Updating classic fairytales is nothing new (see: Shrek). And, of course, the musical has been around for as long as movies have had sound. So combining an updated take on Cinderella with a pop-laden musical would seem to be a guaranteed winner. But somehow director Kay Cannon (Blockers) and her team have created a by-the-numbers…
Opposites attract, repel, and attract again in the French comedy Two Tickets to Greece. In 1989, brash teenager Magalie and conservative Blandine were besties at school. An argument over a boy saw an end to that and Magalie moved away. Now, three decades on and two years after her husband left her, radiology technician Blandine…
Eternals is the 25th special effects extravaganza in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). But its storyline doesn’t sustain its bloated running time. That storyline, which introduces ten new superheroes, harks back to the return of half the population in Avengers: Endgame (2019). The return ignited “the emergence”. Now, the Celestials, who have secretly lived on…
It is a credit to the writers and production team of 13 Reasons Why that this groundbreaking teenage Netflix drama made it all the way to a fourth season. The previous three seasons relied heavily on the repercussions of a teen suicide in season one, and it seems to have been an interminably long school…
The latest film from Mia Hansen-Love (the semi-autobiographical Goodbye, First Love) is a character study that looks at the early development of garage and house dance music in Paris in the 90s, and will probably appeal more to people who love that kind of thing. I found it something of a bore. Paul (played by…
Eight years since the last of four Hunger Games movies hit the big screen, the franchise refreshes with this prequel, which had me invested. The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes tells the story of the evolution of the eventual president of Panem, the role filled by Donald Sutherland in the original Hunger Games. Here it…
Art and crime have always been strange but frequent bedfellows. From the often-illegal activities of Caravaggio to the sensational art heists of the 20th Century, public fascination with both never seems to wane. And while art crime can be deadly serious, director Roger Michell gives it a comic twist in The Duke. Michell’s films tend…
Start with the facts and lace it with fiction. That is what screenwriter Nathalie Leuthreau and director Guillaume Nicloux have done with French stage star Sarah Bernhardt (22nd October, 1844 – 26th March, 1923). She became a global sensation. Bernhardt was spirited, determined, heavily opinionated and charismatic. Lovers of both sexes and admirers were plentiful….
After two years of disruption, movie-going in Australia pretty much got back to normal in 2022. After a slow start, loosening of COVID-related restrictions saw audiences coming back to the big screen. Box office receipts were up according to BoxOfficeMojo, though the increase over the pretty miserable 2021 figures was perhaps smaller than studios and…
The 6th Czech and Slovak Film Festival acknowledges the 50th anniversary of the Prague Spring as well as the centenary of the establishment of Czechoslovakia. This year the program focuses on some historic films from Czech filmmakers, including The Fireman’s Ball, Milos Forman’s final film in his native country before moving to the US. The…
