to not be specifically based on a Clancy novel, but take inspiration from the series and create a new story for our central character. Setting the…

It’s 1961 in Greenwich Village and in a short time this city will become a Mecca for folk troubadours. This all started when a young man called Robert Zimmerman changed his name to Bob Dylan and became a legend. But Llewyn Davis’ life is taking a rather different route, it’s one that is as aimless…

Fans of Disney films, and in particular Mary Poppins and those interested in the back story of how that film came to pass will find this almost biopic about author P.L. Travers intriguing and even emotionally moving. Saving Mr Banks is a somewhat confusing title as the film focuses on Travers and her dealings with…

Majestic, powerful and intimidating, the sad reality is that sharks have more reason to fear us, than the other way round. Thanks to netting, shark finning and mercury poisoning we’ve managed to push over 90% of shark species to the brink of extinction. Directors Luke Cresswell and Steve McNicholas choose to broach the subject more…

It’s almost become cliché to say it now, but Meryl Streep dominates yet another film. August: Osage County is an adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize winning play of the same name, with original playwright Tracy Letts penning the screenplay for The Company Men director John Wells to helm. A darkly comic drama, the film begins…

The Little Mermaid. Beauty and the Beast. Aladdin. The Lion King. These animated musical classics were all released within a 5 year period (1989-1994) when Disney animation was at its high point. This fruitful period, known as the Disney Renaissance, continued until the end of the century and also included films such as Mulan (1998) and Tarzan (1999). However, during the…

The new documentary Muscle Shoals tells the story of a little town of the same name in Alabama, USA, where an incredible amount of iconic music was recorded at Rick Hall’s FAME Studios. We’re talking tracks by everyone from The Rolling Stones to U2 and Aretha Franklin (all of whom appear in the film)… to…

Catholic guilt can be one pervasive beast and if ever there was a film to embody this phenomena it’s Philomena. This is the tragic drama/comedy that is inspired by a true story. It crosses three nations, several decades in time and shows the misdemeanours of an institution that should’ve protected its vulnerable charges. The film…

There’s a lot riding on the second installment in The Hobbit trilogy. The first film, An Unexpected Journey, did fairly well (if grossing over a billion dollars worldwide is your definition of “fairly well”) but received some less than favourable reviews, primarily due to its length and some issues with the High Frame Rate technology. Though…

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is a film, which thrives in the visual first, and the story second. But the story is a very close second. Based on a short story in the New Yorker magazine by James Thurber – but not completely following it – we see Walter Mitty – played by Ben…

The Muscle Shoals documentary is as soulful as the music that came out of the Alabama County of the same name. The documentary is filled to the brim with the rich musical history of the town that gave the world The Swampers, and countless hits from The Rolling Stones, Aretha Franklin and way too many others…

While Computer Chess is spruiked as a ‘hilariously offbeat comedy’, it only draws a few tepid chuckles, most of which don’t make the trip from brain to mouth. But assuming it’s one of those comedies where you’re not supposed to laugh, it’s still enjoyable. I’m just not sure if it’s enjoyable enough to invest your hard earned…

Ask anyone under the age of 30 what they think is the funniest film ever made, and 9 out of 10 of them will say Anchorman. Hardly a success when released in 2004, the film became a hit on DVD and has since become the most frequently quoted film amongst members of Generation Y. Who among us has…

As we approach the 100th anniversary of the beginning of World War I, it is good for us to be reminded of the terrible and destructive nature of war. The most effective war films are able to give their audiences a tiny taste of what it might have been like to live through those times, as…

With an ensemble cast of some of Hollywood’s current A-list crop and an Oscar nominated multi-award winning director/writer helming the film American Hustle is already garnering a lot of hype and I would say that you better believe it’s worth it. We open with the film telling us that “some of this actually happened” and…

Seeing any film at the Chauvel cinema, Paddington in Sydney is like stepping into an intimate experience. The service is friendly and personalised, and the cinema itself exudes a kind of chilled-out classy atmos; before your chosen film starts, you can order a beer or glass of wine to enjoy out on the balcony, or…

“Rhyme, meter, conceit. Without this balance, a poem becomes slack.” Allan Ginsberg’s poetry professor proclaims this line in the earlier moments of Kill Your Darlings, and throughout its runtime I found myself wishing that the film had heeded this advice. Kill Your Darlings is a schizophrenic trip through the origins of the Beat Generation that never…

After receiving rave reviews from its debut at the Sundance Film Festival earlier in the year, buzz has been building for James Ponsoldt’s The Spectacular Now. So, does it live up to the hype? No, not really, but films rarely do. Despite being overrated by critics during its currently-brief lifetime, the film still impresses in many ways. It…

Growing up, we always have a couple of books we connect with. For me, before there was Harry Potter and before I could fully appreciate the sheer brilliance of the Hitchhikers series, there was a little 1985 Sci-Fi novel called Ender’s Game. It was the sort of novel, that at nine years old – or…

Note: This Review May Contain Spoilers How I Live Now is at once strange and intriguing. Set in the 21st century, How I Live Now tells the story of a young, American girl who is sent to live with her cousins in the English countryside, when a world war breaks out across the country. Daisy, the American, and…

Darlene Love. Merry Clayton. Lisa Fischer. Claudia Lennear. Táta Vega. Judith Hill. Jo Lawry. Stevvi Alexander. The names of these women may not seem familiar, but I can guarantee that you have heard at least one, if not all of them sing. How? Because all of these women are backup singers, and among the most celebrated of…

As with many European Art films, Blue Is The Warmest Colour requires patience. The film moves at a snail’s pace but this is only to increase the drama and tension at pivotal turning points in the narrative. That being said, Blue Is The Warmest Colour is a beautiful character study that, with its depiction and…