It happened again. Despite negative reviews and a ridiculous premise, Dirty Grandpa has remained on top in its second week, earning AU$1.4 million. The comedy has kept The Revenant to second place, the Oscar nominee being the only other film over AU$1 million this week. Zoolander 2 had a pre-release, opening on 125 screens. The…
When the first Zoolander film hit the cinema in 2001, the world was a very different place. Smartphone technology went as far as colour screens (pretty sure we were all still playing that weird snake game on our phones waiting at the bus stop with our travel 10s), but with zero online connectivity. Social media…
When you hear the words ‘food-critic’, Jonathan Gold is probably the kind of person you imagine and City of Gold is a sprawling documentary that explores what life is like for the Pulitzer-winning restaurant critic. It’s as much a love-letter to Gold and his work as it is the city of LA and Director Laura Gabbert lets City of…
The Martian is the much anticipated adaptation of Andy Weir’s acclaimed debut novel of the same name – a book which is as fascinating in its rise to notoriety as the content itself. Released in 2011 as a self-published, free-to-download ebook by the author (he released it chapter by chapter on his website before sticking it…
For a while there it looked like the only version of Deadpool we’d ever see on the big screen was the somewhat cringe-inducing one we saw in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Studio execs at Fox were unsure about how to move forward with the character and make it a viable film. But when some test footage…
Well that was unexpected. Even though the contenders here have all been out for multiple weeks, I don’t think anyone saw the Zac Efron/ Robert Deniro comedy Dirty Grandpa beating out a pile of big films for top spot.
Internet comedy team Rooster Teeth have been kicking around for over a decade now. They created the cult machinima series Red vs Blue and from there, expanded into a community driven, multi-channel, YouTube sensation. It is with that growth and loyal fan base that they were able to drum up over US$2 million on Indiegogo…
Another month, another found footage horror film. Well, ostensibly. You see, Jeruzalem approaches the sub-genre with (credit where it’s due) an interesting new take, but still manages to completely cock it up by the end. Which isn’t anything new for these films but seeing the opportunity unfurl and then burn right in front of your…
Steve Jobs is the highly anticipated and Oscar nominated film based on the life of the late Apple CEO and co-founder of the same name. It’s the second take at a biopic on the iconic entrepreneur since his death – the first, Jobs (2013) starring Ashton Kutcher was widely panned, and didn’t see the support of…
Joel Edgerton has already proved himself indispensable to Australian cinema, particularly with Animal Kingdom and The Rover, both films with an atmosphere and scope much larger than The Gift. For his directorial debut, Edgerton, who plays Gordon “Gordo” Moseley, brings a much more insular focus in both character and environment and it helps him deliver…
Best known for co-writing on Sasha Baron Cohen projects (Borat, Ali G), Dan Mazer’s 2013 directorial debut I Give It A Year was a crowd-pleasing, fairly underrated romantic comedy, that brought together a stellar cast and showed Mazer as a Director to watch in the commercial sphere. Fast forward three years and Mazer’s follow up film,…
Adopting a story that tragically resembles real-life accounts, and presenting an opening 40-or-so minutes that prove an uneasy watch, Room is an initially cold but masterful drama all the same. Describing the film as cold is not a criticism on its part though as director Lenny Abrahamson has displayed such skill in housing the film…
It had its limited release in 70mm and now The Hateful Eight has entered the box office arena and what a first week it enjoyed. After its official opening, Quentin Tarantino’s 8th film has shot to number one with an opening AU$2.4 million, just edging out The Revenant which made AU$2.2 million. Following on from…
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…
It happens far too often. Someone decides that a franchise that was mediocre in the first place, needs to continue despite losing its lead and competent director. I’m not saying that Transporter: Refueled is a work of incompetence, it is certainly polished enough to stand among it’s predecessors, but it lacks virtually any of the redeeming…
Vanishing before our eyes in a far more detailed manner than what he achieved with his Oscar-winning role of Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything, Eddie Redmayne’s transformation into The Danish Girl is nothing short of outstanding. A multi-faceted performance that never crosses into parody, Tom Hooper’s subtle drama allows the actor both a…
Hollywood hasn’t had the greatest track record when it comes to translating video games into films. There’s been but a handful that have been worth watching, the Resident Evil series, Lara Croft Tomb Raider and cult classic Mortal Kombat all rank amongst the good ones. With Hitman: Agent 47 this is actually a reboot and…
While Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ time in the sun isn’t exactly over, it has been relegated to second spot this week as awards season pushes The Revenant over the line. Earning a cool AU$3.6 million in its second week here, The Revenant was able to take advantage of Star Wars’ earlier opening as the…
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…
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,…
If you’ve been regularly visiting the site – in lieu of Box Office Reports over the holiday period – we’ve kept you up to date with Star Wars: The Force Awakens destroying every record imaginable. And not much has changed. It still sits on top here in Australia, this week earning a cool AU$4.9 million…
Carol may look like a film set in the 1950’s but it feels far more modern than its exterior appears. A slow burning love story that refuses to end on a tragic note, performed by two exceptional leads that doesn’t require any loud professions about sexuality or equality or feminism to make its point. We…
“Oh look it’s a boxing movie, cinema hasn’t seen that before,” is a cynical thought that would have gone through most minds whenSouthpaw was first announced. Having it directed by Antoine Fuqua, who brought us Training Day and The Equalizer, and written by Kurt Sutter, a man who worked extensively on Sons of Anarchy inspired…
You probably already know director Adam McKay from his extensive catalogue of cringe-comedy – Anchorman, Step Brothers, and Talladega Nights, amongst others. The Big Short is the most recent film from McKay, and one that completely redefines the joker perspective that he is often associated with. It’s hilarious, but at its core The Big Short is an intelligent tragedy about the gruelling effects of…
One would think that teaming Tina Fey and Amy Poehler on the big screen would have incredible results. Both are some of the funniest, wittiest, and charming comedians of our time, each scoring big on their respective breakout TV hits, with Fey lighting up 30 Rock and Poehler on Parks & Recreation. Though, their unmistakable…
Shocking, humorous, provocative and purely interesting, Ondi Timoner’s latest documentary Brand: A Second Coming looks at the life and rise of one of Britain’s most unique comedians, Russell Brand. The film takes us, in particular, through his journey to produce a changed spiritual mind-self and his motivation for a socialist way of life. Brand, a self-defined narcissist,…
Ice Cube will be returning to Australia after coming down here with his son, O’Shea Jackson Jr, last year to promote Straight Outta Compton. However, this time the legendary rapper will be accompanied by comedian Kevin Hart, his co-star for the forthcoming Ride Along 2. Arriving on February 8th, Cube and Hart will be doing…
In this survival and revenge tale set in the wild of the American frontier lands, one man is pitted against the forces of nature, the brutality of man and his own will to live or die in this sometimes graphically violent but consistently visually beautiful film. Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu the man who brought you Birdman…
There are plenty of people who’ve seen the original 1991 Point Break film starring Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze. If you’re one of them, and you’re curious about the remake starring Édgar Ramírez as Bodhi and Luke Bracey as Johnny Utah, you might want to leave your expectations at the door and view this film…
When it comes to reviewing a film like Daddy’s Home, one must take a moment to put things in context. You know from the outset – be it the trailer, the poster, the cast, the Director (Sean Anders, Horrible Bosses 2) or any of the other warning signs – that this is going to be…
