Film & TV

Miles Ahead might have a few tricks (and some strong casting) up its sleeve, but it never quite manages to triumph. Set in the late 1970s, the very-loose biopic introduces us a disillusioned and drug-addled Davis (Don Cheadle)who hasn’t made music in almost five years – despite the best efforts of his label. When a recording of…

Even at just a surface level, Me Before You feels like a movie that’s just ticking boxes than it is engaging heartstrings. You’ve got three big franchise stars (from Game of Thrones, Doctor Who and The Hunger Games, respectively), a picturesque British backdrop and premise that all-but-guarantees a tragic end. However, it never really feels like the film is genuinely leveraging…

Defusing an explosive in western cinema is very rarely as tense as it should be. With the exception of brilliant films The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow) and Gallipoli (Peter Weir), the suspense surrounding characters handling something so volatile, which with the slightest fault could literally blow them apart in an instant, is often suppressed by…

Paterson is the new film from acclaimed auteur (and Iggy Pop fan) Jim Jarmusch. A man who enjoys character studies that are never rushed for the sake of plot progression, existing in some semblance of real time, watching a Jarmusch film involves a lot of patience on behalf of the viewer. If you’re a fan of…

Sharon Jones isn’t a household name, nor an artist with a breakout radio hit. But those who do know of her and her talent, will attest to her brilliance. She has been likened to a female James Brown, belting out soul and funk tunes and thrashing and shimmying like a pint sized Tina Turner. However…

Pixar Studios has long been regarded as one of the best animation studios in the world today, alongside Studio Ghibli, which in my denial still exists. But ever since the release of Cars 2, a disappointing sequel to a film that wasn’t that good to begin with, the seemingly infallible quality of Pixar has fallen….

Pixar is no stranger to sequels. For over 20 years, Pixar have dominated animated cinematic releases with their critical and box-office success. With the massive acclaim behind sequels like Toy Story 2 & 3 and Monsters University, Pixar has now (much to everyone’s excitement) released Finding Dory after a 13-year wait since its predecessor, and…

Following its Australian premiere at this year’s Sydney Film Festival, Fergus Halliday sat down with director Rokhsareh Ghaemmaghami  to talk about her award-winning documentary, Sonita. Winner of the Audience Award at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, Ghaemmaghami’s documentary explores Sonita’s journey as a young undocumented exile living in Tehran, with big dreams of breaking into the rap industry. What drew…

Event Cinema’s ‘In the House’ cult screenings return to their George Street location in Sydney this July, bringing cult classics from the last 40 years back to the big screen. Audiences can catch screenings of films like Francis Ford Coppola’s seminal gangsta flick  The Godfather (1972), Ridley Scott’s nightmare Aliens (1979) in 70mm and fantasy cult classic Big Trouble…

As part of this year’s Sydney VIVID Ideas Program, CLIPPED Music Video Competition announced their winners over two buzzing nights over at The Works in Glebe last weekend. The event included a six-category competition and award ceremonies; innovative discussion panels featuring international and local speakers; screenings and crafty exhibition spaces. The panel of judges for the competition…

Quietly unnerving films like The Loved Ones and Wolf Creek (the first one, not the horrendous sequel) have come to define Australian horror to an international audience, but this country has produced just as many louder, bloodier, and faster entries into the often overcrowded genre, and most of that quality is found on the lower…

The story behind Australia’s most iconic building, the Sydney Opera House is set to become a feature film in a Danish, Swedish and Australian co-production. Currently in development, the film will be titled Utzon, The Man Behind the Opera House. The film will bring together Swedish-Australian producer Jan Marnell, and Australian producers Marian Macgowan and…

Clever and dark, High-Rise (directed by Ben Wheatley) is a dystopia to remember. The story follows surgeon Laing (Tom Hiddleston) who moves to a tower far from civilisation. This tower has everything you need from a supermarket to a gym, but no contact with the outside world. Laing adjusts to life at the tower and…

Far from Disney’s little mermaid, The Lure is a film that mixes musical, comedy and horror together. The story centres on a family of entertainers who find a pair of mermaids and decide to take them in since they have beautiful singing voices. The mermaids immerse themselves in the human world, but soon one of…

One of the first thing that Blood Father makes clear is that John Link (Mel Gibson) is over being a flashy action hero type. It’s old hat to an ex-con like him and he doesn’t want anything to do with it. However, don’t be fooled, Gibson himself seems to be having a hell of a…

As someone completely unschooled in the world of Warcraft, I entered the filmic adaptation of the popular video game franchise with an open mind and no expectations.  On its own merits it’s a perfectly serviceable action/fantasy opus that’s heavy on CGI and spectacle but short on much else – not that that is necessarily a…

Craig Boreham’s beautifully filmed coming of age tale Teenage Kicks is a film that leaves you thinking long after the final credits have rolled. Writing this review two days after the film had its world premiere at the Sydney Film Festival I find myself still grappling with its expert exploration of cultural and sexual identities…

I’ve got to get one thing out of the way before I can get on with the rest of this review – who would have thought that Nick Jonas was such a good actor. I mean seriously, I’ve heard nothing of this guy since his Disney starring, purity ring wearing days but he completely knocks…

Goldstone was easily my most anticipated film of this year’s Sydney Film Festival, and it’s fair to say it did not disappoint. Written, directed, edited and pretty much everything else by Ivan Sen, it is sure to join the pantheon of great Aussie films – a triumph from start to finish. Seeing the return of…

Like many people in the world, Roald Dahl has been one of my favourite authors during my childhood. His twisted sense of humour, his unique whimsical touch and its warm-hearted tone have delighted kids as well as adults all around the world and even the film adaptations of his works have all been well-regarded by…

“You are made for the day, not the night.” –Kaetenay This week on Penny Dreadful, series creator John Logan returns as writer, and despite the past two action-packed episodes, they were missing the eloquence and emotion we have come to expect from Logan’s scripts. But that is well atoned for in “Ebb Tide” and the…

I’d be lying if I said I was an Australian Cinema connoisseur. Despite being an avid cinephile, I guess I’ve always been a bit ignorant towards my home country’s unique brand of cinema. But Girl Asleep may have absolutely opened my eyes. Girl Asleep is set in the 70’s, as Gretta who is about to…

Closet Monster isn’t a film that succeeds because on its premise alone. It’s all in the execution. Though hardly the first drama film to concern itself with what it means to grow up queer in the 21st century, it feels rare to find a film as well realised as this one. The acting, direction, editing and music…

The Sydney Film Festival is set to be slightly-extended this year, with addition screenings announced for the event’s most popular films. The screenings will take place at Palace Cinemas in Leichhardt and Paddington across the 20th to 22nd of June. “This is the second year we will extend our run for top-selling films beyond the…

Over the course of the last century, warfare has been conducted on land, in the sea or in the air. But with thanks to our ever evolving technology there no longer needs to be a physical presence for war. It can now all be done electronically, digitally, silently and invisibly and cause irreparable damage. When…

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 both…

Larry Heath sits down with Ryan Guzman, Tyler Hoechlin, J. Quinton Johnson and Wyatt Russell to talk about their work as part of the ensemble cast of Richard Linklater’s brand new film Everybody Wants Some!! I talk to the quartet about how the film related to their actual College experience, their love of ice cream, their training…

New Zealand born Director Jake Mahaffy was trawling the news one day when he came across a chilling story from 2003 concerning the death of an 8 year old autistic boy named Terrance Cottrell. His death was seemingly the unintentional consequence of a modern-day exorcism performed by members of a small storefront Milwaukee church who…

Blood Punch is a cool, innovative little horror flick that takes inspiration and crafts something wholly unique, but its appeal lies in knowing next to nothing about its plot. Our story centres on Milton, a former meth cook who finds himself in rehab. When Skylar shows up and plans a breakout, under the guise of…

“No One” is an episode of Thrones that can’t seem to decide what it wants to be. It isn’t quite clear whether this episode is the spark that sets off the cascading events of the season’s final two episodes or a climax in its own right. Though it offers some closure to the Braavos and Riverlands…