Reviews

On the surface, the promise of Daddy I’m a Zombie’s Tim Burton animation style and horror/comedy sensibilities is appealing. Given the rising popularity of animated films within the genre (such as Coraline and Paranorman), there was hope that this Spanish feature might solidly deliver the same type of visual enchantment. Unfortunately it’s unpolished production, puzzling…

The name, Belle brings to mind a beautiful, English rose. But Dido Elizabeth Belle, the real-life woman and beauty at the heart of Amma Asante’s second feature is a little more complicated than that. The illegitimate, mixed-race daughter of a Royal Navy Admiral is sent to live with her distant, aristocratic family at their estate,…

“And then man created time, and spent eternity trying to outrun it” From this opening piece of text set before a cascading cosmic landscape, it’s quite clear that Three Poems is no run of the mill short film. The debut effort from writer director Jake Houston Harris is exactly what it says it is- three…

As one of four Australian feature films at this year’s SXSW, The Infinite Man also had the pleasure of being one of the festival’s opening night presentations. The low budget film out of South Australia is the debut feature from Adelaide director Hugh Sullivan (watch our interview HERE), and in the spirit of films like…

Paul McCartney: Lives Kisses and BBC Electric Proms: Paul McCartney see the former Beatle performing songs, having fun and getting nostalgic. They also show two very different sides of Macca. The former sees him taking a leaf out of his parents’ songbook and doing covers of the easy-listening tunes that featured on his Kisses On…

When people think of John, Paul, George and Ringo, a name that doesn’t immediately spring to mind is Freda Kelly. But this humble, Liverpudlian woman was the group’s secretary; manager, Brian Epstein’s assistant; and the head of their fan club for 11 years. Good Ol’ Freda is a quaint little documentary about an inspiring woman…

When audiences flocked to watch the Johnny Cash biopic, Walk The Line, they did not learn much about his one-time manager, Saul Holiff and they probably didn’t mind. But the pair had a troublesome relationship which started off with the two arguing and becoming enemies (and their association ended in a similar fashion) plus they…

Give a good-hearted frat boy a bunch of super powers and you have Andrew Garfield’s Peter Parker/Spider-Man. The characterisation of the timeless superhero as an off-the-wall, overconfident, but overall decent young man is in stark contrast to the awkward, mild-mannered Peter Parker we saw from Tobey Maguire and automatically puts this current franchise ahead of…

The film, Chinese Puzzle (Casse-tête chinois) could be re-named “Xavier’s Travels” or “It’s Complicated”. The French film and final instalment in director and writer, Cédric Klapisch’s trilogy puts middle-aged life and all of its vagaries and difficulties under the microscope. In some ways the John Lennon quote, “Life is what happens to you while you’re…

Ralph Fiennes takes the director’s helm a second time and reinforces his versatility portraying infamous writer Charles Dickens, in Abi Morgan’s beautifully scripted tale The Invisible Woman, an account of Dickens secret affair with young Ellen Turnen, a woman whose existence nearly faded from the pages of history. Period pieces have a misconception as appealing…

The Muppets are returning to the big screen with Muppets: Most Wanted, a sequel to 2011’s critical and box office smash The Muppets, or, as it’s humorously put in the film’s brilliantly meta opening number – the seventh sequel since their original film in 1979. But who’s counting, right? The film stars the Muppet gang…

Divergent is the latest in a line of post-apocalyptic teen dramas that have been churned through cinema since the ever-popular Twilight and Hunger Games franchises. Adapted from the novels by Veronica Roth through the eyes of director Neil Burger, Divergent plays around with some similarity to The Hunger Games via a post-“war” Chicago that is…

Stylistically, Wes Anderson remains one of the most exciting directors in the business, constantly infusing imagination into each and every one of his whimsical masterpieces. In many ways, The Grand Budapest Hotel supplants his classic works likes Fantastic Mr Fox and The Darjeeling Limited to shine as Anderson’s greatest film to date. 100 minutes just…

Stunning, visceral immersion into one of the world’s most important and historically rich cities is exactly what one will get when they settle into the IMAX to watch Jerusalem 3D. This documentary is a virtual visit to the gorgeous land and infinitely intriguing architecture, taking you through everything from the vibrant marketplaces to the historical…

Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! is a documentary film, travel guide and labour of love about The Beatles. In the course of an hour the director and presenter, Fabrice Ziolkowski visits the places in Liverpool and London that were important to the Fab Four. He also does this during International Beatle Week and he discovers that the…

It’s been zombies on the brain of late (pun intended), last year was a good year for undead horror flicks with Hollywood churning out some doozies (World War Z, Warm Bodies, Contracted). This genre is tricky, because it’s been overworked so many times, but looking back on the releases above it’s clear to see something’s…

When you learn that the budget for this feature was a measly $10K, you realise what they have pulled off with feature-length film, Thale, released initially in Norway in 2012 and recently broadcast on World Movies (Foxtel). Thale is a Norwegian fantasy/horror film that brings a unique air to the hybrid genre. The film takes…

With the Marvel Cinematic Universe now officially settling in to Phase 2 of its film franchises there has been a distinct trend of darker more intense storylines coming to the fore. The Avengers really set a huge bar for them to try to match and the expectations are high. With Captain America: The Winter Soldier they…

If you don’t end up walking out of this movie with a nostalgic tinge for your childhood or singing “Everything Is Awesome” or wanting to buy Lego then you must be a robot. This movie has been one of the hotly anticipated films of the year and with good reason. A combination of stop motion…

Nymphomaniac, stylised as NYMPH()MANIAC (yes, the use of brackets is what you think it signifies), is definitely an ambitious outing for Lars Von Trier, yet coming out of the cinema, I don’t know why I should have been feeling any sense of surprise regarding the film’s content matter or the way in which is was…

Concert movies are a rare breed. It goes without saying that if you’re not a fan of the music of that particular musician or band, then you’re probably not going to have a fun time. Road to Austin, however, is somewhat of an oddity – because even if you’re not familiar with any of the…

Half of a Yellow Sun should be a good film. A critically acclaimed novel, an emotionally charged historical period, an all star pedigree – on paper, you’d be forgiven for approaching the film with high expectations. Sadly, it’s an unfortunately undercooked melodrama that feels decidedly half baked. Set within 1960s Nigeria, headstrong twin sisters Olanna…

There’s been a lot of debate about this film, from many angles and many outlets and many voices. On the one hand it depicts an enormous natural disaster with large scale action sequences the likes of which we see in Hollywood blockbusters as a dime a dozen. On the other, it focuses on a very…

The reviews have been so particularly harsh for I, Frankenstein that you would expect to actually enjoy the film; having your standards dropped so low that surely semi-competent performances by Aaron Eckhart; and Bill Nighy could be enough to derive at least some satisfaction. Right? Wrong. The film is as unimpressive as you’ve probably already…

The musings of a self obsessed man-child might have been a more apt title for this film. Whilst on one-hand it could be held up and examined as a simple artful drama revolving around human behaviour spiralling out of control, it could just as easily be seen as a self indulgent, unsympathetic look at a…

Jump throws its hat into the ring alongside other intricately woven crime comedies such as Rock n Rolla and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, working with situational humour and solid investment in story set-up, to unravel a finale that falls into place almost seamlessly. Based on a stage play of the same title by…

The Time Being is one of those slow burning films that seems to take hold of one’s mind in a gentle unrealising way. The poignant undercurrent of the film would be nought, without the skilful persuasion of notable actors Frank Langella (Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, Robot & Frank, Superman Returns) and Wes Bentley (Lovelace,…

Scarecrow is another disenchanting cookie cutter, urban legend based horror TV movie, in a long list of similar movies under Director Sheldon Wilson’s belt. It’s not that the actors aren’t semi-decent, in fact there are some familiar names amongst the cast, Lacey Chabert from Party of Five anyone? Or that the special effects aren’t top…

Sometimes out of the horror of war there are unusual and intriguing stories to be told. One of these is that of The Monuments Men, a group of civilians tasked with rescuing stolen art masterpieces and culturally important work from the Nazis and returning them to their rightful owners. From the opening sequence we are…

“Sometimes silence is a scream.” Such is the conclusion the unnamed protagonist of The Missing Picture comes to, after pondering his father’s starvation-suicide at the hands of the Khmer Rouge. The unusual style of this poetic documentary is anchored by the intricate clay figurines made for the film, representatives of the Old and New people…