The Whale is the film that has excited me more than any other since lockdown. While the story itself is remarkable, the acting has me champing at the bit to recommend it. It’s all set in a rundown apartment in Idaho. Charlie (Brendan Fraser) is morbidly obese. His blood pressure is off the charts and…
Trailblazing indigenous artist and outspoken provocateur Richard Bell is arguably one of our most important artists whose work has been exhibited internationally. But he is also confrontational and unapologetic in his opinions about Australia’s treatment of its First Nations people, and he also bemoans the fact that traditional Aboriginal art work and paintings have now…
After 16 years, Todd Field makes a long-awaited return to the director’s chair with Tár. Having made two under-appreciated gems of the early 2000s with In the Bedroom (2001) and Little Children (2006), he hurtles back into the cultural conversation with this challenging but dazzling film. Tár is set in the rarefied world of Western…
What’s Love Got To Do With It? is an unfortunate title considering the other film of the same name documents Tina Turner’s relationship with her horribly abusive husband. Nevertheless, it’s apt for this rom-com with its focus on the pros and cons of arranged marriages – or in this case assisted marriage. Zoe (Lily James)…
My Old School is a quirky and unusual documentary constructed from a mix of archival footage, interviews and animation. In 1993 17-year-old Brandon Lee enrolled as a student at Bearsden Academy in Glasgow. He was a popular student even though his appearance was a bit odd. He claimed that his unusual looks were due to…
Whatever else you might think about writer-director Damien Chazell’s first two films – Whiplash and La La Land – they definitely had a very clear narrative drive. And, even though it was grander in scope, you could say the same about his third film, First Man. But with Babylon, he replaces sharp linear narrative with…
Filmmaker Guy Ritchie gathers together most of his usual band of players for Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre. And this action-packed but cliched globe-trotting spy movie ticks all the right boxes for the genre. When a mysterious device (the film’s MacGuffin) is stolen from a secret laboratory MI6 needs to act quickly to recover it…
Emily is a fictitionalised story about lauded 19th century writer and poet Emily Brontë (Wuthering Heights). Australian actor-turned-writer/director Frances O’Connor has woven a compelling tale. As a youngster, Emily (Emma Mackey) enjoyed making up stories. Considered odd and deviating from the norm, her mind worked differently to others. While comfortable in the company of family,…
When the most advanced “toy” in history goes rogue, lives are at stake in Gerard Johnstone’s engaging horror sci-fi thriller M3gan. Nine-year-old Cady (Violet McGraw) is on a trip to the snow with her parents when she is in a car accident that leaves her bloodied and claims their lives. That leaves her in the…
Terry Pratchett was a prolific writer, and still commands a massive fan base. You could think of him as a kind of Roald Dahl or J. K. Rowling with a more surreal edge. His audiences tend to be more Monty Python than Harry Potter. But in the animated romp The Amazing Maurice, co-directors Toby Genkel…
