Nearly five decades ago, it was a close encounter with a UFO that resonated with audiences (Close Encounters of the Third Kind, 1977). Five years on, it was all about helping a friendly alien return home (ET: the Extra-Terrestrial, 1982). Next, an alien invasion threatened the future of humanity (War of the Worlds, 2005). And…
Colony Korean director Yeon sang-ho (Train To Busan, 2016) returns to the zombie genre with the entertaining Colony. Here he replaces the train setting with the claustrophobic confines of a multi-storey business tower that houses a mix of retail and commercial spaces, and even a convention centre. Bitter scientist Seo Young-chui (Koo Kyo-hwan) unleashes a…
A supernatural horror thriller, Backrooms is a phenomenon that has grown through the internet. Co-writer and director of the film Kane Parsons was just 16 when he used open-source software to create what was initially intended as a visual effects test. The nine minute short The Backrooms (Found Footage) was uploaded to YouTube in 2022….
Living in Paris, American/French psychiatrist Lilian Steiner’s (Jodie) life is spiralling. A patient she has seen for eight years, Pierre Hallan (Noam Morgensztern), who originally came to see her to quit smoking, abruptly cancels all future appointments. Pierre claims one visit to a hypnotist cured what Steiner couldn’t and he maintains that he is 40,000…
A cute Babe-like (1995) whodunnit with some good humour and sight gags. That is what you are in for with The Sheep Detectives. Nothing to think about too deeply and some of the comedy hits the mark better than other attempts, but overall, it is a most enjoyable romp. George Hardy (Hugh Jackman), who lives…
It is a privilege to see great actors Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci together again two decades on. Here they are still carping and carrying on in their respective roles. Streep remains the hard-nosed boss Miranda Priestly, at fashion magazine Runway, that Hathaway, as her second assistant Andy Sachs, knew and…
What a mess – a script that lurches one way, then the other, around and around, that simply ends up feeling tortuous. It is also oh so obvious. It feels forced – all the way. Sure, I can find praise for the choreographed dance numbers and the musicality, although I could also argue that the…
The Stranger is a mesmerising portrait of young man different to any other. We are in French controlled Algiers in 1938. It is where Meursault (Benjamin Voisin), who is in his early 30s, works as a clerk. He is quiet, unassuming, has little to say and lacks drive. One day he receives a telegram indicating…
The expression Hail Mary refers to a last-ditch attempt at an unlikely outcome. And so it is that Project Hail Mary is about a desperate effort to save planet Earth from a destructive force. The sun is dying and with it half the world’s population is expected to be wiped out within 30 years. The…
A comedic drama romance, Colours of Time is intriguing tale about the past and how it can help inform the future. A developer is expanding a shopping centre and a countryside home in Normandy –abandoned for decades and suspended in time – stands in the way. A meeting is called of 30 ancestors of the…
