Maria Altmann (Helen Mirren) is an elderly former refugee who, with the help of her tyro lawyer, takes on the intractable might of the Austrian Government in a protracted legal battle to regain possession of a valuable painting and family heirloom that was confiscated by the Nazis during WWII. The painting in question is Gustav…
Tomorrowland was created by Walt Disney as a section of Disneyland that opened in California in 1955. The theme park was also populated with Adventureland, Frontierland and Fantasyland. It was a time when Americans imagined an optimistic future. Over the years since though, the public’s view of what was to come grew darker. That shift…
A thought provoking art-house film from a first time Australian director (28-year-old Melburnian Ariel Kleiman, now based in London), it focuses upon an enclave cut off from the real world. Under the guise of protection, a cult figure known as Gregori (Vincent Cassel) professes bonhomie while riding roughshod over a gaggle of women and their offspring….
“My short films were made as student films in a very unprofessional and renegade manner, but I think that grounding helped,” says Australian filmmaker Ariel Kleiman about his debut feature film Partisan, which hits local cinemas on May 28. Partisan is a grim coming-of-age tale set against the backdrop of a sinister cult run by…
Six remarkably compelling stories in one, these are imaginative and colourful tales about people caught up in seemingly normal situations until something unexpected happens. Wild Tales concerns inequality, injustice and stress. #1 A model is flying on an aircraft when she is hit upon by a music critic, who discovers they have something in common…
Ber Carroll explores contemporary issues such as relationship breakdowns, child custody, belonging, identity and abandonment in her latest novel, Once Lost. It’s the first time I’ve read one of Carroll’s books, and I was impressed by her ability to give authentic voice to the everyday conflicts women face in modern life. Once Lost is a…
Melissa McCarthy tackles one of the best roles of her life in this hilarious homage to James Bond. Susan Cooper (McCarthy) is an overweight, unassuming, deskbound CIA analyst and the unsung hero behind the Agency’s most dangerous missions. But when her super smooth partner Bradley Fine (Jude Law) falls off the grid and another top…
Sometimes third albums put artists in weird places. You have your introducing debut, avoid the sophomore slump with either more of the same or pushing your artistic boundaries and then where do you go? For Best Coast, it is no different with a great debut like Crazy For You (2010) that put Bethany Cosentino on…
On May 8, 1945, VE Day, the royal princesses Elizabeth and Margaret ventured beyond the gates of Buckingham Palace to celebrate the end of the war in Europe and mingle with the celebrations on the streets of London. That much at least is true. But what follows in A Royal Night Out is the product…
Thirty years after the last (and third) instalment, 12 years in the making, director George Miller (Happy Feet) is back with more of the post apocalyptic horror of Mad Max. But this time it is English actor Tom Hardy (The Dark Knight Rises) instead of Mel Gibson, who plays the road warrior Max Rockatansky. Haunted…
