Three and a Half Stars

Book Review: David Cohen’s The Hunter and Other Stories of Men is an offbeat look into the minds of men

Brisbane author David Cohen has put together a much anticipated collection of short stories in the form of his new book The Hunter and Other Stories of Men. The collection contains eighteen stories, most around the ten page mark, whilst some of which were published in various publications between 2004 and 2017. With some of the stories…

Read More

Melbourne Fringe Review: Funerals with Phoebe proved the perfect ending to an incredible festival

Delightful, different and refreshing, real life funeral singer Phoebe Deklerk‘s show Funerals with Phoebe proved to be the perfect ending to my amazing month of Melbourne Fringe Festival shows. Have you ever wondered what songs you’d like to have at your funeral? Or noticed just how similar wedding and funeral songs can actually be? Would you consider…

Read More

Book Review: I’m With the Band is like going to bed with your favourite rock star

Did you know Pamela Des Barres inspired the Penny Lane character in Almost Famous? Rock’s original groupie, Des Barres released her first-kiss-and-tell memoir I’m With the Band back in 1987. Earlier this year the book was re-released with additional chapters, and a new introduction by music journalist Roisin O’Connor. The result is one warm and rollicking read,…

Read More

First Impressions: Jim Carrey shines in Kidding (USA, 2018), but the show hides in darkness

Showtime’s new comedy-drama Kidding sees Jim Carrey return to our screens in a show that makes it very clear that life isn’t all glitter and rainbows. Carrey is one of those actors whose presence alone can fill up the whole screen, either as the most energetic leading man (The Mask) or the average, everyday man…

Read More

MIFF Review: Mandy (USA, 2018) stars Nicolas Cage on a rage-filled revenge quest

Mandy is a crazy two-hour LSD trip led by a totally unhinged Nicolas Cage performance. The film follows Red (Cage) and Mandy (Andrea Riseborough) who live a peaceful life in the Pacific Northwest, that is until a religious cult barge in and rob Red of the love of his life, sending the man on a…

Read More

Film Review: The Spy Who Dumped Me (USA, 2018) is wholly committed to not taking itself too seriously

Whilst no one is going to go out of their way to suggest The Spy Who Dumped Me is here to reinvent the wheel in its chosen hybrid genres, Susanna Fogel’s kinetic spy caper does a bloody good job at delivering on its advertised packaging.  An action-comedy that proves both consistently amusing and alarmingly crazed…

Read More

Sydney Film Festival Review: Yellow Is Forbidden (China/NZ, 2017) is an intimate slice of fashion gold

Colours have different meanings. In Imperial China, yellow was reserved for the emperor. It was believed to be the centre of everything because it generated yin and yang. For fashion designer, Guo Pei it is a colour that has become a signature part of her colour palate. If you don’t believe us, you need look…

Read More

Sydney Film Festival Review: Colin Minihan overindulges in tension with What Keeps You Alive (Canada, 2018)

Not truly knowing your significant other post-marriage must be a terrifying thought, and it’s one that grounds Colin Minihan‘s What Keeps You Alive in a genuinely frightening premise. Lock that idea up and throw it into a cliche cabin-in-the-woods scenario and you have yourself a fun horror film that’s intriguing and entertaining, if not a…

Read More

Sydney Film Festival Review: Holiday (Denmark, 2018) is an shocking, brutal and unforgettable experience… if you can stomach it

Have you ever seen a film that was so unexpected in its brutality and its disturbing content that you found it unforgettable? Well, one such example screening as part of Sydney Film Festival is Isabella Eklof‘s Holiday. Judging from the poster, you would expect some sort of exploitative saga about a woman in trouble, but through…

Read More

Sydney Film Festival Review: Beirut (USA, 2018) is an absorbing thriller that doesn’t break convention

Aided by a sense of retro charm and bathed in a yellowy hue that appears to be the go-to filter for Hollywood’s take on anything Middle East, Brad Anderson‘s Beirut is an absorbing thriller that doesn’t break convention, but manages a certain robustness that keeps it sailing along with intrigue. Opening in 1972, the titular…

Read More

Film Review: Ocean’s 8 (USA, 2018) proves acceptable escapism that’ll steal your attention during its running time

Whilst it may not quite boast as impressive an ensemble as the original Ocean’s trilogy managed to concoct (George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and Julia Roberts to name a few), Ocean’s 8 still steers ahead on charm and glamour, proving that an octet of women can do anything just as capable as an eleven-strong…

Read More

Film Review: Super Troopers 2 (USA, 2018) is mostly an enjoyably goofy, charmingly raunchy affair

First and foremost it must be noted that Super Troopers 2 is indeed a film made for a particular audience. The original 2001 comedy came and went theatrically without much notice, but over the years it earned rightful cult status as its receptive audience came to appreciate its random, low brow humour. As successful as…

Read More

Film Review: Love, Simon (USA, 2018) is a sweet, likable and unassuming queer teenage rom-com

Dear Blue, Queer cinema has came through quite well back in 2017. We’ve had great examples like Call Me By Your Name, Battle of the Sexes and Moonlight; foreign entries like BPM (Beats Per Minute), Oscar-winning A Fantastic Woman and BAFTA-winning The Handmaiden and hidden indie gems like Princess Cyd, Beach Rats and God’s Own…

Read More

Perth Festival Film Review: Under The Tree (Iceland, 2017) is a masterclass in neighbourly mutually assured destruction

Neighbourly disputes are really not all that uncommon in the real world, but in Under the Tree, the third feature film from Icelandic director Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigur∂sson, a relatively minor disagreement between two suburban neighbouring families over a tree and the shadow it casts morphs into an ever escalating case of mutually assured destruction culminating…

Read More

SXSW Film Review: ¡Las Sandinistas! (USA/Nicaragua, 2018) restores some important women to Nicaragua’s history books

The original Sandinistas (AKA the Sandinista National Liberation Front) were a group with the odds stacked against them. By their own admission, they were a bunch of “Poorly armed kids.” But they successfully overthrew the Nicaraguan president in 1979. A large number of the Sandinistas were women. Society had expected these women would marry and…

Read More

Film Review: 12 Strong (USA, 2018) is as dynamic as it is earnest

Depending how you look at it, 12 Strong‘s insistence on bypassing the usual heavy-handed political messages and overt emotional punches that pertain to war genre films will either be a welcome or rejected additive.  It’s a film that’s pretty standard (at least in comparison to genre greats like Saving Private Ryan and Black Hawk Down),…

Read More

Film Review: Finding Your Feet (UK, 2018) is a rom-com about swimming through life’s second act

If ever there was a film that did what it said on the tin then it is Finding Your Feet. This boomer rom-com and English dramedy is all about second chances and discovering your true self. The film is a pleasant and predictable one that should appeal to fans of Hampstead and The Best Exotic…

Read More

Film Review: Game Night (USA, 2018) is an unruly bout of fun

Whether it’s an old-fashioned detective story (Murder on the Orient Express), a children’s adventure (Young Sherlock Holmes), a romantic farce (Blind Detective) or a flat-out comedy (Clue), the murder mystery is the type of genre staple that can result in lots of fun, particularly if it involves audience participation. If 2018’s latest comedy Game Night can…

Read More

Film Review: Swinging Safari (Australia, 2018) is a gloriously playful film that finds the humour and horror of growing up in 1970’s Australia

Spin-the-vase, a late night taste of fondu, and a rotting beached whale make for just some of the intricate ingredients of Stephan Elliott‘s semi-autobiographical comedy Swinging Safari, a gloriously playful film that finds both the humour and the horror of growing up in Australia in the 1970’s. As kinetic a film it may be (I…

Read More

Film Review: The Post (USA, 2017) is a thrilling look at a significant point in history

These days the words, “The Post” are more likely to get you thinking about a blog then a newspaper. In fact, Steven Spielberg’s latest film, The Post is all about history and a bygone era in print journalism. It’s a historic thriller and bio-pic that looks at how The Washington Post handled the decision to…

Read More

Film Review: The Greatest Showman (USA, 2017) is cheery lunacy that revels in its attempt to call back on the positive musicals of the past

Going for broke and wearing its heart on its sleeve for all to appreciate, The Greatest Showman is a corny yet engaging musical that embraces its overt positivity with stride. An enthusiastically romanticised telling of how legendary American showman P.T. Barnum (portrayed by a wholly committed Hugh Jackman) worked his way from rags to riches…

Read More

Film Review: Alexander Payne thinks a bit too big with Downsizing (USA, 2017)

There is no escaping a society defined by over-consumption, over-population, excessive stress and glaring inequality as Alexander Payne delivers a big message with a small scale, working his surrealist charm and far-flung sense of adventure into Downsizing. The long-gestating project, directed by Payne and written with frequent collaborator Jim Taylor, is a grand, and at…

Read More

Film Review: Just To Be Sure (Ôtez-moi d’un doute) (France, 2017) is a fun & whimsical little farce

Just To Be Sure (Ôtez-moi d’un doute) is a French comedy that doesn’t take itself too seriously. It deals with some important and weighty issues like: family, identity and roots but handles these in a quirky and funny way. What could have been a self-proclaimed neo-Greek tragedy actually turns out to be a fun and…

Read More

Film Review: In This Corner of the World (Japan, 2016) is thought-provoking anime for older audiences

Similar to the majority of other anime titles on offer, In This Corner of the World is suitably aimed at older audiences.  Whilst the animated medium usually suggests family-friendly viewing, Sunao Katabuchi‘s thematically heavy drama is more thought-provoking than visually reliant. Concerning itself predominantly with the bombing of Hiroshima towards the end of World War…

Read More

Film Review: Shot Caller (USA, 2017) is a powerful showcase for Nikolaj Coster-Waldau

A performance removed from his knowing talents on Game of Thrones, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau‘s turn in Shot Caller is a strong, powerful showcase for the actor in a film worthy of seeking out during its limited season. When Ric Roman Waugh‘s film begins, Coster-Waldau’s character, Jacob Harlon, is referred to as “Money”, and his appearance checks…

Read More

Film Review: Wonder (USA, 2017) overpowers the negativity of bullying with its heart and pluck

As easy as it would’ve been for writer/director Stephen Chbosky (The Perks of Being a Wallflower) to nail Wonder‘s sentimental subtext into the ground – those grand old morality notes like “beauty is only skin deep” and “never judge a book by its cover” are covered here nicely – there’s something alarmingly non-saccharine about the…

Read More

Film Review: Justice League (USA, 2017) is a fun yet inconsistent ride that breezes by on the charm of its cast

It’s been something of an arduous trek but the Justice League have finally made their way to the big screen.  Long before Joss Whedon earned the tick of approval from comic enthusiasts the world over with his take on The Avengers, George Miller (Mad Max, Happy Feet) was planning on brining the titular crew to…

Read More

Film Review: Bad Moms 2 (USA, 2017) is not for the taint-hearted

Ahh yes, the cinematic comedy sequel. These past several years, we have gotten many comedic sequels, whether they were made by popular demand, the means of nostalgia or the fact that Hollywood is running out of ideas. Although we have some gems like 22 Jump Street, the Kung Fu Panda films… even Men In Black 3,…

Read More

AMW Film Fest Review: Take Me To The River (USA, 2015) is a soaring celebration of blues, rap and soul music

If American music has a heart and soul then you would find it nestled between Memphis and the Mississippi Delta. The documentary film, Take Me To The River realises this and pays homage to the soul men and women that created those passionate and influential hits for the likes of Stax Records and their ilk….

Read More

Byron Bay Film Festival Film Review: An American In Texas (USA, 2017) is a film for the disenfranchised

It’s a hard fought ninety-seven minutes for the protagonists in An American in Texas, but it’s a fight they could never really win. In Anthony Pedone’s latest, it’s the early 90’s and the U.S has its sights set on a war in the Middle East. As the effects of the conflict settle across the States,…

Read More