A family secret is the elephant in the room when three generations of women share luxury hotel accommodation in Copenhagen as one of them prepares to accept a prestigious award. That is Emma (Kate Cole), a middle-aged author, who is about to receive the Hans Christian Andersen Award (the “Little Nobel Prize”) for children’s literature. She is…
Artificial Intelligence turns on its creator in Moonfall. The stakes for Earth and its inhabitants, not to mention the Moon, couldn’t be higher. It starts with an incident in space in 2011. Three astronauts – Jo Fowler (Halle Berry), Brian Harper (Patrick Wilson) and Alan Marcus (Frank Fiola) – are in space on a satellite…
When vastly different publishing firms merge, sparks fly between two key employees. Insults fly. It’s six-shooters at 20 paces in the romantic comedy The Hating Game. The pair – Lucy Hutton (Lucy Hale) and Joshua Templeman (Austin Stowell) – sit opposite one another. He’s neat, cold and ambitious. She’s a people-pleaser. He calls her “shortcake”…
The Eyes of Tammy Faye is a cheesy melodrama that plots the rise and fall of televangelists Jim and Tammy Faye Baker. Jim (Andrew Garfield), with the help of loyal supporter Tammy (Jessica Chastain), created a 24/7 TV Ministry that was beamed to 20 million people in 56 countries. Jim also siphoned huge monetary pledges…
A near death experience is revealed as an adventure story in MTC’s comedic drama Touching the Void, which kicks off its 2022 season. The vehicle is the wake in a Scottish pub for climber Joe (Joe Klocek). It is being orchestrated by his potty-mouthed sister Sarah (Lucy Durack). Attending are the two members of Joe’s party on the…
I found it hell to watch a tortured Princess Diana splitting apart in Spencer, the latest film from Pablo Larraín (Jackie). Spencer is a fairy tale. It re-imagines three days over Christmas as the royal family gathers at Sandringham to celebrate the festive season, a decade after Diana (Kristen Stewart) was first invited there. Now…
The Oscar-winning writer of the powerful film Juno, Diablo Cody, has crafted another beauty, this time the storyline behind the stellar musical Jagged Little Pill. The result, a Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical. Like Juno, Jagged Little Pill is a comedic drama, with inclusion at its core. And who can go past the acerbic tongue…
Scream (2022-style) is a slasher movie that deals with other slasher movies and fans of slasher movies. Being familiar with the series that dates back to 1996 would undoubtedly aid understanding, but it’s not mandatory. I, for instance, hadn’t seen the four Scream films before this one and yet followed the story line. Ghostface is…
A pushy tennis dad or a man on a mission? Or both? You can be the judge with Reinaldo Marcus Green’s biopic King Richard. The film follows Richard Williams’ (Will Smith) journey to bring child tennis prodigies Venus (Saniyya Sidney) and Serena Williams (Demi Singleton) to the world stage. The focus of the film is Richard’s…
What a woman! As the saying goes, they broke the mould when they created her, as shown in Matthew Walker’s documentary I’m Wanita. The Wanita of the title likes to be known as Australia’s queen of honky-tonk. In her late 40s, she’s autistic, a binge drinker, a smoker and a prostitute of 18 years who…
