Disney once again mines its own intellectual property for more family fun over the holiday season. Their recent trend of recreating their animated features into new “live action” films has been an ongoing and generally successful juggernaut. However with Mary Poppins Returns, they’ve opted for a new take on the Poppins tale.
It’s been another incredible year of film, with powerful indie projects and incredible blockbusters that saw packed out cinemas align with strong reviews from critics. As voted by the AU review contributors, here are the 21 films we rated above the rest this year… 21. Ocean’s 8 The Met Gala sequence itself is, admittedly, quite…
The Transformers film franchise has been in devastating lows these past years. Although one can expect that from a franchise that is based on a line of toys, any film based on a toy can be a good film like the LEGO films. Aside from the 1986 cult-classic animated film (which featured Orson Welles as…
When 2012’s Wreck-It Ralph was released it conceptually took video game nostalgia and the joy of arcade games and brought that idea to life. This time in Ralph Breaks The Internet (aka Wreck-It Ralph 2) the sequel ups the ante by taking our two main characters from their comfortable video game realm into the much…
After what has felt to be an endless journey for Jason Momoa‘s portrayal of the King of Atlantis to grace the screens, Aquaman finally arrives in the hopes of both serving the character justice and steering the DC ship back on course after the underwhelming Justice League. Traditionally a blonde-haired/blue-eyed creation that was often the…
Tonight, the star of Aquaman, Jason Momoa hit the blue carpet in Sydney for the premiere of the locally filmed blockbuster! It hits cinemas next week, 26th December, but before you head along, check out all the action from the carpet courtesy of Nathan Atkins:
Standing up against the status quo has been a beloved, exciting trope, and in the new Netflix Original Dumplin’, it’s delightful and empowering. It’s a film that Insatiable and Sierra Burgess is a Big Loser wish they could be. The movie centres on Willowdean Dickson (Australia’s Danielle Macdonald), an overweight teen who loves Dolly Parton and…
There are times when a film critic is asked to review some strange pieces of cinema, but none are perhaps stranger this year than Once Upon a Deadpool, a rather bizarre holiday re-release of Deadpool 2 bereft of the swearing, sexual content, blood, and gore that’s become this anti-Marvel franchise’s calling card. “Why?” you may…
He’s an acting icon, with an impressive list of dramatic roles including Schindler’s List, Rob Roy and Kinsey. But more recently he’s made a name for himself as a gritty action star courtesy of the Taken trilogy, The Grey and The Commuter. Now Irish actor Liam Neeson will be coming down under in the middle…
When a small group of American soldiers are thrust into a German-occupied French town. Their mission to take out a radio tower takes a terrifying turn when they discover Nazi doctors conducting human experimentation in order to create super soldiers. With the release of the World War II action plus zombie super soldier laden Overlord…
Jennifer Lopez has a pretty spotty track record when it comes to her acting career. The last great film in the past 20 years is still Steven Soderbergh‘s crime flick Out of Sight. While she still has her charismatic and likable presence on-screen, unfortunately her choices of scripts have been quite sub-par. Apart from some…
The Golden Globe Awards is an event that occurs once every year to acknowledge and bestow recognition to people working in the film and television world, both domestic and foreign. The event began in 1944, started by the Hollywood Foreign Press Organisation. The first ever Golden Globes ceremony commenced on January 20, 1944, where trophies were…
The Brian Jonestown Massacre once said, ‘Thank God for mental illness.’ English playwright, Alan Bennett shares this sentiment. His dark comedy, The Madness of King George III has been revived at Nottingham Playhouse and will be broadcast around the world for NT Live. In short, it offers an enjoyable history lesson and proves that no…
Of late comics fans have been spoilt for choice when it comes to seeing their favourite superhero being depicted on the big screen. The Marvel Cinematic Universe and DC Extended Universe have been battling it out for the eyes and dollars of fans. So when word spread that another Spiderman movie would be on its…
There’s a lot of hullaballoo surrounding the new film Mortal Engines, most of which can be attributed to those behind the camera rather than in front of it. The film directed by Christian Rivers is his debut, however the production team behind it also consists of Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Phillippa Boyens – the…
The latest film from the creative genius talent of Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens and directed by Christian Rivers sees the team adapt the Phillip Reeve book series Mortal Engines. Set in the future, and moving slowly out of dystopia, roving cities on wheels must avoid being devoured by much larger “predator cities”. In…
It’s rather unfortunate that Australian cinema really doesn’t have the greatest reputation. It’s not that we aren’t capable of delivering quality homegrown productions, it’s just that we so seldom do, so when something like The School comes along, you can’t help but feel both a sense of disappointment and expectation. To be fair to writer/director…
As much as Peter Jackson‘s name is plastered all over this, Mortal Engines is in fact NOT a Jackson joint. Yes, the Lord of the Rings helmer is the most likely reason this film was greenlit (he serves as both co-producer and co-writer) but long-time Jackson collaborator Christian Rivers, who served predominantly as a visual…
Walking away from both the Primetime Emmys and the Golden Globes with awards galore, including accolades for lead Rachel Brosnahan, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel has been a runaway hit for creator Amy Sherman-Palladino and streaming service Amazon Prime. Set in the late 1950’s, Brosnahan stars as Upper West Side housewife Midge Maisel, who discovers she…
Stan has released a teaser trailer to confirm that their original series No Activity will be returning for a Christmas Special. The festive seasons special, No Activity: The Night Before Christmas, will be reuniting the original award-winning creative team of Patrick Brammall (Glitch, Upper Middle Bogan, A Moody Christmas) and Trent O’Donnell (New Girl, Brooklyn 99, The Good Place, A Moody Christmas), who…
They say truth is stranger than fiction, and that’s especially evident in Can You Ever Forgive Me?, the delightfully absurd and deliciously bizarre true story of a washed-up writer who discovers a knack for forgery and a strangely fulfilling career change she never saw coming. Mining the as-yet untapped but mightily impressive dramatic talents of comedic…
If you weren’t excited for the new year, you definitely will be once you get the scope on the films we’ll be seeing hit cinemas next year. Here at the AU Review, we have compiled a list of 7 films being released in Australia in 2019, so gather the family ’round and get ready for…
What do you get when you take a World War II action movie and smash it together with some monster horror Nazi-sploitation? You get the wild, bloody, gory ride that is Overlord. A film that has clearly defined good guys, bad guys, a hefty dose of patriotism and some reanimated super powered super soldiers to…
French enfant terrible provocateur film director Gaspar Noe is back with his physically-impulsive, boundary-pushing sex-and-drugs approach. For those who don’t know, Noe is a prolific filmmaker who pushes the buttons of the audiences in extreme measures and beyond boundaries of good taste. His debut feature-length film, I Stand Alone, contained gruelling violence and references of…
If there’s one franchise that I am utterly surprised that it is still ongoing at this point, it is the franchise of Rocky Balboa by Sylvester Stallone. Proving you can’t keep a fighter down (or you can’t stop beating a dead horse), writer/director Ryan Coogler came up with the idea to reinvigorate the franchise without…
Boots Riley has over two decades of powerful, biting and important work behind him as emcee of The Coup, so Sorry for Bothering You, his directorial debut, isn’t as big of a leap as it appears to be for the artist. Well, it’s not big in the sense that smart political satire is anything new…
It’s pretty obvious that war is nasty business, and can be pretty horrifying. So what happens when you make a World War II movie, that goes that extra step and adds in some Nazi zombies super soldiers in a bid to turn the war? Shit gets pretty crazy is what, and the new film Overlord does just that….
When you think of zombie comedies, it’s difficult to look beyond the witty brilliance that is Edgar Wright’s Shaun of the Dead (2004). Whilst we’ve had our share of interesting takes on the walking dead in the years since, the arrival of Anna and the Apocalypse stands as the choreographed high-kick the genre needed. Not…
According to Webster’s Dictionary, the term fangirling is defined as a female fan behaving and obsessing in an overexcited fashion. You may or may not forgive me for finding this definition quite amusing, but it sums up my expectations of director Jessica Leski‘s I Used To Be Normal: A Boyband Fangirl Story perfectly. A film…
Lean on Pete is about a poor boy in more ways than one. This troubled teen was abandoned by his Mum and lives with his selfish father in poverty. His saving grace comes in the shape of an aging racehorse named Lean on Pete. This slow-burning drama sees this teen fall off his horse, only…
