Life is tough for a pair of adult sisters in Little Woods. Ollie (Tessa Thompson) and her estranged sibling Deb (Lily James) live in the economically depressed fracking town of Little Woods, North Dakota. Deb has a young son with a deadbeat dad (James Badge Dale). Mother and son live illegally in a caravan that…
You can’t say you don’t know what you’ll get with a John Wick movie, because that was very much established in the last two installments. The story starts with bloodied and retired super assassin John Wick (Keanu Reeves) just minutes away from having a $14 million bounty put on his head. He has killed a…
The Violent Outburst That Drew Me To You is exhilarating teen angst from start to finish. Sixteen year-old Connor (Harry Tseng) is perpetually angry. He reflects on the good times with his parents – who love him dearly – but by and large those are distant memories. Now he’s constantly in trouble, not just at…
Stick five strangers together in a room for a week and see what comes out the other end. Are they themselves or acting out some fantasy to form a shield of protection or anonymity? If the latter, how long before the shield is lowered? Intolerance, disinterest and antagonism are par for the course in Malthouse’s…
Poms is a comedy in which senior citizens act like teenagers. Martha (Diane Keaton) has cancer. So she sells up her belongings in the city and retreats to a sprawling retirement community where residents are promised the time of their lives for the rest of their lives. But Martha isn’t your typical resident – she…
Lies, bravado and one-upmanship are explored in the satire Four Dogs and a Bone. The “bone” is a Hollywood film and the “dogs” baring their teeth are the producer, an ageing starlet, a newbie actor and the writer. Each wants things on their terms. The producer, Bradley (Kostas Ilias), throws his weight around. He needs…
Absurdist but with heart, Louis Nowra’s Cosi is fun to watch but appears to have aged. The setting is the Vietnam War era – 1971 to be specific – and the location is a mental institution. So, yes there’s a little bit of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest about it. A young man, Lewis…
In the tradition of Forrest Gump, The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir is a wild ride, which combines coincidence with circumstance. It’s a quirky cross-cultural fantasy about a good-natured thief who makes good. Aja (Dhanush) is a poor young fakir (or magician) from the streets of India, being brought up by his single mother, whom…
Phineas Taylor Barnum (1810 – 1891) was the master of smoke and mirrors; the ultimate flimflam man. Although often down on his luck and short of money, he always managed to find a way out. That had something to do with his vivid imagination and a lot more to do with his grounded wife, Charity….
Based on the hoary chestnut of opposites attracting, Long Shot is a far-fetched comedy that, by and large, works. I dare say it will appeal to many fans of the two leads, Charlize Theron and Seth Rogen, because a) they’re in it and b) it is so unlikely a tale, born of the #MeToo generation….
