Twenty-nine of Australia’s funny people get together – with five bands and lots of grog – to tell jokes. That’s That’s Not My Dog! in a nutshell. I am talking about the likes of Paul Hogan, Shane Jacobson, Jimeoin, Steve Vizard, Michala Banas, Fiona O’Louglin, Tim Ferguson, Lehmo, Ed Kavalee, Paul Fenech, Marty Fields, Hung Le and…
Director Fatih Akin breaks a compelling storyline into three chapters in the crime drama In the Fade. Out of nowhere, Katja’s (Diane Kruger) life falls apart when her husband Nuri (Numan Acar) and little son Rocco are killed in a bomb attack. Her friends and family try to give her the support she needs. Katja somehow…
Shocking imagery assaults the senses in Kangaroo: A Love-Hate Story. This documentary tackles the way we treat our national symbol. Is the kangaroo a saint or a sinner, a boon or a burden? Those questions are at the heart of the film. It clearly takes the side of those who suggest we’ve treated the marsupial…
James Marsh (The Theory of Everything) directs the true story of an audacious amateur sailor in The Mercy. The year is 1968 and the sailor is Donald Crowhurst (Colin Firth). With his business and home on the line, Crowhurst decides to leave his wife, Clare (Rachel Weisz), and their children behind to take on an epic…
Every American adult knows exactly where they were on the terrible morning of September 11, 2001. But until recently, only a handful knew about the extraordinary events that unfolded in the immediate aftermath. With the country still reeling, 12 members of the US Army’s elite Green Berets left their homes and loved ones to take on a…
Esoteric claptrap or a masterful and challenging work? There’ll be advocates on both sides with The Square, which won the Palme d’Or at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival. It’s slow moving and tortuously long. I defy anyone to neatly make sense of it all because there are undoubtedly obtuse elements. Underpinning it is the meaning of art….
Compelling performances drive Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool, a love story between an older woman and a young man. I’m not talking about just any older woman. But let me go back and explain. In late September 1981 Peter Turner received a phone call that would change his life forever. His former lover, Hollywood actress Gloria Grahame,…
Director Francis Lawrence re-teams with star Jennifer Lawrence (no relation) for Red Sparrow. But where their previous success were in the YA-friendly Hunger Games trilogy, this film is a far darker – and more adult – proposition. Lawrence (the director) has given his lead actor an intricately crafted spy thriller in which to strut her…
Chilean director Sebastian Lelio makes films that deal with strong female characters. His previous film, Gloria, offered a sympathetic and honest portrait of a middle-aged woman looking for love in contemporary Santiago. He handled the material with a sense of compassion and respect. Those same qualities are evident in his fifth feature film, A Fantastic…
The promo says Winchester was inspired by true events. It’s 1906. On an isolated stretch of land near San Francisco sits reputedly the most haunted house in the world. Built by Sarah Winchester (Helen Mirren), heiress to the Winchester rifle fortune, construction continues 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It’s been like that…
