This year’s annual Queer Screen Film Festival, the little sister to February’s Mardi Gras Film Festival, will be held entirely online, allowing for anyone across the country to join the celebration. Running across 11 days from Thursday 17 September to Sunday 27 September, this year’s program features over 40 feature films, documentaries and shorts. With…
As someone who was a kid when the first two Bill & Ted films were released (Excellent Adventure in 1989, Bogus Journey in 1991), and watched them on a regular basis throughout my childhood, I’m very much in the target demographic for the unexpected sequel that is Bill & Ted Face the Music. As 1980’s-leaning…
Zoey Deutch is a star, and as her infectious enthusiasm and penchant for live-wire-fuelled comedy proves in Buffaloed, the world is simply waiting to catch up to her. In the same manner as someone like Anna Kendrick, Deutch does so much with so little, going-for-broke with a fearlessness that often elevates both the material she’s…
The New Mutants was going to be Fox’s attempt at re-invigorating the X-Men franchise, or at least, it probably was before it got bogged in production issues and a merger with Disney. The film, now released some two years later, gets dropped into cinemas whilst a pandemic is happening, which is probably a metaphor for…
There’s been a bit of radio silence on the 007 front ever since No Time To Die was one of the first major studio releases to react to the coronavirus pandemic and shifted its original April release to November 2020. Now that the film’s local November 12th date seems locked and loaded, the promotional trail…
Given that the character of Hua Mulan has long been one depicted in poetry, novels, and film for almost as long as she has been a Chinese folklore figure, it’s wiser to view Mulan as another variation of her story, rather than a direct remake of Disney’s 1998 animated favourite. Whereas recent Disney live-action overhauls…
We’re twenty minutes into Hu Guan‘s epic The Eight Hundred before the credits cease on screen. Then the film informs us that we are on Day 1 of what is to be a four-day siege – not to mention a further 2 hours in its running time. The titular Eight Hundred refers to the 400…
Welcome to “the new normal”! United Cinemas at Sydney’s Circular Quay hosted Australia’s first socially distance Red Carpet movie premiere with the screening of Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster TENET. Imogen Anthony walked the Red Carpet with local celebrities from Married At First Sight, Love Island and The Bachelor. Nathan Atkins was there to capture the guests.
Out this week through Acorn Media, you can now enjoy the entire hilarious Canadian series Schitt’s Creek thanks to a jam packed 12 disc DVD box set. That’s no less than 80 episodes across 6 seasons, from the award winning, critically acclaimed and much loved show that stars Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara (who in…
We have ten double passes to give away to the upcoming release of the third film in the classic and hilarious Bill & Ted film series – Bill & Ted Face The Music – starring Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves as the titular characters. After a brief delay due to cinema shutdowns, it’s one of…
There’s a scene relatively early in Christopher Nolan‘s ambitious time-bending actioner Tenet where Clemence Poesey is explaining to John David Washington‘s confused character – known only as The Protagonist – about the supposed science behind his forthcoming operation; “Don’t try to understand it” she assuredly states. And it’s that advice that audiences best take when…
There was something in the water in Laurel Canyon. This area in California is one that hosted many great musical acts, especially during the sixties and seventies. Echo in the Canyon is a documentary that examines this free-wheeling period but only scratches the surface of the time’s divine light. Jakob Dylan (Wallflowers) is a big…
A cautionary tale about the thrills and perils of recreational sex in the digital dating world, Sequin in a Blue Room is a risqué but nonetheless important teen-aimed drama that offers something of a safe space for queer or questioning audiences regarding the nature of their sexual selves. An erotic film without being overtly explicit…
Sydney’s leading festival for cult and underground film, the Sydney Underground Film Festival (SUFF), is back for its 14th year from Thursday 10th September – Sunday 20th September. In 2020 the Festival will take place entirely online, offering a new opportunity for audiences all over the country to experience the glory of some of the world’s…
There are some films you just can’t quite pick. As much as Lawrence Michael Levine‘s Black Bear stays relatively true to its basic plot logline – “A filmmaker at a creative impasse seeks solace from her tumultuous past at a rural retreat, only to find that the woods summon her inner demons in intense and…
Seeing as Australia is likely to be pouring with rain all weekend, the return of Movie Frenzy couldn’t have come at a more perfect time. Participating services like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, PlayStation Store and Microsoft Store will be dropping rental prices for some big-ticket new releases to $3 or less from now until…
For a limited time, groups of up to 20 are now able to head along to their nearest Event Cinemas and indulge in their own private film screening. Through August, Event Cinemas’ complexes will be open for bookings despite COVID-19 putting a major break on new film releases, instead welcoming groups that will be able…
Let the social distancing binge viewing continue! Winter may be over, but staying on the couch seems like the most reasonable seasonal activity as Amazon Prime Video promises to overload its devoted audience with one helluva line-up. Harley and Katniss and Neo, oh my! Kicking off the month with a bang is everyone’s favourite anti-heroine…
What a year 2020 has been – and we’re only 7 months down! With COVID-19 (still) wreaking havoc on an unsuspecting and, let’s face it, unprepared world, reportings of weekend movie grosses hardly feels necessary. And yet, as the entertainment industry remains one of COVID’s biggest casualties, it’s difficult not to find importance in the…
The teen sex comedy isn’t a rarity within the studio system, but they are often quite outlandish enough that they never entirely ring true regarding the situations they’d like teenagers to relate to. Weighing down the high concept mentality so often adopted by the genre, Yes, God, Yes is that rare beast that hopes to…
On the eve of Shannon Murphy‘s tragic dramedy Babyteeth releasing in Australian cinemas (you can read our interview with her here) we were fortunate enough to chat with the film’s male lead, British-born Australian talent Toby Wallace. As he stated that being able to talk about the film during COVID-19 is “a breath of fresh…
Director Shannon Murphy has spent much of her initial career cutting her teeth on television productions. Most notably Killing Eve, Rake and Offspring are amongst her filmography credits. The young Australian director will finally have her debut feature film Babyteeth releasing in Australian cinemas from 23rd July. The film is an adaptation of Rita Kalnejais’…
In a bid to maintain the state of cinema and reimagine the festival mind-frame, the Melbourne International Film Festival has launch MIFF 68½, an online curated program that’ll allow home-bound Melburnians the chance to experience the festival’s intended 2020 line-up. Running from the 6th-23rd August 2020, MIFF 68½ will showcase 113 films across its schedule –…
Whilst it’s easy to roll your eyes at the almost insultingly familiar narrative Babyteeth works with at its core – terminal ill teenager falls in love with the wrong guy – it somehow manages to avoid most of the genre cliches, thanks to a mindset that isn’t afraid to be messy, frustrating and, at times,…
So you should know going into The King of Staten Island that, yes, director Judd Apatow hasn’t changed his aesthetic in terms of narrative length or character ingredients. A too-long comedic drama (emphasis on the drama here) focusing on a typical man-child who’s failed to launch himself, Staten Island hopes to be more endearing than…
Prior to watching Natalie Erika James’ Relic, I’d read constant comparisons to Hereditary and The Babadook. The former has too strong a grasp on literal malevolence to align in any way with James’ debut feature, but The Babadook certainly shares a great deal with this Australian-made indie-horror, given both are rooted in German expressionism and…
Bill, recently released by Sketchbook Pictures‘ Dan Gitsham and Sophie Mair, might only clock in around the three minute mark, but it certainly makes an impact. Featuring Roxanna Vilk as a woman trying desperately to contact her dead husband, the horror short is eerie, suspenseful, and lingers long after the final scare. Inspired by the ghost…
Despite this year’s Oscars honouring one of 2019’s more diverse offerings (Bong Joon-ho’s Korean black comedy/thriller Parasite), the whitewashing of the event was overwhelming. In a cinematic year where actors of colour delivered universally-praised performances (see Lupita Nyong’o in Us, Awkwafina in The Farewell, and Jennifer Lopez in Hustlers, for a start), it was disappointing that…
When the eponymous Sarah unexpectedly passes away, her best friend and business partner Isabella (Shelley Conn) throws in the towel and backs out of their dream of running a bakery. But when Sarah’s daughter and estranged mother (Shannon Tarbet and Celia Imrie, respectively) re-enter her life, things are set right back in motion. With the…
In case the filmic version of Fifty Shades of Grey was ultimately a little too safe in its actuality compared to the near-porn mentality of E.L. James’s novel, J-P Valkeapää‘s striking Dogs Don’t Wear Pants stands as something of a reparative. And as much as the bold, dark comedy intends to shock its audience, this remains…
