Reviews

Prime Video’s Off Campus; it’s Dawson’s Creek for the TikTok generation

Off Campus understands exactly what it is selling within the first ten minutes. Beautiful people. Hockey players with tragic backstories and perfect jawlines. College hookups shot like perfume ads. Emotional vulnerability wrapped in towels (and sometimes not) and locker-room lighting. It knows the “girls, gays, and theys” audience it is chasing, and it goes after…

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Film Review: Apex; well-crafted Netflix thriller leans into performance, place, and momentum

Grief sits at the centre of Apex, but it’s not the kind that asks for quiet reflection. It’s restless, disorienting, and constantly pushing forward – much like the film itself. What begins as a solitary escape into the wilderness gradually tightens into something far more dangerous, until it snaps into a lean, nerve-rattling game of…

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Series Review: Running Point Season 2 makes a convincing case that it’s here to play for the long game

Season two of Running Point doesn’t just build on its breakout debut – it confidently steps into its own power, sharpening its voice, raising the stakes, and leaning even harder into the messy, addictive dynamics that made the first season such a bingeable delight. At the centre of it all is Kate Hudson’s Isla Gordon,…

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Series Review: Margo’s Got Money Troubles; Elle Fanning anchors this modern dramedy done right

The speed at which Margo’s Got Money Troubles has moved from page to screen feels almost miraculous – and even more impressive is how fully formed it arrives. Created by David E. Kelley and based on Rufi Thorpe’s novel, the series lands as one of the most vibrant, funny, and unexpectedly moving shows of the…

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Interview: Nick Offerman and Thaddea Graham on Margo’s Got Money Troubles and exploring the performative nature of existence

From David E. Kelley, the multi-Emmy Award-winning creator behind some of television’s most compelling character dramas, comes Margo’s Got Money Troubles – a sharp, funny and deeply human series anchored by a powerhouse cast including Elle Fanning, Michelle Pfeiffer, Nicole Kidman and Nick Offerman. Based on Rufi Thorpe’s bestselling novel, the show follows Margo, a…

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Series Review: The Boys Season 5 is fearless, excessive, and just self-aware enough to know exactly how far it can push things before it cuts to black.

There’s something almost fitting about how The Boys bows out: loud, messy, confrontational, and completely sure of itself. Season 5 doesn’t attempt a reinvention. Instead, it doubles down on everything that made the series essential viewing in the first place, delivering a finale that feels both earned and unflinchingly true to its identity. Developed by…

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Series Review: The Testaments is a worthy return to Gilead

Few fictional worlds have embedded themselves into the cultural consciousness quite like The Handmaid’s Tale. In the decades since Margaret Atwood first published her landmark novel, Gilead has become shorthand for a very real kind of fear – one that has only felt more immediate with time. So when she released The Testaments more than…

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Series Review: With Season 2, Deadloch remains one of the most distinctive and exciting series on Australian television

There’s something quietly miraculous about how Deadloch manages to be so many things at once without collapsing under the weight of it all – and in its second season, it somehow gets even more ambitious. Shifting the action from Tasmania to the Top End is more than just a change of scenery; it’s a smart…

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Film Review: Pretty Lethal is a lively, blood-splattered little thrill ride

There’s something immediately appealing about the gleefully ridiculous premise of Pretty Lethal: take a troupe of young ballet dancers, strand them in the middle of nowhere after witnessing a violent crime, and then let them fight their way out using a very particular set of skills. It’s the kind of concept that sounds like a…

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Series Review: The Madison; Michelle Pfeiffer is phenomenal in Taylor Sheridan’s most intimate, emotional series yet

Created by Taylor Sheridan, The Madison may have been born from the creative orbit that produced Yellowstone, but it ultimately emerges as something far more intimate: a quietly devastating family drama wrapped in the sweeping visual language of the American West. Rather than leaning on the operatic power struggles that have defined Sheridan’s other series,…

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First Impressions: Scarpetta; Nicole Kidman dissects a dark past in gripping crime series

For decades, readers of Patricia Cornwell’s bestselling crime novels have followed the meticulous, morally driven investigations of medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta. Now, the character finally makes the leap to television in Scarpetta, with Nicole Kidman (possibly the busiest woman working in Hollywood) stepping into the blood-spattered lab coat. It’s a fitting match. Kidman brings…

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Film Review: The Bluff; entertaining, though not revolutionary jaunt for audiences in the mood for swords and spectacle

The Bluff is a spirited dive into pirate-infused action, set against the jaw-dropping Cayman Brac, where towering bluffs and Skull Cave provide the perfect backdrop for a story about revenge, family, and redemption. At its heart is Priyanka Chopra Jonas as Ercell “Bloody Mary” Bodden, a woman dragged back into the violent world she thought…

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Series Review: Long-awaited Marian Keyes adaptation, The Walsh Sisters celebrates the sisters we know and love

If you’ve been following the adventures of the Walsh sisters since 1995’s “Watermelon,” then you’ll know that these are five sisters who have been through a lot together. There’s heartbreak, infidelity, addiction, struggles with fertility, grief, depression, and, to top it all off, their mother – affectionately known as Mammy Walsh – is blunt, over-involved,…

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Series Review: The Artful Dodger Season 2 broadens its story in both scale and spectacle

The Artful Dodger debuted in 2023, serving as an inventive sequel inspired by Charles Dickens’ “Oliver Twist.” Rather than focusing on Dickens’ original orphan, the series followed the “Artful Dodger”, Jack Dawkins (Thomas Brodie-Sangster), as he forged a new life in the British Colony of Australia, balancing ambition, love, and the lingering influence of Fagin…

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Film Review: The Wrecking Crew; Momoa and Bautista power energetic, violent buddy actioner

The Wrecking Crew knows exactly what kind of movie it wants to be, and it’s in that confidence that it reveals its greatest asset. Directed by Ángel Manuel Soto (Blue Beetle), this sun-drenched, bruising action comedy channels the spirit of 80s/90s-era buddy chaos, pairing Jason Momoa and Dave Bautista as estranged half-brothers pulled back together…

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Film Review: The Rip; Damon and Affleck reunite in one of Netflix’s more confident cinematic thrillers

Joe Carnahan’s The Rip arrives with the familiar Netflix sheen, but beneath that polish is something tougher, meaner, and far more cinematic than the algorithm usually allows. A pressure-cooker crime thriller steeped in mistrust and moral rot, the film leans hard into character before letting violence and paranoia take the wheel. It’s a throwback with…

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First Impressions: The Copenhagen Test is confident in its patience and unsettling in its implications

The Copenhagen Test arrives without the usual genre fanfare. There are no grandiose set pieces or relentless action beats demanding attention (at least not initially), with the series instead drawing viewers in quietly, building tension through atmosphere, psychology, and a creeping sense of dread. It’s a sci-fi espionage thriller that understands restraint can be more…

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Interview: One More Shot stars Aisha Dee, Sean Keenan and Ashley Zukerman on their time-loop comedy

On New Year’s Eve, 1999, armed with a bottle of time travelling tequila, Minnie (Emily Browning) arrives at the swanky beach house of her long-time friend, Rodney (Ashley Zukerman), only to discover that her former flame Joe (Sean Keenan), has brought his new girlfriend, Jenny (Aisha Dee). When Minnie takes a shot and is suddenly…

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Series Review: Man Vs Baby; Rowan Atkinson’s situational comedy is perfect for Christmas season streaming

2022’s Man Vs Bee was the type of simplistic, farcical premise that shouldn’t have worked as well as it did. One of the reasons it did though was the utter commitment from the comedic genius that is Rowan Atkinson, who built upon the largely silent, situational mentality of his classic Mr. Bean for nine micro-episodes…

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Film Review: Jay Kelly; George Clooney is charming and agreeable in soft Netflix dramedy

Though a richly textured performance from George Clooney (even if he is essentially playing himself) and some warm support from Adam Sandler (though his overuse of the word “Papi” starts to grate) help bolster Jay Kelly, it’s difficult to entirely find a way into the universality writer/director Noah Baumbach (Marriage Story, White Noise) hopes to…

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Film Review: Oh. What. Fun.; Michelle Pfeiffer is as luminous as she is biting in warm Christmas comedy

From the opening of Oh. What. Fun., director/writer Michael Showalter and his co-writer Chandler Baker very much express both the importance of mothers during the festive season and how, in the realms of cinematic ventures, they’re an under valued character.  As the film’s loving focal point, Claire Clauster (Michelle Pfeiffer, always a treat to see…

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Series Review: Ghosts: Australia is a clever transposition of a modern comedy classic – even if the jokes sometimes don’t quite land

When Ghosts: Australia was announced, it might be fair to say that the idea was met with some trepidation. There have been numerous examples of comedy hits in one country failing to impress when adapted for another – anyone remember when they tried to do an American version of Kath and Kim? Yet Ghosts, based on the…

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Film Review: In Your Dreams; Netflix’s new family adventure is magical, wonderous viewing

There’s a Pixar-like wonder to In Your Dreams that helps this particularly sweet family adventure film feel like it’s somewhat of a classic – despite the fact that it’s freshly releasing on Netflix as perfect programming for the impending holiday season. Embracing a mentality that likens it to the types of family films we saw…

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Film Review: Playdate; Alan Ritchson’s wild comedic turn will make you want to RSVP to Prime’s latest action escape

With his imposing size and gruff delivery, it makes sense that Alan Ritchson has become so synonymous with the character of Reacher. It’s also why it’s such an inherent joy to see him considerably let loose in Playdate, a simple action-comedy that reminds us that the actor is quite a gifted, goofy comedian. He’s the…

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Series review: Only Murders in the Building sets up another complicated puzzle in its fifth season

Oh that every home should have a doorman as wise and as kind as Lester Coluca. Sadly, Lester (Teddy Coluca) was the victim for the fifth season of Only Murders in the Building, and this season’s mystery revolves around our three amateur sleuths finding out who had left him for dead in the fountain at the…

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Film Review: Frankenstein; Guillermo del Toro’s classic retelling is as haunting as it is beautiful

Though it’s been a story told countless times before, you can’t help but still be monstrously excited at the prospect of Guillermo del Toro adapting Mary Shelley’s classic Frankenstein.  His name above the title just feels correct, and not just because the director has been talking about helming his version of the story for close…

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Film Review: The Hand That Rocks the Cradle is a quiet, more patient thriller than the 90s original

Given this day and age where (mostly) everyone is traced to a social media presence and it’s not as easy to get away with saying who you aren’t, the premise of the original 1992 domestic thriller The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, where a sweet-natured mother essentially hires a stranger off the street to watch…

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Film Review: Held Hostage in My House; Netflix thriller is a campy, melodramatic affair

With a title that can’t be misconstrued in all its obviousness, it makes sense as to why Held Hostage in My House adheres to a melodramatic, campy temperament. Despite the cheapness of proceedings, you have to hand it to writer/director Anna Elizabeth James (who seemingly has a penchant for blatantly titled thrillers, with Sinister Sorority…

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Film Review: Other is a gradually unsettling thriller that revels in its confusion

It’s not too far into the 95 minutes of David Moreau‘s Other that it becomes eerily evident that everyone aside from lead Olga Kurylenko has their appearance intentionally hidden or distorted from view.  Moreau himself stated that it was a visual additive that played into the loneliness and confinement of Kurylenko’s Alice, who spends the…

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Film Review: Play Dirty; Mark Wahlberg and LaKeith Stanfield charm their way through chaotic actioner

Whether we’ve taken notice or not, but, much like your James Bonds, Jack Ryans and Jack Reachers, the character at the centre of Shane Black‘s Play Dirty – Parker – is a cinematic mainstay who has appeared in films dating back to the 1960s, portrayed either directly or taken inspiration from by a multitude of…

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