The road from video game to cinema screen has often been an arduous trek – to say the least. Â Often made with the best of intentions, but seldom able to satisfy the expansive fanbase, video game adaptations are usually starting at a disadvantage. Sure, there’s a certain campy pleasure to watching Jean Claude Van Damme […]
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The best performances within the biopic genre are those that aren’t just simply imitations or impressions of the subject at hand, but an honest appraisal of the person, one where the performer vanishes on screen. And so often with such grand performances, it can lead to the rest of the film surrounding them to feel […]
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Celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2021, the Fast & Furious series has defied all expectation and grown to exponential heights as Vin Diesel and his motley crew have graduated from street racing to international espionage. The latest trailer for Fast & Furious 9 only adds to the franchise’s penchant for athletic lunacy as Diesel’s Dominic […]
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The hilarious new film Bad Trip premiered on Netflix at the end of February, and fans of comedian Eric Andre – the film’s star – are bring treated to the finest prank film since Borat. In newly released deleted scenes, which you can view below, the film’s director Kitao Sakurai revealed that “what you see […]
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Marketed as “Lord of the Flies in space”, Voyagers – whilst occasionally leaning in to that description – is a confused genre effort that feels like a more reflective, psychological film has been edited down to a tween crowd who may appreciate its melodramatic personality. Written and directed by Neil Burger, his first original script […]
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Ascendant is one of those films that’s equally as difficult to write about it as it is deceptively simple. Â A film that banks entirely on the fact that it unravels and reveals its narrative in an unexpected manner, Antaine Furlong‘s ambitious sci-fi-leaning action/thriller is a testament to the first time Australian filmmaker’s bold vision and […]
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Academy Award® Winner Emma Stone brings the legacy of the wicked Cruella de Vil to life in the new trailer for Cruella, ahead of its Australian release in both theatres and Disney+ with Premier Access* on May 28th, 2021. Set in 1970s London amidst the punk rock revolution, Cruella follows a young grifter named Estella (Stone), […]
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What is it about cinematic advanced primates which makes them so fascinating? Is it the similarities they have with us homo sapiens? Is it because they are cute? Is it because they have such engagingly primal instincts that we cannot look away? Is it because they satisfy our need to see city-wide destruction? Or can […]
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Neil Burger‘s 30-year career as a filmmaker has taken the director on a varied journey. Â From his beginnings as a music video director and faux documentarian, Burger became a staple name in mainstream cinema thanks to such commercial and critical successes as The Illusionist, Limitless, and Divergent. Now working off his first original script in […]
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One of the true gems of the internet has been the fact that Warner Bros. have maintained one of the earliest interactive HTML movie websites – their 1996 Space Jam website. With a new Space Jam film out this year (no less than 25 years later…), many were worried this joyous site would be taken […]
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Marvel’s long awaited Black Widow has finally landed on a release date after being shifted around the last year (thanks COVID). Â Marvel Studios have announced July 9th for Scarlett Johansson‘s solo outing as Natasha Romanoff as she confronts the darker parts of her ledger when a dangerous conspiracy with ties to her past arises. Pursued […]
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It goes without saying that the ending of a film is as crucial to its success as any other major component. Â And in horror films especially, the satisfaction element of its climax is one the genre often lives or dies by. Â Hunter Hunter, from writer/director Shawn Linden, is such a film that almost relies entirely […]
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Once a staple of Australian television – having worked on such notable homegrown series as McLeod’s Daughters, Underbelly, and Home and Away – Jonny Pasvolsky has since been making ground for himself across the Pacific, starring in such profile productions as Mortdecai opposite Johnny Depp, The Front Runner with Hugh Jackman, and the acclaimed series […]
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So much of Blithe Spirit‘s ingredients point to signs of a tasty meal, and yet one can’t help but feel entirely ready to return this flavourless chaff to the kitchen within minutes of its arrival. Adapted from Noel Coward‘s 1941 play and boasting the appealing quartet of Dan Stevens, Leslie Mann, Isla Fisher and Judi […]
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British businessman Greville Wynne (Benedict Cumberbatch) doesn’t have the most suave persona.  And it’s because of this very reason that MI5 and the CIA have collaborated in their bid to maximise the potential of an insider during the time of America and Russian intensifying their nuclear arms race. “You drink too much and you’re not […]
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With Australian cinema exceeding expectations at the box office in 2021 alone, now feels like as a perfect a time than ever for homegrown productions to thrive within their own country. Â Founding his own company to pursue his passion of filmmaking, Dublin-born Antaine Furlong had followed his dream to technical fruition as his debut feature […]
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After making a name for himself in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Sam Claflin soon earned global recognition as Finnick Odair in The Hunger Games series. Â Romantic leading roles and character driven projects followed, with his exercises in the dark psyches of his roles continuing with the release of Every Breath You Take. […]
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The spirit of the 1990’s thriller is alive and well within Every Breath You Take. Â The upper-middle class family having their perfectly manicured lives upended by the arrival of a mysterious figure – this one British and in the form of the disarmingly handsome Sam Claflin – is a road travelled many times before; hell, […]
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When an esteemed actor’s five-decade-long career includes one Academy Award from five nominations, three BAFTA Awards from eight nominations, and two Emmys from five nominations, you hardly expect to see them deliver their finest performance in the twilight of their career. But Anthony Hopkins‘ astonishing performance in The Father may just be the greatest he’s […]
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The NSW Government has launched Dine & Discover NSW to encourage the community to get out and about and support dining, arts and tourism businesses. NSW residents aged 18 and over can apply for 4 x $25 vouchers, worth $100 in total: – 2 x $25 Dine NSW Vouchers to be used for dining at […]
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To coincide with the trailer launch of Spirit Untamed, the latest from Dreamworks Studios telling of the epic adventure of a headstrong girl and the wild horse she shares a kindred spirit with, Peter Gray chatted with the film’s director, Elaine Bogan, detailing her experience as a first-time feature director, her background in animation, and […]
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An award-winning French novelist and playwright that the Times of London referred to as “the most exciting playwright of our time”, Florian Zeller has transitioned from the stage to the screen with the adaptation of his award-winning production, Â The Father. Â Set for release in Australian cinemas on April 1st (you can read our review here), […]
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Given the fact that Tom & Jerry screenwriter Kevin Costello has a duo of self-aware, critically acclaimed projects to his name – the dramedy Brigsby Bear and Jean Claude Van Damme’s underrated television series Jean Claude Van Johnson – one might think he’d be able to create something innovative off the basis of 7-minute cartoon […]
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Following its box office success in the US – the film topped the North American chart as one of the few films to maintain a cinema-only rollout – Nobody is planning its Australian unleashing on April 1st (no joke!). Â In relation to the film’s release (you can read our review here), Peter Gray chatted with […]
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When New Zealand-made horror film Coming Home in the Dark premiered at Sundance earlier this year, its use of sound was perhaps its most deceptive feature. Â Forgoing the usual jump scare queues and obvious musical encouragement to goad audiences into a reaction, the film opted for a more subtle approach, utilising naturalistic sounds to give […]
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You would think by now that the proprietors of the particular cinematic universe that encompasses films surrounding a giant ape and a radioactive lizard would gather that we really don’t care about the human characters involved. Â Sure, it’s great for there to be suitably formed players, and in the case of these films they’re often […]
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One of the first 2020 titles to delay its release substantially from its original bowing date (in this case, March 2020) due to the Coronavirus, Peter Rabbit 2 has finally hopped to a release window that makes sense. Â In a country where cinemas have been open and thriving (and how!) for the better part of […]
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A film like Nobody is inevitably going to be likened to similarly-themed actioners such as John Wick and Taken. Â And that’s not a bad thing, given how well-liked those films are (or, in the context of Taken, at least the first one), with the middle-aged-man-defending-what’s-rightfully-his narrative proving an easy sell. Â Nobody is perhaps the easiest […]
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As much as The Mauritanian can boast Jodie Foster (in her Golden Globe-winning role), Benedict Cumberbatch and Shailene Woodley as its headliners, it’s the central performance from the lesser-known Tahar Rahim that ultimately impresses and grounds the film around him. A factual-based dramatic thriller detailing some of the supposed inner workings of the 9/11 terrorism […]
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Let’s be honest; the 2017 version of Justice League was one of the biggest cinematic disappointments of the last decade. What should have been the glorious peak of the DC Extended Universe was ultimately a sloppy, disjointed mess that was the inevitable result of switching directors at the eleventh hour. After the tragic death of […]
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