For those – like me – who haven’t seen the popular Netflix series on which Stranger Sings! is based, Stranger Things is hugely successful. Set in the 1980s, primarily in the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana, it is an American science fiction horror drama featuring, among others, Winona Ryder. It centres on mysteries and supernatural events…
At first, I just tried to ignore this movie and I was hoping I would come across it someday on some television channel during a quiet Saturday night. First of all because I’m not dying to see a movie with Jennifer Lawrence acting in it. Even if the antagonist is played by the charming Chris…
Risque business? Unfunny business? Long gone are the days when Vince Vaughn used to make energetic and enjoyable comedies. But recently the aggressive motor mouthed comic actor has recently made a number of largely unfunny, mediocre and embarrassingly dull comedies of late, with films like The Dilemma, Fred Claus, The Watch and Delivery Man to…
David Gulpilil is one of Australia’s most prolific actors. After being randomly selected by Hollywood director Nicolas Roeg in 1971 for his film Walkabout, Gulpilil has gone on to have a half-century acting career with numerous classics of cinema. My Name is Gulpilil is a documentary about David’s deteriorating health, as he reflects on his…
Even though Love the Coopers is a holiday comedy about one dysfunctional family, it immediately reminded me of the ensemble comedy romance Valentine’s Day, that was released in 2010. Christmas may come but once a year, but that is more than enough for the Cooper family. It is a question of bracing yourself for their…
Ridley Scott has never been afraid to take risks. That much is evident from his many canonical films including Alien, Thelma & Louise, Gladiator and Blade Runner. But for every Gladiator, there’s a Robin Hood. He seems to have a tendency to always shoot for the stars, sometimes succeeding brilliantly but sometimes falling short. His…
The patience of Job would be a great asset when setting out to watch this slow moving martial arts film with a young female protagonist. Set in 9th century China (towards the end of the Tang Dynasty), Nie Yinniang (Shu Qi), a general’s daughter, is abducted by a nun who initiates her into the art…
This is the third feature length documentary from Oscar winning director Asif Kapadia, who previously gave us the superb, well-researched and insightful documentaries Amy (2015), about the late singer Amy Winehouse, and Senna (2010), about the late Formula 1 race driver Ayrton Senna, which were two of the finest documentaries of the past decade. For…
It is cheeky, irreverent, elegant, stylish and a sequel that begs you to have seen the original. That is Kingsman: The Golden Circle. Co-writer and director Matthew Vaughan – along with his collaborator Jane Goldman – introduced us to the Kingsmen, an independent self-funded British spy organisation, in 2015. Dedicated to keeping the world safe,…
Marvel movies have two kinds of superhero. You’ve got your building smashers (Iron Man, Thor, Hulk) who are into saving the world. Then you have your (ahem) smaller heroes – your Spider-Man, your Hawkeye – and the eponymous Ant-Man and the Wasp. They bring a human dimension to superheroes. They may not save the world,…
