Film

Conjuring a metropolis that separates the elements – fire, water, earth and air – as if they were diverse ethnicities, Elemental, in the guise of a romantic comedy, operates as a metaphor for the opposing views of race and class.  For a Pixar movie it all may seem a little heavy-handed, but Peter Sohn‘s delightful…

An eco-terrorism thriller where the bombers are the good guys, Daniel Goldhaber‘s How To Blow Up A Pipeline is structured as if it’s playing to a heist movie temperament, but it’s layered with a topical, current commentary that lends the film a young freshness; very much a movie of the “now”. Relying on ideas realised…

Thanks to Sony Pictures Australia we have 5 double in-season passes (Admit 2) to see the raunchy new romantic comedy No Hard Feelings, starring Jennifer Lawrence, in cinemas from June 22nd, 2023. Maddie (Lawrence) thinks she’s found the answer to her financial troubles when she discovers an intriguing job listing: wealthy helicopter parents looking for…

Described as a “verbatim description” of what happened to Reality Winner (yes, that’s an actual name), an American Air Force veteran, who was suspected of leaking classified government information to the media while she was working as a translator with top-secret security clearance in June 0f 2017, Tina Satter‘s stage play “Is This A Room”…

As The Flash speeds into cinemas around the world this week (you can read our review here), where the titular superhero uses his powers to alter the events of his past, changing the course of the very future he once knew, we’re entering a new dawn of DC superheroes – including none other than Supergirl!…

A historical figure whose achievements are all the more remarkable due to the obstacles faced as the son of a white father and black mother, Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, is highlighted, but not quite as richly celebrated in Stephen Williams‘s Chevalier. And given the extraordinary details of his life story, it’s a shame that…

There’s a palpable sense of unrest that litters the core of Catching Dust, Stuart Gatt‘s feature debut that speaks to one woman’s sense of autonomy and choosing between the devil she knows and that she doesn’t. The woman in question is Geena (Erin Moriarty), whose isolated Texas desert locale is the result of her violent…

The themes tackled throughout Warwick Thornton‘s The New Boy are presented with symbolic, almost-magical and allegorical physicality.  And though its 1940’s Australian setting lends interesting conversation to its religious outlay and the clashing of beliefs at the time, the film itself doesn’t quite contain the spark needed to earn true impact; though it’s not for…

Despite the simple premise of Celine Song‘s Past Lives and its romantic comedy connotations, the film is anything but.  Burning slow and composing its emotions until it knows when to release them in a flood of responsive passion, Song’s impeccable debut is a drama of humanism and quiet complexity. Set over the span of 24…

Premiering at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, Bill Oliver‘s Our Son is where drama meets mindfulness as audiences explore contemporary relationships between two men (played by Luke Evans and Billy Porter) trying to make their way in the world of parenting their child in the aftermath of their separation. This story unabashedly unfolds with the…

Whilst the breakdown of a marriage and the impending custody battle that will take place as to whose time favours the child in question has been a reliable staple for cinematic drama over the years – most recently displayed in Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story and perhaps most famously in 1979’s Kramer vs. Kramer – queer…

In this era of streaming taking priority (unfortunately), there’s a whole generation of movie watchers – if they aren’t on their phone during said watch – who are unaware of just how special a time the video store truly was.  I Like Movies indulges in that time. Set amongst the backdrop of teen angst, Blockbuster…

There’s both a sense of adhering to the temperaments of action films gone by and embracing the current and future state of the genre present in Jalmari Helander‘s Sisu. Matching its dark sense of humour (and I mean dark) with a violently bloody mentality (and I mean bloody!), Sisu manages to present the simplest of…

Another Wes Anderson creation, where the sheer cast alone is unfathomable in their collective talent and the twee is as twee as can be, Asteroid City, with its distinct colour pallet and deadpan performances, won’t convert any viewers over to the Wes way of watching, but those that have stuck with the auteur through his…

Whilst it’s easy to pick how Scrapper – Charlotte Regan‘s impossibly charming comedy/drama – will end when all is said and done, the central performances from newcomer Lola Campbell and Harris Dickinson as a feisty, self-reliant 12-year-old and her man-child father, respectively, are what keeps the quirky narrative continually engaging. It’s one of those “message”…

“Before we continue I’d like to apologize to anyone who might be upset or offended by what you saw before the break. It’s not every day you see a demonic possession on live television.” Not the most typical sentence you’d expect to hear from a late night host, but such is the statement made by…

Though the title of Benjamin Millepied‘s feature directorial debut Carmen – the dancer-turned filmmaker having cut his teeth on short films and music videos – suggests a connection to Georges Bizet‘s French opera of the same name, his script – co-written with Alexander Dinelaris Jr. and Loïc Barrere – only mildly references its narrative mentality and…

The wants and needs of comic book fans is something of a tall order when it comes to successfully executing a story that has a certain level of lore attached to it.  In terms of The Flash, there’s perhaps an even stronger necessity for the film to prove its worth off the back of certain…

In the mid-90s a little film named Kids was released. It became a phenomenon that catapulted its stars into the mainstream consciousness. We Were Once Kids is a documentary that looks behind the scenes at the original filmmaking process, while also asking the question, “Where are they now?” Eddie Martin directs this film, which is…

Despite being the third film in the respective Crime City series – preceded by The Outlaws (2017) and The Roundup (2022) – The Roundup: No Way Out very much operates on its own.  Sure, it helps to have seen the other films, but Lee Sang-yong‘s enthusiastic actioner transmits a joy and an individuality that doesn’t…

Whilst it’s fair to say that not every respective project of director Abel Ferrera and actor Shia LaBeouf is successful in their individual execution, you can’t deny the absolute dedication they both have regarding their craft.  Ferrara, whose varied career has seen him helm such divisive works as King of New York, Harvey Keitel’s lauded…

Expanding everything that made 2018’s revolutionary Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse work so wonderfully, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is bombastically ambitious, beautifully imaginative and emotionally rich.  It’s also drastically complicated for anyone not (Spider)versed in the ways of its animated predecessor, so – like many comic book movies that are specifically intertwined with their own franchise…

Thanks to Transmission Films we have 5 double in-season passes (Admit 2) to see the remarkable journey of Jim Broadbent in The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, in cinemas from June 8th, 2023. Recently retired, Harold Fry is well into his 60s and content to fade quietly into the background of life. Harold’s life with…

Bert Kreischer is not a personality I’m familiar with.  And having no idea as to who he was in a professional capacity meant The Machine – a star vehicle centred around his most famous  stand-up story – was a film I entered with zero expectations. Perhaps that was what ultimately got me over the line…

The Wrath of Becky continues the story of its titular character, played by Lulu Wilson, who reprises her role from the 2020 film, Becky. Two years on, she has moved on from foster parent to foster parent after the loss of her real parents in the events from the first film while keeping up with…

Whilst, for the most part, there’s a certain unnecessary mentality that comes along with Disney and their incessant need to live-action-update their animated back catalogue, some of these efforts have given way to adaptations that are inherently interesting (Jon Favreau’s 2016 take on The Jungle Book), undeniably charming (Kenneth Branagh’s Cinderella from 2015) or have…

When you have a film led by such reliable talent as Richard Gere, Diane Keaton, Susan Sarandon and William H. Macy, it’s understandable to believe that the hands you’re in will guide you to a safe destination.  And perhaps that’s the problem.  Maybe I Do is entirely too safe to make any lasting impression beyond…

Thanks to Sony Pictures Australia we have 5 double in-season passes (Admit 2) to the new action comedy The Machine, starring Bert Kreischer and Mark Hamill, inspired by Kreischer’s viral story of his booze-soaked misadventures with the Russian mafia. Set 23 years after the original story which inspired it, The Machine finds Bert (Bert Kreischer) facing familial crisis and the arrival of…

As we mentioned in our review of Renfield (which you can read here), Nicolas Cage is too perfect a casting addition as the legendary Count Dracula.  And it would seem that was the enticing reason Ben Schwartz took on the film as well; “How in the world would I pass on a movie where Nic…

If ever there was a role Nicolas Cage was going to sink his teeth into, it’s that of Dracula.  And the eccentric character actor is undoubtedly Renfield‘s biggest asset, but, despite top billing, this isn’t the Count’s movie – though it’s not for a lack of trying. The titular Renfield is R.M. Renfield (the film’s…