Film

Burn Burn Burn – set to screen in Australia as part of the BBC First British Film Festival – is the feature film debut from director Chanya Button and surprised me as a standout film of the “road trip” genre. Even if it did take a little long to get there, it’s the journey that…

Proving that his script work on Sicario was no fluke, screenwriter Taylor Sheridan has taught an old dog some new tricks with Hell Or High Water, a should-be predictable crime tale that’s peppered with so many nuances and perceptive characters that it rises above its genre simplicities. Despite director David Mackenzie (Starred Up, Young Adam)…

When “based on a true story” flashes across the screen in the beginning moments of Masterminds, you can’t help but think that it’s trying to squeeze an easy laugh out of its audience. Somehow, whether you believe it or not, Jared Hess’s comedy adopts its premise from an actual robbery that took place in the…

Scares were flat when Stiles White made his directorial debut with 2014 film Ouija, a supernatural horror which got by commercially on its formulaic, same-same structure – and the release date being Halloween – but ultimately faltered in the face of superior genre films released that in the same year. Nothing about Ouija was particularly…

Creating some early hype for the Marvel fandom, the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 teaser trailer and the official movie poster were unveiled yesterday on the Official Franchise’s Facebook. With the teaser trailer leading viewers with the classic tune of Blue Swede’s “Hooked on a Feeling”, the trailer doesn’t reveal too much (as with any teaser,…

Based on the 18th book in the series by Lee Child and a follow-up to 2012’s Jack Reacher, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back sees the titular brooding anti-hero (Tom Cruise) roll into DC for a date with Major Susan Turner (Cobie Smulders) only to find her imprisoned on espionage charges. Before long Reacher, Turner and…

It seems many are still willing to take a thrilling ride (sorry) with Emily Blunt and Co., as The Girl On The Train retained its top spot on at the box office this week, earning $2.61 million.  Although the earnings were down by 35% since last week, this film still managed the best revenue retention of any…

Woody Allen’s latest film should be renamed “High Society.” This beautifully-shot comedy is a nostalgic but throwaway look at the glitz and glamour of some halcyon days in Hollywood and the smoky nightlife of New York. It’s ultimately like a pleasant and lightweight dream that celebrates money even though the thirties was synonymous for some…

Imagine a scenario where a computer virus has the ability to affect a country’s power supply. It sounds like the plot of a thrilling, science fiction film. It is frightening to think that this could be the future of cyberwarfare, especially when one considers this in light of the Stuxnet event. Zero Days is a…

Everybody has their own line with respect to what they consider funny versus what is taboo. For some people there is no topic or thing that is off limits while others believe that some subjects – irrespective of the quality of the joke –are in poor taste. The Last Laugh is a documentary that examines…

Liam Neeson’s endeavour to find his daughter seems almost trivial when compared to the inexorable force of Keanu Reeves as John Wick, seeking vengeance for the murder of his Beagle puppy named Daisy. John Wick will return in 2017 after the original sleeper hit snowballed into one of the most memorable action films of its…

With the school holidays winding down this weekend, it seems audiences were more of the MA15+ variety, as The Girl On The Train took top spot with $4 million earned this weekend.  Changing the setting from England to upstate New York, the film’s screen average was among the top 10 so far this year, the best result since Suicide…

I remember when I first heard of The Da Vinci Code novel by Dan Brown, I couldn’t really understand the hype of it all and how it became a best-seller. The story felt like it was a more mature version of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, since they both involve going on a quest…

Most people were introduced to James “Jim” Foley when he appeared in a bright orange jumpsuit and reports (and video) confirmed that he had been the first American citizen to be murdered by ISIS. It was a moment where the Islamic State had stripped away his humanity and reduced Foley to a casualty. In the…

Joe Cinque’s Consolation is a film that throws up a lot of questions. How much responsibility should society accept in a murder trial? Is a murder a preventable death? To what extent can we describe an inexplicable crime? This Australian film is based on some true events and is adapted from Helen Garner’s award-winning true…

With the hype likening this Tate Taylor thriller to last year’s hit Gone Girl, The Girl On The Train returns to the classic bleak style but without the twists and turns that make the genre interesting. Adapting a fan-favourite page-turner to the big screen is always a risk, especially when that adaptation involves a relocation…

Seems schoolkids – as well as parents and guardians – are really into the weird and wonderful, with Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children topping the box office at $4 million this week.  It beat out The Secret Life of Pets , which took an impressive $3.3 million in its foutta week of release after being at number 1 last week, following…

Whilst Tim Burton is far from being back to his winning form, Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children is at least a step in the right direction for a filmmaker who has always found comfort in showcasing the weird and wonderful. Though the film slightly feels like a fantasy cash-in, much in the way features…

The trailers for the documentary Amanda Knox (which debuts on Netflix in late September) questions whether the eponymous star did or didn’t commit the murder of British exchange student, Meredith Kercher. The crime that occurred in Perugia Italy in 2007 had an investigation that had more holes than a pile of Swiss cheese. This documentary…

After falling into 2nd place on the box office ladder, The Secret Life of Pets is back on top again, making $3.41 million this week.  It also earned the the weekend’s best screen average with $6,987 from its 489 screens, and, with school holidays now upon this, this film should continue to perform well. Bridget Jones’s Baby, earning $2.81 million this…

John Sturges’ 1960 American Western has been polished and updated with a culturally diverse – for the sake of being culturally diverse – cast and a keen eye on box office glory. Antoine Fuqua’s updated version of The Magnificent Seven is a successful outing in this sense, roping in the likes of a sullen Denzel…

The new biopic Snowden – in cinemas today – is a film about one of the world’s most famous political dissidents, Edward Snowden (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt), by a filmmaker (Oliver Stone) who is celebrated for his political dissidence. It should be a match made in cinematic heaven. So why isn’t it? The problems with…

In its first full week of release, Bridget Jones’s Baby has nabbed top spot, claiming $3.68 million at the box office.  Only just beating the film at no. 2, the Renee Zellweger flick has also reportedly yielded the lowest screen average (that is, the average amount earned across the number of screens/venues a movie is shown) for a new release at the top…

It’s probably impossible for any film or documentary that covers The Beatles to ever be disappointing. It’s also challenging for any to shed light on an interesting aspect of the band that may not have been covered before. Director Ron Howard opts to focus this project on a particularly hectic and whirlwind time in the…

Fans of Bridget Jones and those feeling nostalgic over 90s-early 2000s rom-coms won’t be disappointed by Bridget Jones’s Baby. The film follows Bridget (Renee Zellweger), now in her 40s, who’s back in square one. Single and bitter about it, but she tries to move on and parties. This leads to chance steamy encounters with a…

For the second week in a row, The Secret Life of Pets, voiced by Louis C.K., Eric Stonestreet and Kevin Hart, has taken the top spot at the box ladder, bringing in $4.80 million this week.  With a total box office earnings of $7.38 million since its premiere, it’s the best fortnight result since the first two weekends of Suicide Squad.  ….

If there is a film that you can think of the top of your head that had the best marketing strategy, many would say that it would be The Blair Witch Project. With the perfect timing of the internet and it matter-of-fact documentary film-making, it became the trailblazer of the modern viral marketing campaign. So many around the world, including…

Do you remember the 1977 Disney film Pete’s Dragon? No? Good, neither do most. But Disney’s new string of live action remakes is now having a crack at the original – which has become something of a cult favourite in the Disney archives – in an attempt to replicate their success with The Jungle Book…

Directed by Roberto Andò, The Confessions (Le confessioni) is a refreshing suspense thriller. The film centres on a global summit where the world’s powerful and influential leaders attend. Among them is Salus (Toni Servillo), a monk, who is called over by Director of International Monetary Funds Daniel Roché (Daniel Auteuil) so he could make a…

Italy’s answer to The Perks of Being a Wallflower, One Kiss (Un Bacio, directed by Ivan Cotroneo) centres on gay and proud Lorenzo (Rimau Grillo Ritzberger), Blu (Valentina Romani), who is shadowed by a traumatic past, and bullied basketball player Antonio (Leonardo Pazzagli). Their shared outsider status at school draws them together. But their friendship…