Somewhere in cinema land there’s a space in between Ghost World, Superbad, The Breakfast Club and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. In that space, you’ll find Booksmart. Actor Olivia Wilde turns her hand to directing in this very funny but sharply observed teen comedy. It’s also – completely unexpectedly, one of the more empathetic films of…
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…
Our selection of the best new music across a range of genres from the week ending 17 July 2020. FIKA is the latest recording from crossover ensemble Elysian Fields. In the weeks prior to the Covid-19 lockdown Elysian Fields, Australia’s only electric viola da gamba ensemble, was deep in rehearsal. Comprising stars of Australia’s jazz,…
The 2024 HSBC German Film Festival is back at Palace Cinemas, this year celebrating 70 years of German cinema. The 2024 line-up features six films direct from the Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale), a Werner Herzog retrospective, a selection of the best German films from the last 70 years and new films for budding cinephiles…
Topher Grace? Whatever happened to that guy? Well, in 2021, Home Economics happened to him. It’s not like he hasn’t been doing anything (remember BlackKkKlansman?) but his profile is a little lower than it was in his That 70s Show heyday. Home Economics is a perfectly fine but not particularly memorable series about a dysfunctional…
The spirit of the late great Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman permeates this gentle but ambiguous drama from French filmmaker Mia Hansen-Love (The Father of My Children) which blurs the line between fiction and reality. Filmmaking couple Chris (Vicky Krieps, from Phantom Thread) and Tony (Tim Roth) arrive on Faro Island, located in the Baltic Sea…
Whit Stillman (The Last Days of Disco) directs his own adaptation of an unfinished Jane Austen novella, titled Lady Susan, in Love & Friendship; a period comedy about matchmaking and heartbreak. Set in the opulent drawing rooms of eighteenth-century English society, Love & Friendship focuses on the delicious scheming and manipulations of a beautiful widow,…
The opening scenes of 7500 are silent, showing airport security footage of a group of people about to board a commercial night flight from Berlin to Paris. Take note of who you are seeing. American pilot Tobias Ellis (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is tasked to transport eighty souls on what is a regular shuttle, the one hour…
A wicked soundtrack and a bodacious storyline underpin Sorry to Bother You. And this subversive comedy hits many of the right notes. This is the kind of movie you’ll either love or hate. It definitely pushes boundaries. It’s fantasy, but it is also endearing. The film follows telemarketer Cassius Green (Lakeith Stanfield) on a journey…
The filmmakers responsible for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom have stuck with a tried and tested formula. It makes money, so why fiddle too much with it? Two of its co-writers, Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connolly are back as scriptwriters for this one. Connolly also directed Jurassic World three years ago, but this sequel is helmed…
