Great Britain in the late 1980s. A country in the grip of economic chaos, racial tensions, and political unrest. And a time fashion clearly forgot. It’s a setting and era cinema has covered extensively over the years. With an inviting narrative and a soundtrack filled with 80s pop and rock wonders, Blinded by the Light…
It should come as no surprise that in My Nudity Means Nothing (Ma nudité ne sert à rien) the protagonist is naked. In this case, it is the French, Underground filmmaker, Marina de Van. She holes herself up in her flat and flitters between existential angst and some serious naval gazing. All this and absolutely…
Most documentaries are good at providing observations about a subject. They are often unobtrusive and just like a fly-on-the-wall. But what do you do when you’ve chosen to chronicle an individual who is an illusionist and expert prankster by day? TV director, Ben Berman grapples with this as well as the notion of the truth…
In Here, Iowa, Charlie Manx is on the hunt. He has a target – the lonely and unloved little Daniel – and his Rolls Royce Wraith is packed with presents, ready to take the needy child off to Christmasland. Sounds nice, right? Well, not if acclaimed horror writer Joe Hill has anything to do with…
Canadian actor and filmmaker, Osric Chau is best known for his roles as Kevin Tran in Supernatural and Vogel in Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, as well as starring in The Walking Dead, Sherlock and 2012. Also, a seasoned con-goer and cosplayer, he returns to our shores this weekend for Melbourne’s Oz Comic Con.
Next year, the king of documentaries will be back on Australian shores for the first time following his sold out 2016 tour. Louis Without Limits will see the BAFTA winning investigative reporter explore some of the stories that made his career, in a series of shows with Australia’s own Julia Zemiro. Theroux says: “It was…
Nathan Atkins takes us to the Australian premiere of The Secret Life of Pets 2 with Tiffany Haddish and Kevin Hart hitting the red carpet.
Inspiration can strike at any time. But if you’re an artist like PJ Harvey you may choose to go in search of this illusiveness. A Dog Called Money is a music documentary that depicts the process that spawned the album, The Hope 6 Demolition Project. The result is a beautifully-shot film that can be uneven…
For a movie based on a true story about an elderly British woman revealed to be a long-term spy for the Russians, one headlined by the ever-reliable Judi Dench, Red Joan sadly fails to ignite its potential. Based on a novel inspired by Melita Norwood (dubbed “The Granny Spy”), who was both a British civil…
It has been almost two decades since the X-Men franchise started and now it has finally come to an end. Over the years, we have had a series of generally positive outcomes from this franchise — a list of mostly great films and a handful of very bad ones. For every film like X2: X-Men…
Celebrities walk the red carpet for the 2019 Sydney Film Festival opening night gala and to watch the world premiere of Palm Beach directed by Rachael Ward and starring Bryan Brown, Sam Neill and Greta Scacchi. The Sydney Film Festival is on until June 16th. You can find more information HERE
It’s finally here! The Godzilla franchise continues with Godzilla: King of the Monsters! Previous director Gareth Edwards has been replaced by Michael Dougherty, best known for his horror efforts like the Halloween anthology film Trick ‘R Treat and the Christmas movie Krampus. With an all-star cast of acclaimed thespians, rising talents and franchise returnees and free reign…
Now in its 4th year, The Melbourne International Documentary Film Festival has quickly become one of the most anticipated festival on the city’s calendar, boasting World Premieres, Australian Premieres and one off chances for Victorians to see critically acclaimed documentaries on the big screen. Today we’re looking at five of the music focused docos set…
If you were to see the cast of Triple Threat, which is jam-packed with talented martial artists/established action heroes, chances are that you would be overly excited. With this much talent in an action film, how can it possibly fail? We must consider the people behind the scenes. Triple Threat has director Jesse V. Johnson,…
It’s almost time for the annual Sydney Film Festival (5th – 16th June), stretching almost a fortnight across Sydney’s best cinemas – including the historic State Theatre – with a hugely diverse program of films from around the world. There’s almost too many gems to get through this year, so we’ve compiled a list of…
Only several months after cinema screens were graced with Bohemian Rhapsody and part of the journey of Queen’s meteoric rise to fame. We now have Rocketman, which examines another flamboyant and influential musician, Elton John, and unlike the former, this film decidedly takes a bit more of a leap both stylistically and also narratively. Because…
Taron Egerton and Director Dexter Fletcher walked the blue carpet in Sydney along with other celebrities and guests for the premiere of the highly anticipated film Rocketman
In these current dark and tumultuous times it can often seem like we’re rushing faster towards an impending apocalyptic like end. But fear not, the world continues to turn and we can rest assured that in the meantime watching Amazon Prime’s new series Good Omens will alleviate some of that tension. The show is based…
Critical Role cannot be stopped. The popular Dungeons & Dragons live stream, an improvised fantasy novel played weekly by a group of veteran voice actors, is on an enviable run. Following their record-breaking US$11,385,449 (AUD$16,501,500) animated series Kickstarter, Critical Role has returned to its roots, raising money for charity with a pledge drive supporting Red…
It’s easy to be cynical about the Disney juggernaut of rolling out live action remakes of their classic animated properties. We’ve already had Dumbo earlier this year which was watchable but felt like a little misstep by Tim Burton. Next comes Aladdin, which along with The Lion King releasing July 17 will be the 1-2…
Tonight was a special night for a select group of lucky people who were able to watch a special preview screening of Disney‘s new live action movie Aladdin staring Naomi Scott, Mena Massoud and Will Smith as Genie. Aladdin flies into cinemas on May 23rd.
The first teaser trailer for the forthcoming TV adaptation of His Dark Materials has been released out into the world, and we for one are excited! Set for release later in the year, the BBC and HBO co-production has amassed a sterling cast of small screen and big screen talent. Logan actress Dafne Keen has…
With filming on the as yet untitled Picard Star Trek spin-off series underway, this week it’s been announced that Amazon Prime Video will, under a multi-year agreement with CBS, be the exclusive streaming home of the new series in more than two hundred countries and territories outside the U.S. and Canada, including here in Australia. Each…
When one brings up the word “survival” in cinematic terms, usually some would think adventure stories in foreign environments like tropical islands, forests or jungles. Others would think of contained thrillers, where stories would be set in one small setting like a hostage situation in a building ala Die Hard, Under Siege or Speed. But…
Surprise blockbuster hit It slashed up the box office in 2017, making the Stephen King adaptation the most successful R-rated horror film of all time. Now, it’s finally time for the sequel, simply dubbed “Chapter Two” which heads back to Derry where the original characters – collectively, the Losers Club – are all grown up….
It’s fair to say that most people know Shakespeare and his plays. But, very little is known about the old Bard himself. All Is True is a bio-pic about ye olde William i.e. the writer in his twilight years. The result is a story that relies on some speculation and doesn’t always live up to…
After several release date pushbacks and a title change (its working title was Nasty Women, a now outdated reference to one of Donald Trump’s many insults thrown at Hillary Clinton), The Hustle finally plods into cinemas this week. A female-centric remake of 1988’s Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (which was itself a remake of 1964’s Bedtime Story), the film attempts…
Video games have generally had a fairly bad run when it comes to movie adaptations. Either they veer too far away from their source material and lose their gamer fans, or they lean too far into it and go over the heads of mainstream audiences. So when it was announced that they were making a…
All romantic comedies require some suspension of disbelief from an audience. These films often exist in a world of hyper-reality where two polar opposite characters somehow fall madly in love with each other. When a studio offers up something like Long Shot, a romantic comedy starring Charlize Theron and Seth Rogen, it’s hard not to raise…
It’s been twenty-five years since Australian cinema produced a top quality romantic comedy. Over two decades after Muriel’s Wedding, our local film industry has barely touched the genre, let alone delivered a film worthy of rivalling anything America or the UK can dish up. How wonderfully refreshing it is to see something like Top End Wedding…
