The final film from director Roger Michell (whose drama The Duke is currently screening in cinemas), Elizabeth: A Portrait in Part(s) is a documentary about Queen Elizabeth II, the longest reigning British monarch. The documentary has been released to coincide with her platinum jubilee. While this may not be the definitive portrait of Queen Elizabeth…
After a three-year break, David Fincher is back with a very un-Fincher-like film with The Killer. This finely crafted film sees the director subverting just about every convention of the hitman sub-genre in a way I found both inventive and a little perplexing at the same time. Fincher is of course known for the directorial…
Things go bump in the night in the horror-thriller The Curse of the Weeping Woman. It’s the first feature film from director Michael Chaves. James Wan – one of the producers – made an art form out of exploiting the horror genre; specifically the Annabelle franchise. The Curse of the Weeping Woman references the spooky…
A flawed but sometimes amusing animated feature, Charming is a delightful twist on damsels-in-distress. As an infant, Prince Philippe Charming (the voice of Wilmer Valderrama) was maliciously “over-blessed” with “charm” as the result of a curse. So, through no fault of his own, he attracts women like a magnet. Every woman he meets falls madly…
If you miss Harry Potter and you are into the phantasmagorical stories created by J.K. Rowling, I dare say you will find plenty in which to immerse yourself in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, the start of her latest fantasy series. The action takes place decades before the round-goggled wonder came to be…
A superb production breathes new life into the multi award-winning story of vice that is Bob Fosse’s Chicago. We’re in the roaring Twenties. Married to the dim-witted Amos, chorus girl Roxie Hart is enraged when Fred Casely breaks off an affair and shoots him dead. She tries to pin the murder on her hapless husband, although that backfires. Sent…
Justice or revenge? If someone close to you was murdered, what would you want and what would happen if you didn’t get what you wanted? That conundrum is at the heart of this thriller. I like a good police whodunit, an involving mystery that entangles you until the final frames. You might think you have…
Comedy, melodrama and hijinks abound in the Australian premiere of A Very Modern Marriage, a play previously only performed at the 2015 Hollywood Fringe Festival. There are frenzied and vitriolic arguments aplenty when a gay friend, Chris (Jayden Popik), moves in with a married couple – whose relationship is already on shaky ground – as they…
You remember that guy… You know, from that show… Oh, you mean Kramer? No, no, the other one… George? No – the other one What, Jerry? Yeah, yeah; that’s him. Of course – Jerry. After changing the face of television with Seinfeld (1991 – 98), Jerry Seinfeld has spent the next 25 years or so…
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…
