Like the recent Beautiful Boy, Ben is Back is a drama about a family trying to cope with their teenage son’s drug addiction and the emotional toll it takes. With its story of a drug addicted teenager returning home for a visit with his family, Ben is Back makes a fine companion piece to that…
Cold Pursuit sees Liam Neeson (Taken) again taking violent revenge against a gang of criminals who have attacked his family. However, in a slight twist to the usual formula that drove his previous film, Cold Pursuit is actually a remake. It’s based on a 2014 Norwegian thriller In Order of Disappearance, which featured Stellan Skarsgard…
It’s a story as old as time – a rising star burns bright but is cut down before achieving greatness. But Gary Hart’s fall – at least as depicted in Jason Reitman’s compelling The Front Runner – is more spectacular than most. Reitman has always been an astute observer of human nature. From his exploration…
In The Hate U Give, 16 year-old Starr Carter (Amandla Stenberg) is caught between two worlds. She lives with her African-American family in the ironically named Garden Heights, an impoverished black neighbourhood in Georgia; but she attends Wilmington Prep, a prestigious primarily white school in a more affluent neighbourhood. At school, Starr carefully protects her…
Not to be confused with the 2014 Australian comedy of the same name, The Mule is the latest from prolific filmmaker Clint Eastwood. The Mule tells the semi-fictional account of a 90-year old man who ran drugs for a powerful Mexican cartel. The film was inspired by the New York Times article “The Sinaloa Cartel’s…
A filmography featuring Dumb and Dumber To and Shallow Hal doesn’t exactly scream Oscar. Yet director Peter Farrelly finds himself as an Oscar frontrunner for his crowd-pleasing film Green Book. This conventional take on race relations in the American South of the 1960s seems to be carefully designed to push the right buttons. Of all…
In Free Solo, American Alex Honnold attempts to climb a 3,200 foot sheer rock face without any safety gear – no ropes, no harnesses, no protective equipment. It’s never been achieved before at Yosemite’s El Capitan Wall. One wrong move and there is every chance that this free solo climber will plunge to his death….
Coming-of-age stories about the unconventional but uplifting friendship between children and animals have been a staple of cinema for years. Henry Safran’s 1976 film of Storm Boy was a heartfelt classic from the period of the re-emergence of the Australian film industry and it touched a generation of filmgoers. Adapted from Colin Thiele’s beloved 1964…
The wonderful observational documentary Pick of the Litter follows five cute puppies on their journey to become seeing eye dogs for the non-profit organization Guide Dogs For The Blind. Every year in America some 8,000 dogs enter into a rigorous training program to become seeing eye dogs, but less than 30% make the cut. The puppies…
Loro is a bloated two and a half hour indulgence that serves up pure unadulterated hedonism. Co-written and directed by Paolo Sorrentino (The Great Beauty), the film is about Italian media tycoon and politician Silvio Berlusconi (Toni Servillo) between 2006 to 2010. In this fictional account, Sorrentino speculates on what may or may not have taken…
