Film

Hi Folks, After seeing Captain American: Civil War last week, I too, am on a team Cap bandwagon. If you haven’t, It’s an all-round pleasure. Lets get to it. Cap and co. are still on top, but in their second week has seen them drop a little. However, they still stand strong at $6 million (slightly better than Batman’s…

Though on its own terms Bastille Day is an above-average action thriller with a slew of slick action sequences and enough plot twists to make you dizzy, you can’t help but view it as star Idris Elba’s unofficial audition for the next 007 film, with the actor’s name quite often mentioned as a serious contender…

Florence Foster Jenkins opens with St Clair Bayfield (Hugh Grant) in front of a red curtain, reciting a little Shakespeare. We soon find out he’s just waiting to introduce Florence (Meryl Streep) his wife and client, who is starring in a cabaret of her own design for the patrons of her music club. The truth…

There are very few sequels that can better the original, and in the case of comedies, even less so. Films like Ghostbusters 2, the Hangover sequels, the American Pie films and others all failed to capture and improve on what made the originals successful in the first place. When I watched Bad Neighbours 2: Sorority Rising,…

It’s no secret that nerd culture has a problem with sexism. From last year’s #gamergate to the more-recent controversy around Allison Rapp, discourse in the games industry has been dominated by this ugly cultural intersection between woman and video games. For those who haven’t been keeping tabs on things, GFTO is a reasonably effective primer as…

There are a LOT of crazy, yet infuriating stories that happen in Communist China. Some of the stories include an annual dog-eating festival to its catastrophic levels of pollution to hundreds of dead pigs in rivers and many others – but none of them had prepared me for this hard-hitting and shocking documentary. When I first…

Another sequel we’re actually okay about – Space Jam is returning! Justin Lin (Fast and the Furious 6, Star Trek Beyond) is co-writing with Andrew Dodge (Bad Words) and Alfredo Botello (Hollywood Adventures, Crickets) to bring some ’90s hoops back. Replacing Michael Jordon is the Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James, who recently made an appearance in Amy Schumer’s…

Hello folks, We have some new friends that have entered and knocked off Disney’s top position, The Jungle Book now at #2. Make way for, Marvel’s Captain America: Cilvil War – and, I reckon, for awhile. Stat-wise, it did a remarkable $13 Million and about $8 thousand more than Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice. Let it also be known there…

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…

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…

The Marvel Cinematic Universe seems to be this juggernaut that keeps pumping out successful film after successful film. They’ve been on this upward trajectory for so long that it seems inevitable that they will have to stumble somewhere. Surprisingly and welcomingly so, Captain America: Civil War is not that movie. There is no denying that surpassing…

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…

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…

Hi Folks, Hope you all had a good long weekend. The stats are in. There’s no change to the number #1 as far as film is concerned, just a slight decrease the takings for The Jungle Book. However we do have a new number #2 – and that’s newcomer, Eddie the Eagle which racked up $2.6 million. The…

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…

Biographical films, especially ones that revolve around triumphs of the human spirit, can range from the truly inspirational The Pursuit of Happiness to award-bait films like the dull and manipulative The Blind Side to unmitigated disasters like the agonizing Patch Adams. However, very few of those films show the comedic side of life and this is where Eddie the Eagle…

From Writer and Director Jeff Nichols, an emerging American auteur who has already slammed two home runs with the brilliant Take Shelter (2011) and the film which arguably reignited Matthew McConoughey’s career, Mud (2012), comes his most ambitious film to date – Midnight Special, which opens in Australian cinemas today. In Midnight Special – which…

A Tricky Treat is a short film. Like, 3 minute type of short. But that only means that you should free up 3 minutes to watch it because it nails everything it sets out to do. Written by Kamal John Iskander and directed by short film veteran Patricia Chica, A Tricky Treat subverts what we’ve…

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…

Hello Folks, We have a new #1. Outscoring The Huntsman Winter’s War in first place is The Jungle Book. Hitting the $290 million mark  around the globe, critics are responding very well to the film. Stellar casting and visually impressive landscapes have put Disney on top again. As for Melissa McCarthy’s The Boss, well, that came in at second place with a…

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…

It seems after Mockingjay Part 2, the last of The Hunger Games, people and Hollywood need to take a break from dystopias. Similar in plot, Allegiant is the latest installment in the Divergent series. It follows Tris (Shailene Woodley) and her friends in the aftermath of overthrowing the ruthless system that controlled Chicago, their home….

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…

After going out of her way to make herself seem as unappealing as possible in the misguided Tammy, Melissa McCarthy opts for the opposite effect in The Boss, prettying herself up considerably (at least physically) to play a power-hungry mogul who, against our better judgement, we can’t hate as much as we should due to…

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…

Hello folks. Well, we did it. If you we’re on my team and rooting for a new box office contender, you’ve got one in the sequel to Snow White and The Huntsman. Although it’s not breaking any big records, The Huntsman Winter’s War overtook both Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice to take the top spot….

In the last decade Disney has slowly but surely been churning out live action versions of some of its classic films and stories. There’s been 101 Dalmations, Alice In Wonderland, Maleficent, and Cinderella to name a few. Now to add to that list is The Jungle Book, an adaptation of Rudyard Kipling’s classic story as…

Mirror, mirror on the wall, what’s the best fairytale retelling of them all? The Huntsman: Winter’s War might not be – but at least it’s an improvement on Snow White & the Huntsman. Chris Hemsworth reprises his role as Eric/The Huntsman who’s given more depth and yes, a sad story in which most of his…

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…

Hello fellow cinephiles. Look, I didn’t quite get the margins right with Labyrinth Of Lies or Sherpa  as contenders for the number one spot, but boy did Zootopia pick up its game – shifting My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 to third spot. There haven’t been many other changes we know about, so expect some downsizing. The major one is from Batman v Superman:…