Combining live action with animation and fantasy, Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life is a feel-good early-teenage comedy. Rafe Khatchadorian (Griffin Gluck from Red Band Society) has a last name that’s difficult to pronounce, an epic imagination, loads of artistic ability and an ever-so-slight problem with authority. More kid with a cause than…
The Hitman’s Bodyguard (2017) was an over-the-top action comedy. Now comes more of the same in Patrick Hughes’ standalone follow-up, The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard. The film opens with Michael Bryce (Ryan Reynolds) accepting the Bodyguard of the Year Award, except … actually, he hasn’t won the prestigious gong. He only dreams of winning it, until…
DC Comics has often played second fiddle to Marvel when it comes to box office success, but perhaps the tide is turning. First we had Wonder Woman, then Aquaman and now Shazam! It plays on the idea that we all have a superhero inside of us. In Billy Batson’s (Asher Angel) case, by shouting out…
James Cameron’s fingerprints are evident on the cyborg action romance Alita: Battle Angel; although Robert Rodriguez (Machete) directs and co-wrote the screenplay with Laeta Kalogridis (Shutter Island). The film is based on a manga series by Japanese comic book artist Yukito Kishiro. Originally announced in 2003, production on and release of the film were repeatedly…
Our selection of the best new music across a range of genres from the week ending 19 April 2024. Multi-Grammy® Award winner and living legend, T Bone Burnett returns with a solo project The Other Side – out now. The album, featuring artists Lucius, Roseanne Cash and Weyes Blood on select tracks, promises a sweeping…
The Melbourne International Film Festival screens until August 20. Here are a few highlights from the first week of the festival. CALL ME BY YOUR NAME Call Me By Your Name is a sensitive coming of age story set in a sun-drenched rural part of Italy in the 1980s and it deals with themes of…
Liam Gallagher’s third individual release, C’mon You Know, is easily his best solo record to date. The album is straight out of the Brit rock playbook and brings plenty of big anthems, sing along choruses, guitar rock and contains songs that are easily ready for the big stage. The other major difference that you will…
The fifth cycle of Marvel Cinematic Universe films kicks off with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. In the hands of director Peyton Reed (who directed the previous two Ant-Man films), this feels like something of a throwback. While nodding to the MCU’s current multiverse mania, Reed delivers an action film steeped in nostalgia. The only…
While the idea of interpretation and interpreters as a way of exploring culture has had a successful run in science fiction (cf: China Meiville’s Embassytown and Ted Chiang’s The Story of Your Life) and fantasy (RF Kuang’s Babel) it is not one that has yet been overused in the crime genre. And with authors always…
Netflix has a whole host of films with interesting premises and solid performers that well suit the streaming platforms rather than the big screen. The Titan is one of these. Perfectly entertaining for a cold night in, but you’d be a bit peeved if you’d ponied up to watch this low key film at the…
