The latest film from Finnish auteur Aki Kaurismaki is Fallen Leaves, a deceptively simple and quirky rom-com about two-star crossed lovers in Helsinki. Two lonely down-on-their-luck, working class people meet at a karaoke bar. But they find the path to making a connection and maybe finding happiness is not smooth sailing. Holappa (Jussi Vatanen) is…
As clever and highly regarded as it is, I can’t say I particularly warmed to Harold Pinter’s The Dumb Waiter. An atmosphere of frustration and menace permeates the setting – a basement in Birmingham. A couple of hit men are awaiting instructions for their next assignment. As the play starts, Ben (John Wood) – the…
Set in the icy mountains of Kenosha Utah, The Killing of Two Lovers is a gritty depiction of a married couple that have decided to spend time apart. Starring Clayne Crawford, Sepideh Moafi and Chris Coy, the film has received critical acclaim worldwide. Director Robert Machoian spoke about the film’s stylistic choices, working with his…
Toni Collette puts in a dominant performance in the dramatic thriller Hereditary. When the matriarch of the Graham family passes away, her daughter Annie’s (Collette) life begins to unravel. Their relationship was always prickly, and they were estranged for an extended period. Now cryptic and increasingly terrifying secrets about the family’s ancestry will come to…
My list of the worst films of 2018 has just had a late addition with Holmes & Watson, an execrable and terribly unfunny piece of nonsense that will have Sir Arthur Conan Doyle spinning in his grave. This dire comedy about the world’s greatest detective and his devoted assistant Dr John Watson reunites Will Ferrell…
Colossal is one bizarre film, and this low budget effort serves us a weird mash-up of sci-fi, Korean kaiju style monster movie, romantic comedy and domestic drama. Gloria (played by Anne Hathaway) is an insecure and self-destructive alcoholic on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Following her breakup with her increasingly frustrated career-obsessed boyfriend Tim…
Cinematic adaptations of video games have, for the most part, disappointed both gamers and movie goers; and the cinematic landscape is littered with failed adaptations. Borderlands follows the same inglorious footsteps of those that have come before it. Some of these failings can be attributed to studio interference and extensive rewrites and reshoots. Borderlands follows…
Cinematographer David Parker has, with his wife writer/director Nadia Tass, created some of the best Australian comedies, with the classics Malcolm and The Big Steal. But when branching out as a filmmaker on his own the results have been a little less spectacular. With The Menkoff Method Parker steps back into the director’s chair for…
A motley collection of psychopathic killers are released from prison to form a special team and sent on a suicide mission. No, this is not the classic 1967 World War Two action film The Dirty Dozen, but rather Suicide Squad, a superhero powered variation on the theme for the 21st century. Or should that be…
Many Australians are outraged by the treatment of asylum seekers who look for refuge in this country. One took her opprobrium on the road earlier this year, delivering a petition with more than 17,000 signatures to the Federal Member for McMillan, Russell Broadbent. Mr Broadbent, in a show of support, tabled the voluminous appeal for…
