In 2017 IT became the highest grossing horror movie of all time. Now the sequel IT Chapter 2 is here. It takes place 27 years after the events of the first film. You may recall that in IT, the seven members of the Losers’ Club took on and defeated the evil clown Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård)….
Last year Widows took the crime drama genre out of the hands of men and into those of women. The Kitchen tries to do the same thing but fails. We’re in New York City in 1978. The 20 blocks of pawnshops, porn palaces and dive bars between 8th Avenue and the Hudson River owned by…
The sophomore feature from Jennifer Kent (The Babadook), The Nightingale offers up horrors of a different kind. Set in Tasmania in 1825, the film is a bloody, brutal and unflinching tale of revenge that also addresses the savage history of colonial Australia, the systemic abuse and mistreatment of women and the indigenous population. It makes…
If you’ve ever heard (proper) jazz, it’s likely you heard Miles Davis. If you’re a jazz fan, you’ll know he’s part of the pantheon with the likes of Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker and John Coltrane. Stanley Nelson’s documentary Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool explores the man, his music and his legacy in a comprehensive…
Gerard Butler is at it again … saving the leader of the free world from a secretive group intent on bringing him down. Angel Has Fallen is the third installment of the franchise that kicked off with Olympus Has Fallen in 2013, followed by London has Fallen three years later. Secret Service Agent Mike Banning…
The Australian Dream is a vitally important documentary that calls out intolerance for what it is. I’m ashamed to say – and notwithstanding that many, most even, may deny it – I believe Australia is a racist country. Are we more racist than other nations? Perhaps not, but that’s not the point. Any racism is…
Quentin Tarantino has an army of loyal fans – and maybe just as many detractors. He’s controversial and outspoken, but you can’t ignore him. So a new movie from the auteur is always going to spark interest. But will audiences embrace his sprawling movie-land epic Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood? The answer is: it…
A Dog’s Journey is true to its title, following on in the trajectory of its forerunner, A Dog’s Purpose (2017). The result is a contrived tear-jerker with plenty of heart; despite some serious overacting, The dog of the title, Bailey (the voice of Josh Gad), is living the good life on the Michigan farm owned…
Midsommar is one of the most bizarre and perverse movies I’ve seen. The second feature film from writer and director Ari Aster (Hereditary), is a journey into the heart of darkness – a hallucinatory and disquieting fairy tale. During a getaway with academic mates to a bucolic Swedish village, American couple Dani (Florence Pugh) and…
Danger Close provides an insight into the horror and heroism of the Battle of Long Tan from an Australian perspective. Although overacted, this is a movie not easily forgotten. The movie is based on the true story of that battle in South Vietnam on 18 August 1966. It saw 108 young and largely inexperienced Australians…
