Reviews

Spanish Director Gonzalo Lopez Gallego has only helmed a handful of Hollywood films in his career. The Hollow Point is proof though that given a solid cast, a taut narrative and all the tools necessary to create some gritty action sequences, the man can hang with the best of his American cohorts. The Hollow Point…

The Underworld franchise has had its fair share of ups and downs. The first film is considered a fantasy horror thriller vampire/werewolf classic. Heralded for its BAMF female protagonist and thought out vampire/werewolf mythology story, the films that followed in its wake had a lot to live up to. The second film Underworld: Evolution raised…

Sometimes when you review movies, you’ll occasionally take something that you had no clue existed, and upon watching it, you’ll only be left with more questions. The Greasy Strangler is one of those movies. It’s the type of film that you tell your friends to watch, if only to have someone to go to therapy…

I love that Dead Hands Dig Deep is part of Monster Fest. I love that there wasn’t a caveat placed on it that only allowed serial killers and torture porn. The debut feature from filmmaker Jai Love is no less horrific just because it’s a documentary. On the contrary, it’s a bleak look at the…

The Japanese Anime genre has a long history of producing masterpieces. Makoto Shinkai‘s Your Name is no exception. Ahead of its release in Australia, the film has enjoyed rave reviews around the world – and deservedly so. The film centres on Mitsuha (Mone Kamishiraishi) and Taki (Ryunosuke Kamiki), two people with nothing in common except…

Likely to come as a surprise to many that The Founder is less a success story regarding the origins of McDonalds, but more a tale on greed and the value of real estate, John Lee Hancock‘s engaging drama benefits from its stellar central performance from Michael Keaton, continuing the run he so assuredly began with…

Some people claim they don’t look for drama, that drama looks for them. In Anna’s case, drama’s reared its ugly head in her life in the form a breakup with older man John. She seeks solace and support in her best friend Jean, who lives across the English channel in Paris. Jean welcomes his London-based…

In Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them we are returned to the world of magic and wizards and witches but set in 1926 New York, USA well before our boy wonder Harry Potter was born. The film shifts the focus not only to a new protagonist but a brand new location which expands the…

Pausing from his planned trilogy of films with Brendan Gleeson – which has already seen the release of the brilliant The Guard (2011) and Calvary (2014) – English/Irish director John Michael McDonagh makes his debut outside of Ireland with the incredibly black comedy War on Everyone, starring Alexander Skarsgård and Michael Peña – who are…

Mel Gibson’s new directorial effort Hacksaw Ridge is by far one of his most ambitious and surprising efforts in years. Not even his previous war film We Were Soldiers could reach the same heights as this; maybe because the subject matter is something more of a celebration of the true heroes of war, the Medics…

Miss Saigon has been a regular favourite among theatregoers and in the 25th anniversary film showing the 2014 West End production it’s easy to see why. The musical is a high-stakes love story set in and after the Vietnam War. It also boasts an excellent score that captures the full gamut of emotions and fragility…

Grounded by Amy Adams’ breathtaking performance, Arrival is a departure of sorts for director Denis Villeneuve, opting to showcase the lighter sound of humanity here as opposed to the more pessimistic tones he showcased with Prisoners and Sicario.  A film that feels both personal and grand, Arrival intertwines the beginnings and endings of time, creating…

Taking its outlandish concept and maintaining a balance of wit and intelligence, Gavin O’Connor illustrates a sense of faith for his audience with The Accountant, allowing the film to entertain them without pandering in the process.  With its sense of humour in check the film utilises Ben Affleck’s stone-cold gaze and considerable physique to the…

Better known as one of the world’s greatest fashion designers, Tom Ford proves himself every inch the competent filmmaker with Nocturnal Animals.  Verifying his debut feature A Single Man was no flash in the pan either, Ford juxtaposes a relationship drama feature with a violent revenge tale in such an effortless fashion you’d swear you…

I hate to admit that I do not really know a lot about classical film noir, despite watching many films in the neo-noir genre like Brick, Sin City and of course, Veronica Mars. But what I do know are some of the main tropes of film noir: the femme fatale, the dirty cop and the…

Director Andrea Arnold is probably one of the most distinct British directors working today. Her visual eye, her ability to capture slice-of-life moments in a compellingly cinematic way, and especially her way of extracting fantastic performances out of non-actors. Her films like Fish Tank (2009) and Wuthering Heights (2011) are true examples of such. Her latest…

Based on the bestselling novel by Australian author M.L. Stedman, The Light Between Oceans, directed by Derek Cianfrance, is an Oscar-worthy heartwarming but heartbreaking film. It centres on Tom Sherbourne (Michael Fassbender) who retreats to a tiny town in Australia to forget the horrors of WWI. He gets a job as a lighthouse keeper on…

South Korean Director Jee-woon Kim’s film credits comprise an impressive catalogue of thrilling action films. His balls to the wall 2005 film A Bittersweet Life is still one of my favourite action movies; he’s payed homage to Sergio Leonne with The Good, The Bad, The Weird and in 2013 he teamed with Arnold Schwarzenegger for his…

As we now roll into Phase 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe we are pulled to the beginning of one character’s story. Doctor Strange is Marvel’s step back to delivering an origin story for a new superhero but in some ways this film is a giant leap forward in universe building. It’s hard to fathom…

Hitting DVD and Blu-Ray players this week is the new film Equals, another descendant of the Orwellian dystopia; one that doesn’t necessarily add to the sci-fi subgenre, but also one that doesn’t take anything away from it. Set in a post apocalyptic society, the film tracks the forbidden bond forming between Nia (Kristen Stewart) and…

Burn Burn Burn – set to screen in Australia as part of the BBC First British Film Festival – is the feature film debut from director Chanya Button and surprised me as a standout film of the “road trip” genre. Even if it did take a little long to get there, it’s the journey that…

Proving that his script work on Sicario was no fluke, screenwriter Taylor Sheridan has taught an old dog some new tricks with Hell Or High Water, a should-be predictable crime tale that’s peppered with so many nuances and perceptive characters that it rises above its genre simplicities. Despite director David Mackenzie (Starred Up, Young Adam)…

When “based on a true story” flashes across the screen in the beginning moments of Masterminds, you can’t help but think that it’s trying to squeeze an easy laugh out of its audience. Somehow, whether you believe it or not, Jared Hess’s comedy adopts its premise from an actual robbery that took place in the…

Scares were flat when Stiles White made his directorial debut with 2014 film Ouija, a supernatural horror which got by commercially on its formulaic, same-same structure – and the release date being Halloween – but ultimately faltered in the face of superior genre films released that in the same year. Nothing about Ouija was particularly…

Based on the 18th book in the series by Lee Child and a follow-up to 2012’s Jack Reacher, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back sees the titular brooding anti-hero (Tom Cruise) roll into DC for a date with Major Susan Turner (Cobie Smulders) only to find her imprisoned on espionage charges. Before long Reacher, Turner and…

Woody Allen’s latest film should be renamed “High Society.” This beautifully-shot comedy is a nostalgic but throwaway look at the glitz and glamour of some halcyon days in Hollywood and the smoky nightlife of New York. It’s ultimately like a pleasant and lightweight dream that celebrates money even though the thirties was synonymous for some…

Imagine a scenario where a computer virus has the ability to affect a country’s power supply. It sounds like the plot of a thrilling, science fiction film. It is frightening to think that this could be the future of cyberwarfare, especially when one considers this in light of the Stuxnet event. Zero Days is a…

Everybody has their own line with respect to what they consider funny versus what is taboo. For some people there is no topic or thing that is off limits while others believe that some subjects – irrespective of the quality of the joke –are in poor taste. The Last Laugh is a documentary that examines…

I remember when I first heard of The Da Vinci Code novel by Dan Brown, I couldn’t really understand the hype of it all and how it became a best-seller. The story felt like it was a more mature version of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, since they both involve going on a quest…

Most people were introduced to James “Jim” Foley when he appeared in a bright orange jumpsuit and reports (and video) confirmed that he had been the first American citizen to be murdered by ISIS. It was a moment where the Islamic State had stripped away his humanity and reduced Foley to a casualty. In the…