Reviews

Layla is a film that celebrates one’s identity through a multitude of creative intersections: Sundance Film Festival Review

Thanks predominantly to RuPaul, and, more specifically RuPaul’s Drag Race, drag culture has firmly wedged itself in the mainstream.  It’s always been there, it’s just more readily acceptable, or at least visible, and Amrou Al-Kadhi’s assured debut feature as both a writer and director, Layla, furthers such with its playful, authentic personality that drives home…

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Sebastian is an explorative drama that expresses a healthy relationship with the art of sex work: Sundance Film Festival Review

Though there’s an initial graphicness to the manner in which sex is depicted in the opening minutes of Sebastian, Mikko Mäkelä‘s explorative drama shouldn’t be dismissed as just another recent example of queer cinema that leans into sexual explicitness for the sake of shock or organic representation.  Yes, the sex on hand is a realistic…

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Good One aims for a sense of understated tension across its minimalistic plotting: Sundance Film Festival Review

There’s universally strong performances across the board and lush cinematography throughout, but one can’t help but wish there was more plotting to Good One for the understated drama to truly land the emotional impact it aims for. The set-up in India Donaldson‘s film is simple, with 17-year-old Sam (Lily Collias, an absolute breakout) gearing up…

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Desire Lines is a layered drama that provides trans men with authentic representation: Sundance Film Festival Review

There’s a uniqueness to Desire Lines that writer/director Jules Rosskam (and co-writer Nate Gualtieri) implements to set the film as an open line of communication regarding the LGBTQIA+ community and their placement within their own culture.  A narrative-driven drama that combines documentary pieces and talking head confessionals, the film’s hybrid mentality may not always work,…

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Film Review: Cold Copy aims for entertainment value as it details the cutthroat world of journalism and media

Diving both into the cutthroat world of journalism and the medium’s potential to garner fame off the back of manipulation and obsession, Roxine Helberg‘s Cold Copy, whilst not necessarily reinventing the wheel, still manages an air of tension throughout as it details the power dynamic between a journalism student and the media professional she aspires…

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Exhibiting Forgiveness is a thought-provoking drama that bides its time in surrendering to its emotional explosiveness: Sundance Film Festival Review

The complexities of forgiveness and accountability against a familial backdrop laced with tension, regret and one’s own personal demons, Exhibiting Forgiveness is a thought-provoking drama, and one that bides its time in surrendering to its emotional explosiveness. Written and directed by Titus Kaphar, marking his feature debut, Exhibiting Forgiveness focuses on Tarell Rodin (André Holland),…

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The Moogai‘s important message clashes with shaky horror execution: Sundance Film Festival Review

The controversial historical treatment of Australia’s native people by white settlers and the continuing generational trauma within the Indigenous communities weigh heavy on the narrative themes of Jon Bell‘s The Moogai.  There’s a ripe premise to lean into horror genre sensibilities – “moogai” is the Bundjalung language for a malevolent child-stealing entity that is the…

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Kidnapping Inc. blends farce, politics and stark Haitian reality: Sundance Film Festival Review

Though its working with the elements of a dark comedy, a political thriller and topical social commentary, Bruno Mourral‘s Kidnapping Inc. manages to navigate its multiple themes and transition quite successfully from its farcical opening to its more stirring, sobering close. Set in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince (the film utilising both the Creole and…

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Film Review: The Color Purple is a lively and important, yet unbalanced musical story

Though it’s an at-times lively and emotionally affecting tale, with a slew of stand-out performances across the board (Taraji P. Henson and the rightfully Oscar-nominated Danielle Brooks, for starters), the reimagined The Color Purple can’t help but catch itself between honouring its source material (Alice Walker‘s 1982 novel and the original 1985 film) and the…

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Brando with a Glass Eye is a bizarre hybrid of a movie that dares to go against the grain: Slamdance Film Festival Review

There’s a lot at play throughout the 122 minutes of Antonis Tsonis‘ Brando with a Glass Eye, a bizarre hybrid of a movie that deserves recognition for so confidently going against the grain, even if it doesn’t always successfully lands its execution. It’s offbeat – to say the least – and the opening minutes very…

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Thelma is a sweet comedic gem (and the unlikeliest action vehicle) bolstered by a wonderful June Squibb: Sundance Film Festival Review

Though it leans into the action/thriller genre with a supreme wink, Thelma, Josh Margolin‘s frequently hilarious, always poignant ode to his own grandmother (and, clearly, a love of the action genre), is never spoofing the films it so evidently is earning its laughs from; and it’s that sweetness and keen sense of reinvention that helps…

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Control dares to upset your emotional state with its surprising sense of humour: Slamdance Film Festival Review

Whether it’s something we admit to or discuss or not, the idea of how one might kill themselves and the practical considerations that follow is something I’m sure we’ve contemplated.  However morbid it may be to even suggest, pondering what you might jot down in a suicide note or even how many people would come…

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Young People, Old People & Nothing In Between is an affecting short that makes for a large impact: Slamdance Film Festival Review

An emotional expedition outlaying the effects of dementia on both the mind its crippling and the hearts of those baring witness, Parida Tantiwasadakran‘s Young People, Old People & Nothing In Between is an affecting short that makes for a large impact. At the centre of the film is young Juice (Deedee Piamwiriyaku), 7-years-old and full…

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Film Review: The Iron Claw; Zac Efron’s transformative performance dominates tragic, powerful true story

For his debut feature, 2011’s Martha Marcy May Marlene, writer/director Sean Durkin specified that the actions that unfolded weren’t moulded after any one specific cult – the film centred around a young woman suffering from delusions and paranoia after returning to her family from an abusive cult in the Catskill Mountains – and that he more based his narrative after his…

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Film Review: All of Us Strangers is a filmic experience that’s as comforting as it is distressing

As someone who lost their father at a young age, and therefore never had the conversation regarding my sexuality (and all that could possibly entail), the thought process throughout and inability to hold back my emotions during All of Us Strangers was palpable. Adapted by writer/director Andrew Haigh (Looking: The Movie) from Japanese author Taichi…

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Film Review: Role Play; Kaley Cuoco steadies familiar action narrative with proven enthusiasm

It goes without saying that the premise for Role Play is one that has been explored on multiple occasions.  The marriage-on-the-rocks-is-rocked-even-further-by-realising-one-half-is-an-assassin is a narrative utilised by such stellar genre examples as True Lies, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and Nobody, and to less grand effect in Apple TV’s recent misfire The Family Plan.  Role Play sits…

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Film Review: The Beekeeper; Jason Statham is the bee’s knees in ridiculous actioner

If there’s one thing we can rely on Jason Statham for, it’s B-movie cheap thrills that epitomise the term “guilty pleasure”.  Escapism in its purest, bloodiest form, The Beekeeper (Statham took the B-movie memo a little too literally, it would seem) is a ridiculous actioner from proven genre director David Ayer (End of Watch, Fury,…

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Film Review: The Holdovers is a lived-in comedy that crackles in its quieter moments of reflection

After the misstep that was 2017’s ambitious Downsizing, writer/director Alexander Payne returns to more familiar territory in The Holdovers.  Familiar in the sense that the high-school setting brings to mind his biting 1999 black comedy Election, his lead, Paul Giamatti, is a pitch-perfect educator, like his 2004 standout Sideways, and the dialogue peppered throughout is…

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Film Review: Mean Girls; 2024 musical update honours the original as much as it forges its own fetch personality

Like many a millennial, the original Mean Girls from 2004 holds a special place in the depths of my queer, quote-filled heart.  It’s why there was sense of trepidation in coming into the new iteration of Tina Fey and Mark Waters’ high-school comedy.  Now, I was actually fully aware that this particular version was a…

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Film Review: Race for Glory: Audi vs. Lancia is a likeable, occasionally thrilling underdog racing drama

In the same week that Ferrari arrives in Australian theatres, Race for Glory: Audi vs. Lancia hits American multiplexes, digital and On Demand (an Australian release is yet to be determined), showcasing a more accessible racing story and the men driving such to fruition. Creative licence and enhanced melodrama are unavoidable in telling this particular…

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Film Review: The Boys in the Boat is a handsome, but hollow, old-fashioned slice of cinema from George Clooney

There’s nothing wrong with a movie being nice, but George Clooney‘s old-fashioned drama The Boys in the Boat is a little too sweet and tropey for its own good.  Based on Daniel James Brown‘s best-selling nonfiction novel of the same name, the 1930s set tale feels as if it’s been made in that era through…

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Film Review: Night Swim aims for a deep dive but comes up shallow

Given the calibre of horror talent on board with Night Swim (between them, producers Jason Blum and James Wan have such genre treats as the Halloween series, The Conjuring films, M3GAN and Malignant), as well as the fact that the short film it’s based on earned critical acclaim upon its release a decade ago, one…

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Film Review: Ferrari needs a tune-up if it wants to be considered an enjoyable ride overall

Compared to the other “exceptional man” biopics of the last year (Oppenheimer, Maestro, Napoleon), Michael Mann‘s Ferrari is, sadly, the least interesting.  Whilst it doesn’t take an entirely traditional narrative – the film only shows us a certain chunk of the man’s life – and Adam Driver does his best with his showy role, to…

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Film Review: Next Goal Wins; Inspiring underdog tale returns Taika Waititi to his humble roots as a filmmaker

If you browse long enough on Twitter, sorry, X, you’ll note that there’s still chatter and self-diagnosed “hot takes” regarding Taika Waititi‘s 2019 outing Jojo Rabbit.  The film already had its share of detractors in the immediate aftermath of its release, but an Oscar win for Best Screenplay and the general good word for its…

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Film Review: Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom brings the DCEU to an end with a droplet rather than a splash

And just like that, the DCEU comes to a close with a droplet rather than the splash we were expecting a decade ago. In 2013, when Man of Steel premiered, there was the promise of an exciting future of storytelling to be told for the variety of characters within the DC lore.  There was rousing,…

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Film Review: Wish doesn’t quite conjure the usual Disney magic

There’s been a lot of chatter around Wish and the fact that its release celebrates Disney’s centennial, where the major theme across a heft of the studio’s films – that of wishes being granted – would be tied together.  It’s a sweet notion, without question, but it would appear that the creatives behind the film…

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Film Review: Poor Things is a twisted enormity of a movie with a deeply intimate core

Like his previous works that celebrate their fantastical, absurdist nature with a certain gravitas, Yorgos Lanthimos grounds Poor Things, an undeniably wild, oft-offensive, sexually liberated black comedy, with a stirring sense of emotion and topical commentary. In 19th century London – or what such a time period looks like within Lanthimos’ vivid imagination – the eccentric…

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Film Review: Anyone But You; Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell generate heat and humour in sexy, throwback romcom

Even if Anyone But You isn’t the type of film that would ordinarily interest you, it’s difficult to not know about Will Gluck‘s frisky romcom due to the “Are they/aren’t they” chemistry of stars Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell, two impossibly gorgeous actors who leaned into their own sex appeal during the filming in Sydney…

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Film Review: Migration is a lively animated comedy that should resonate with your family this holiday season

Given that Migration, the latest animated offering from the Illumination collective (the production company behind such successes as Despicable Me and the inexplicable Minions), is penned by White Lotus creator Mike White, it makes sense that the film manages to make us care about its characters, rather than just be mildly amused at their comedic…

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Film Review: Ruthless; Dermot Mulroney proves predictable revenge thriller’s sole saving grace

Whilst Dermot Mulroney won’t exactly see a career shift in the same manner as Liam Neeson did as an action-heavy persona in the wake of Taken, his rough and ready stature as a vigilante wrestling coach in Ruthless certainly works in his favour, and proves the film’s only true saving grace. Directed by Art Camacho…

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