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…
Four hours before he is due for execution, Becket Redfellow (Glen Powell) is visited by a priest (Adrian Lukas). In this black comedy, Becket proceeds to calmly relay his sordid story to Father Morris. Becket’s mother, Mary (Nell Williams), was heir to a family fortune worth US$18 billion – $19 billion. But when she fell…
Sexually charged, Pillion is a dramatic comedy that opens the door on relationships between gay men with a dominatrix mentality. Written and directed by Harry Lighton, it is based on the 2020 book Box Hill by Adam Mars-Jones, which was set in the pre-AIDS era. Colin (Harry Melling) is an introverted, naïve homosexual parking officer…
Song Sung Blue is a warts and all American biographical musical drama based around a couple of divorced tribute artists. When Mike Sardinia (Hugh Jackson) meets Claire Stengl (Kate Hudson) in 1987, she is singing Patsy Cline numbers. She gives him the idea of performing as Neil Diamond. Although there is a decade age difference…
A twisted, narcissistic tale, The Housemaid is a tense psychological thriller, one of the better examples of the genre in a domestic setting. Millie Calloway (Sydney Sweeney) is down, but not yet out. She has just been released from jail and is living rough in a very old car that has seen far better days….
There is acting and then there is ACTING. Phillip Vandarploeug (Brendan Fraser) is an American actor who has lived in Japan for the past seven years. Thus far, his big claim to fame is playing a superhero in a toothpaste commercial. In other words, he is still looking for a meaty role and his funds…
