Film

A lot has been said leading up to the release of Joker, with some of the most common arguments surrounding whether the film was necessary and whether there would be fatigue around yet another portrayal of the Clown Prince. The trailer didn’t reveal much and left audiences a little perplexed. But after predominantly receiving positive…

Cosplayers and fans of Film and TV descended on Sydney’s Showgrounds over the weekend for the NSW leg of Oz Comic Con 2019 with celebrities Hayley Atwell, Michael Eklund, KJ Apa and Australia’s own Kid Flash Keiynan Lonsdale in attendance. Nathan brings us all the action from the weekend.

We’ve loved him since Interstellar, but fell in love with him in Call Me By Your Name. And now Timothée Chalamet fans are getting the chance to see their divine partner in the flesh as he walks the red carpet for the Australian premiere of THE KING. 23-year-old Chalamet depicts young Hal, later crowned King…

Last night, comedian Eric Andre hit the stage at the Meridian Hall in Toronto as one of the headliners of the annual Just For Laughs comedy festival. Part of his Legalize Everything Tour, the hilarious hour and a half show was something of a tamer affair than what you might have seen on his popular…

A gallery from the Sydney Premiere of Joker, the new film starring Joaquin Phoenix

Shout hallelujah c’mon get happy because Renee Zellweger is coming to Australia! Universal Pictures has announced that the Academy Award winning actress will visit Melbourne and Sydney this October to celebrate the highly anticipated release of Judy, the Judy Garland biopic from Rupert Goold. Zellweger’s portrayal of the legendary star has been widely predicted by…

Whilst I’m sure the plethora of talent on hand here had an absolute ball making The Dead Don’t Die, Jim Jarmusch‘s deadpan (emphasis on the dead) zombie comedy fails to translate that suggested fun to its audience. Set in the fictional mid-American town of Centreville – the epitome of smalltown USA where there isn’t much…

What a strange little arthouse horror flick Koko-di Koko-da is.  What starts out as a relatively straight-forward tale of a once-happy family trying to maintain a sense of worth before breaking down entirely, quickly descends into an experiment of madness, one that is often repetitive and unlikeable but no less inherently fascinating. The aforementioned once-happy…

As we nudge ever closer to the warmer months but not quite before the closing of the year the pop culture scene gets an injection with Oz Comic Con landing in both Brisbane and Sydney over consecutive weekends. Pop culture conventions have long left an impression on the scene particularly for fans of film and…

The effects are seamless.  The acting is introspective.  The emotional undercurrent aims for supremacy. It’s an operatic space venture that defiantly refuses to adhere to cohesiveness on a narrative level.  And it’s because Ad Astra flirts with moments of greatness only to stubbornly stifle them that James Gray‘s ambitious drama will prove to be one…

Beginning in 1982 with First Blood, then 1985’s Rambo: First Blood Part II, 1988’s Rambo III, then 2008’s Rambo, 11 years later the Rambo saga is releasing a fifth and final film to close out the iconic action hero’s story. Originally adapted from John Morrell’s novel First Blood, it centres around the character of John…

Former Sonic Youth bassist-singer Kim Gordon, pop musician-producer-songwriter Benny Blanco, and actor-comedian Cheech Marin have been announced, among others, in an initial line-up regarding keynote and featured speakers for the 34th annual South By Southwest Conference and Festival (March 13-22 2020). “We’re kicking off the 2020 season with a captivating group of speakers. From Keynotes…

Downton Abbey was a television show filled with glamour, wealth and manners. For six seasons, viewers were treated to a bird’s eye view of the community connected to that famous British estate. While the film adaptation could have become just an extended episode of the series, this film instead manages to hold its own as…

Watching a film like Tabernacle 101 is a frustrating experience.  On the one hand, the Australian-made, low (and I mean low) budget sci-fi piece deserves some admiration for the mere fact that it has managed to snare itself a US theatrical release, however limited it may be (it played the first week in September in…

There is good reason Stephen King’s story of It has endured for decades. Amongst his best work, the famed horror author has always been strongest when he’s sketching elegant parallels between fight and flight. Sure, that’s been done to death in modern cinema, and the dynamic between the two states has been mined by horror…

Over the weekend Disney held its sixth D23 Expo, an event where the company gets to showcase all its forthcoming news and announcements to both the media and the general public. In a surprising turn after dropping the official launch announcement less than a week ago for Disney+ the company has come charging out of…

With controversy preceding its release, The Nightingale has seen polarising responses from festival audiences, from walkouts to awards. The controversy stems from the film’s depiction of rape, with two gruesome examples early in the film. These however, provide the necessary bedrock for a deep look into our colonisation’s patriarchy, genocide and classism, with white (male)…

With only eight films in his illustrious career, writer/director Quentin Tarantino has left an indelible mark on cinema in the last few decades. Love him or hate him, you cannot deny the filmmaker’s unique style and vision. With Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, his ninth (and potentially penultimate) film, Tarantino offers a deeply personal piece…

The Australian Dream is one of two recent documentaries about AFL legend Adam Goodes’ playing career and his his powerful anti-racism advocacy, with Ten’s The Final Quarter already making waves. Written by famed journalist Stan Grant and directed by BAFTA-winning director Daniel Gordon, the film is an inspiring (and infuriating) exploration into the depths of…

French director Céline Sciamma is one of the best writer/directors in French Cinema working today. She specializes in coming-of-age dramas and this reviewer has been a fan of her work ever since he saw her film Tomboy. From fantastic directorial work like her directorial debut Water Lilies and her prior film Girlhood to stellar screenwriting…

Filmgoers have always mused upon the fact that there are formulas in cinema that have been explored over and over. Cliches and tropes, if you will. In the case of this review, the formula that has been explored numerous times is the adaptations of the works of renowned English writer/playwright William Shakespeare. What makes Shakespeare’s…

If you were asked to name some of the greatest and most influential filmmakers, what names would spring to mind? Hitchcock, Kubrick, Spielberg, Tarantino? Perhaps Eisenstein or Chaplin? How about Alice Guy-Blaché? No? Luckily for you (and for Alice’s legacy), Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché is here to help. Narrated by Jodie…

It’s hard to believe that a franchise that started out as little more than a soft remake of Point Break, pinning Vin Diesel and his disposable crew against low-rent law enforcement with the street racing scene as its background, has transformed itself into a billion dollar commodity where secret agents take on international terrorists.  And…

Celebrities and guests walk the impressive black carpet for the Sydney premiere of the new Fast and Furious: Hobbs and Shaw film starring Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham

It’s only been a couple of months since the box office dominating Avengers: Endgame rocketed through our pop culture landscape. But the demand and appeal of the Marvel Cinematic Universe hardly wavers amongst Australian audiences. So it’s no surprise that social media was buzzing with the announcement that Hayley Atwell will be making her first…

The Melbourne Documentary Film Festival kicks off tomorrow at Cinema Nova and Backlot, and along with it will come an impressive list of special guests. Running from the 19th to the 30th, they’ll be in town to present their films, and you can get all the details of when and where you can see the…

The name “Van Duren” may not mean much to most people. But to Greg Carey and Wade Jackson this Memphis musician is king. The pair went on a journey to discover more about this artist. The result, Waiting: The Van Duren Story is like Searching for Sugar Man, because it sees some fans searching for…

Arts House and the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) have announced a new partnership which will aid the production of various films based around untold stories and new technologies, supporting artists, filmmakers and VR experts alike at this year’s festival. While MIFF VR has featured at each festival since 2016, the virtual-reality landscape has never…

We all know that Disney reworking its own animated films into “live action” remakes is purely for the box office dollars. Those of us old enough to remember the originals, having seen them in the cinema, and blasting the soundtracks into our subconscious and poring over every bit of dialogue, are all too aware. What…

Apollo 11 is a documentary that takes you to the moon and back. Literally. This feature-length film comes hot on the tails of First Man and Hidden Figures. It proves that there is still plenty of mileage to be had from this extraordinary, historical feat. This is directed by Todd Douglas Miller who is used…