American nationalism is back on-screen once again in full display in the action sequel to Olympus Has Fallen. On a minor note, Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman, Angela Bassett and others from the previous film are back as well. But seriously, the first film, by director Antoine Fuqua of Training Day fame, was a […]
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When it comes to modern crime thrillers, film sometimes has trouble competing with television. Each year sees dozens of TV series – prime-time, cable and otherwise – tackle the genre and for a film to really stand out against this herd and compete with stuff like True Detective or Luther, it has to go big or go home. […]
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It is a truth universally acknowledged that when Hollywood is on to a good thing, they will milk the shit out of it and exploit it until audiences are sick of it and then move on to the next “cool” thing. Right now that thing is very much zombies, so don’t be surprised to see […]
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Homegrown science fiction adventure film Arrowhead brings a lot of ambition to the table but little else. For fans of the genre, it’s a bold step forward into disappointingly familiar territory. Directed and written by Jesse O’Brien, the film follows Kye (Dan Mor), a prisoner of war between two interstellar factions locked in political conflict. Kye is […]
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Loosely-based around Japan’s real life (and really terrifying) ‘suicide forest’, The Forest is a pretty underwhelming and generic horror flick. There’s an enormous gulf in how evocative and eerie the subject material can be and how compelling this film is. There are so many different ways to deploy and explore the premise of this film. Unfortunately, it seems very few of those […]
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Given the combined creative genius of writers (Abby Kohn, Marc Silverstein, Dana Fox) who co-wrote this screenplay, one would have expected to strap themselves in for a solid, heart wrenching, feel good romp with How to be Single. However not all rom-coms are created equal and this would be sure fire winner, boosted by the […]
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When we were first introduced to the inmates of Litchfield Penitentiary in the 2013 debut season of Orange is the New Black, it was quite clear that we were supposed to be introduced to this new environment through the show’s protagonist, Piper Chapman (Taylor Schilling). The upper-class NYC dweller’s transportation to a world completely different to the […]
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The Hateful Eight is (fittingly) iconic auteur Quentin Tarantino‘s eighth film, which this week opened in Australian cinemas for a limited 70mm Ultra Panavision release – the first film to do so since 1966’s Khartoum and the first Western since The Hallelujah Trail (1965). For cinephiles around the world, the day couldn’t have come soon enough, […]
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The Goosebumps novel series was one I read religiously as a child growing up – in fact I don’t know many 90’s children who weren’t invested in this wonderfully ghoulish series – so the idea of a (long overdue) cinematic adaptation of R.L. Stine’s classic tales was one I embraced wholeheartedly. The type of subject matter […]
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What an incredibly frustrating film Regression turned out to be. It’s competently made, well-acted, and contains interesting ideas that are suitably unnerving; ingredients that make it all the more disappointing when its ultimate culmination results in a resounding whimper rather than a wow. Director Alejandro Amenabar knows his way around dark material, and for a […]
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Though Stretch is a rather kinetic film – think an episode of Entourage on crack – and would’ve most likely come and gone in cinemas without much notice, there’s such an infectious energy to it all that you can’t help but feel disappointed that it wasn’t granted a larger release. The DVD market seems tailor […]
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Sometimes a film comes along that challenges your thinking and opinions and leaves you with an emotional suckerpunch. Spotlight is one of those films where the sum of all of its parts results in a perfect film, a balance between emotional drama, gripping suspense, challenging subject matter and all based on a true story. There […]
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Once named “the director of the decade” from the late, iconic film critic Roger Ebert (who, in turn, has this film dedicated to him), Ramin Bahrani’s new film 99 Homes is a self-described “humanist thriller”, which takes us into the realities of the American housing crisis, out of which tragedy and corruption has emerged. Set […]
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Fans of Downton Abbey shouldn’t be disappointed with the end of the series. After all, it ended on a high note. Now you can add the DVD to your collection and have an elegant marathon. The complete sixth and final season begins in 1925. Life continues to change at Downton with servants including the ones […]
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A film that manages to be both reserved yet personal, Youth is a realistically surreal film experience existing on its own plane thanks to the brave direction from Paolo Sorrentino. Gorgeous imagery and a restful pulse compliment the stunning, oft self-indulgent performances from an excellent cast of performers all masters at their craft. Set in […]
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If nothing else, Victor Frankenstein succeeds in its efforts to retell the story of the titular figure, and not the monster he’s so often conflated with. This re-imagining of the horror classic sees Frankenstein and his assistant Igor take center stage over the pair’s iconic creation, playing less a horror flick and more of a character-driven period […]
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Given both our own and the upcoming American elections, Our Brand is Crisis feels maybe a little too topical for its own good. Based on the documentary of the same name, the film follows Jane (Sandra Bullock), a talented political strategist who is coaxed out of early-retirement to help revive the election hopes of a Bolivian presidential candidate […]
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Taking anthologies like True Detective, Fargo and American Horror Story off the table, it’s hard to imagine a modern cable drama that’s reinvented itself as thoroughly as The Leftovers has with this second season. The return of Damon Lindelof and Tom Perotta‘s existential drama sees the action move from the suburbs of Mapleton to the […]
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There’s a special kind of infuriation one harbors for a bad film made by a talented filmmaker starring proven talent. Rock The Kasbah evokes this feeling. Originally set for an Australian theatrical release in the last quarter of 2015, its abysmal performance in the United States ($3.3m from a $15m budget) rendered it unworthy of […]
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Based on the live stage play by Alex Lykos that has toured around the country since 2006, Alex & Eve is a romantic comedy about a Greek Orthodox boy and a Lebanese Muslim girl who, against all odds, fall in love. This Aussie feature shows off the many cultures that live and breathe in Oz […]
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Sylvester Stallone has been playing Rocky Balboa for forty years. It’s a credit to the almost-70-year-old actor that he has found a way to breathe new life into the iconic character in Creed, the seventh film in the Rocky franchise. In fact, his efforts even earned him an Oscar nomination this year, the third of […]
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If Laurel Hester (Julianne Moore) was never diagnosed with terminal cancer, she may never have come out. With 20 years of service for the New Jersey State Police, being a woman was hard enough. Now, she wants to make sure her pension goes to her spouse, Stacie Andree (Ellen Page), so she can stay in […]
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Or, as I like to call it, Special-K. Terrence Malick and his editors have modeled their film on the time and space bending properties of a psychoactive trip. One second you’re in a swanky Los Angeles apartment, the next on the ruins of a burnt-down gas station. Sometimes it’s Rick’s (Christian Bale) voice whispering contemplative […]
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Not that it wasn’t already, but by the end it’s fifth season HBO’s phenom of a TV show Game of Thrones had shot straight up to the front of the list for most talked about television shows of all time. Memes, references, and general fandom surrounding the show become embedded in pop culture all around […]
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Despite its incredibly generic title and direct-to-DVD status, No Escape is a surprisingly effective thriller elevated by its above-average cast and fuelled by its ability to maintain tension from start to finish. Director John Erik Dowdle is no stranger to lacing his films with palpable tension (the found-footage horror outing Quarantine and M. Night Shyamalan […]
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Spectre is the 24th James Bond film, 52 years into a franchise that has defined and redefined espionage thrillers, showing absolutely no signs of stopping both financially and creatively after Skyfall’s overwhelming success in 2012. Sure Daniel Craig’s iteration of Bond has given us some dull moments (see Quantum of Solace), but the 47 year […]
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If there is one thing I have always been upfront about, it’s that despite Marvel’s undeniable domination at the box office with their live-action films, DC have always had the animation sector locked down. Since 2007, DC’s stable of ‘Animated Original Movies’ have retold timeless stories first seen in comics (Superman’s death in Doomsday; Batman’s origins […]
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The Intern is an expression of contemporary norms and a challenge towards gender behaviours and expectations through societies’ transition to a more equal way of life. Written and directed by Nancy Myers, this feel-good comedy is set in Brooklyn New York. The film follows Ben Whittaker (Robert De Niro), a seventy-year-old widower whom is struggling […]
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Season 4 of Luther sees the titular British detective (Idris Elba) return for a two-part adventure that, while all too brief, does a fantastic job of picking up the ball and running with it. It’s every bit as dark, moody and drenched in grey-morality as previous seasons and the slick production values behind the series […]
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Leave it to David Simon, the creator of The Wire, to turn a story about housing developments into the one of the richest miniseries television has seen in years. Show Me A Hero is a six-episode miniseries that adapts the real-world story behind the enforcement of federally-mandated public housing in the American city of Yonkers. […]
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