Film

When three childhood best friends pull a prank gone wrong, they invent the imaginary “Ricky Stanicky” to get them out of trouble!  Twenty years after creating this ‘friend,’ Dean (Zac Efron), JT (Andrew Santino), and Wes (Jermaine Fowler) still use the non-existent Ricky as a handy alibi for their immature behaviour.  When their spouses and partners get…

There very easily could’ve been an air of farce and faux suspense about The Great Escaper.  A true story centring on Bernard Jordan (Michael Caine) – a near-90-year-old who staged a “great escape” from his retirement home in 2014 in order to join his fellow war veterans on a beach in Normandy to commemorate their…

In the summer of 2014, Bernard Jordan made global headlines.  He had staged a “great escape” from his care home to join fellow war veterans on a beach in Normandy, commemorating their fallen comrades at the D-Day Landings 70th anniversary.​  It was a story that captured the imagination of the world as Bernie embodied the…

Given the absolute majestic, expansive nature of Frank Herbert‘s 1965 novel, it makes sense as to why director Denis Villeneuve insisted that his story be told across a necessary 5 hour split.  No doubt using David Lynch’s ambitious failure as something of a cautionary tale – the auteur continually rejecting his association with his own…

After five years of hype and construction, no less than 54,000 m2 of LED on its exterior, and space for some 20,000 punters, the ambitious venue known simply as Sphere opened in Las Vegas last September, immediately becoming one of the world’s most recognisable structures. As the largest spherical building in the world, enjoying an…

“What is this fucking girl’s problem?” As Jennifer Lopez states in the opening moments of The Greatest Love Story Never Told, she’s highly aware of what the media has pondered about the multitude of marriages (4, to be precise) she’s partaken in over the course of her resilient career. And it’s that self-awareness and hopeful…

BLUSSH Romance Festival is the loving brainchild of uber film producer extraordinaire Kylie Pascoe and heavy culture consumer Sue-Anne Chapman. With a strong desire to bring together their loves of films and books under one festival umbrella, they hope, through the romance lens, to deliver a carefully curated program of stories and events for the…

From It to “It will hurt”, Bill Skarsgård is set to unleash a lot of pain if this first-look trailer for his wild new revenge flick Boy Kills World is anything to go by. Skarsgård stars as “Boy” who vows revenge after his family is murdered by Hilda Van Der Koy (Famke Janssen), the deranged…

Thanks to Warner Bros. Pictures Australia we have 5 double digital in-season passes (Admit 2) to see award-winning filmmaker Denis Villeneuve embark on the next chapter of Frank Herbert’s celebrated novel Dune with Dune: Part Two, in Australian theatres from February 29th, 2024, starring Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin, Austin Butler, Florence Pugh, Dave…

The opening imagery of Mark Leonard Winter‘s The Rooster is a nightmarish depiction of a body swinging in the wind.  It suggests a darker film than what transpires over the following 101 minutes, even though Winter’s script does indeed indulge in devastating themes. At the centre of The Rooster is Dan (Phoenix Raei, leaving no…

An idyllic family life juxtaposed with the genocidal holocaust horrors next door has made for one of the most gripping and intellectual cinematic gems in years.  The Zone of Interest is by far the most haunting and arresting depiction of Nazi family life and Holocaust bureaucracy you’ll get all year.  Directed by Jonathan Glazer, his…

If there was ever an indication as to how separately the Coen Brothers think when they’re left to their own devices, one only needs to look at what Ethan Coen has concocted with Drive-Away Dolls.  Miles apart from Joel Coen’s ahistorical thriller The Tragedy of Macbeth, Drive-Away Dolls, a collaboration with Ethan’s wife, Tricia Cooke,…

When the body of his oldest friend is found buried in a shallow grave, Dan, a small-town cop, seeks answers from a volatile Hermit who may have been the last person to see his friend alive. Such is the plotline for Mark Leonard Winter‘s intimate, psychological drama The Rooster, which is arriving in Australian theatres…

When the body of his oldest friend is found buried in a shallow grave, Dan, a small-town cop, seeks answers from a volatile Hermit who may have been the last person to see his friend alive. Such is the plotline for Mark Leonard Winter’s intimate, psychological drama The Rooster, which is arriving in Australian theatres…

Following the death of her estranged father, Iris learns she has inherited a run-down, centuries-old pub. She travels to Berlin to identify her father’s body and then discuss the estate. Little does she know, when the deed is signed she will become inextricably tied to an unspeakable entity that resides in the pub’s basement –…

Baghead – and for those deep-cut aficionados, this isn’t connected to the 2008 indie horror flick of the same name that starred Greta Gerwig and was directed by the Duplass brothers – leans into the trusted genre narrative of the boundaries between life and death being somewhat fluid.  Arriving several months after the similarly-themed Talk…

Written by Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke, Drive-Away Dolls is a comedy caper that follows Jamie (Margaret Qualley), an uninhibited free spirit bemoaning yet another breakup with a girlfriend, and her demure friend Marian (Geraldine Viswanathan), who desperately needs to loosen up. In search of a fresh start, the two embark on an impromptu road…

Of all the films to be shrouded in an air of secrecy, a lesbian road movie from a Coen Brother may not seem like the most obvious choice.  But, indeed, Ethan Coen‘s Drive-Away Dolls, an original, queer-thinking comedy created with his wife, Tricia Cooke, basks in certain narrative (and visual) reveals that made for certain…

A brutal war film that opts to forego any “true story” inspiration and commit wholly to undistinguishable-terrorists-are-picked-off-by-fictional-soldiers-with-crowd-rousingly-violent-results, Land of Bad transcends its Queensland-filmed locations and predominant Australian cast to deliver on shockingly tense and neatly executed thrills. Largely an action vehicle for Liam Hemsworth, the sweet-faced, imposingly-figured star leads the charge as Kinney, quickly dubbed…

Thanks to Universal Pictures Australia we have 5 double digital in-season passes (Admit 2) to see Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke‘s comedy caper Drive-Away Dolls, starring Margaret Qualley, Geraldine Viswanathan, Beanie Feldstein, Pedro Pascal and Matt Damon. Written by Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke, this comedy caper follows Jamie, an uninhibited free spirit bemoaning yet…

“Have you ever heard the story of Alida and Taroo?…” So begins Jennifer Lopez‘s semi autobiographical musical experience This Is Me…Now: A Love Story, a narrative accompaniment to her latest album, This Is Me…Now, an urban pop record that celebrates her reunion with now husband Ben Affleck, following their original romance some two decades prior….

With all that Bob Marley achieved before his passing at only the age of 36, it makes sense that his life be served the biopic treatment, and with King Richard helmer Reinaldo Marcus Green as a director, there’s perhaps even more of a sense of how emotionally impactful such a tale could be.  But seemingly…

Benny works for old school crime boss Abe, Abe has multiple personalities and is in a gang war with the notorious Frankie. Kane is the deadliest of Abe”s personalities, the next 24 hours will be a killer. Today is a good day to die. Such is the logline for Blair Moore’s ambitious debut feature Kane,…

Leading up to the release of Madame Web it’s safe to say that the word hasn’t exactly been overtly positive.  The usage of a certain line of dialogue regarding Dakota Johnson‘s character’s mother’s profession of working with spiders in the Amazon cemented the film’s meme status from the get-go – for the record, the line…

This Is Me…Now: A Love Story is like nothing you’ve ever seen from Jennifer Lopez. Alongside director Dave Meyers, Jennifer has created a narrative-driven cinematic odyssey, steeped in mythological storytelling and personal healing. Dropping in tandem with her first studio album in a decade, this genre-bending Amazon original showcases her journey to love through her own…

After two decades as one of the most beloved and enduring musicals on the stage, Wicked makes its long-awaited journey to the big screen as a spectacular, generation-defining cinematic event this holiday season. Wicked, the untold story of the witches of Oz, stars Emmy, Grammy and Tony winning powerhouse Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba, a young…

This summer, the epic studio disaster movie returns with an adrenaline-pumping, seat- gripping, big-screen thrill ride that puts you in direct contact with one of nature’s most wondrous – and destructive – forces. From the producers of the Jurassic, Bourne and Indiana Jones series comes Twisters, a current-day chapter of the 1996 blockbuster, Twister. Directed…

The “Merc with the Mouth” is back and more self-aware than ever in the first-look trailer for Marvel’s dip into the R rated territory of Deadpool with Deadpool & Wolverine. Not much is known about the plot specifics, though we do know Matthew Macfadyen‘s as-yet-to-be-named character works for the Time Variance Authority, the multiversal organization…

There’s a lot of blunt symbolism and are-they-too-clever-for-their-own-good?-plot twists abound in Marmalade, the feature debut from actor-turned-writer/director Keir O’Donnell (the Australian-American talent known for his roles in Wedding Crashers, American Sniper, and The Dry).  It’s an ultimately zippy, enthusiastic caper that probably puts a few too many of its eggs in its culminating basket, but…

Whilst much can be said about how so much of The Dry‘s success was in large part to it opening at a time when cinemas were still battling the pandemic-stricken productions that were halted, it can’t be denied that Robert Connolly‘s tight thriller was a fine genre film in its own right.  The fact that…