Justin Chon treads a difficult path in his new film Blue Bayou. The writer-director (and star) seeks to highlight a little-known social issue in America; but he uses a problematic protagonist to do it. The result is a heartfelt and moving film, but one that’s perhaps less powerful than Chon intended. The issue is the…
The “wrong man” trope has a long cinematic history. It provided the basis for at least three Alfred Hitchcock classics – The 39 Steps, North by Northwest and The Man Who Knew Too Much. But it probably found its most intriguing form in the paranoid thrillers of the 1970s, like The Conversation. Now director Ferdinando…
A calm movie from time to time is something I welcome. Not a flashy, action film where you’ll get nervous because the scenes follow each other at a rapid pace and stroboscopic effects get you a cutting headache. Submergence undoubtedly belongs to the calm movie category. So, no nauseating headache. No disorientation. You’ll certainly not…
– Submergence – Only in cinemas from 16 August 2018 We have 10 double in-season passes thanks to The Backlot Films. *(Tickets valid in Australia only)* Watch the trailer HERE From legendary director Wim Wenders and starring Alicia Vikander and James McAvoy, this is the story of two people who meet by chance at a…
I was actually looking forward to watching this new version of Tomb Raider. Not only because I had a lot of fun with the PC game years ago (and amazed by the used graphics in those days). And not because Lara Croft was a hot and good looking video game character. No wonder she had…
It’s hard to believe it’s been 17 years since Angelina Jolie made the role of Lara Croft her own in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. Jolie was in her mid-twenties at that time. Now we see generational change, with 29-year-old Alicia Vikander stepping into the role. In Tomb Raider – an origin story – Lara is the fiercely independent…
Tulip Fever is a melodramatic bodice-ripper set in Amsterdam in 1634. Tulips were highly prized and a source of great wealth. Playing out against this backdrop of an economic bubble is a more formulaic story of romance, deception and betrayal. Sophia (Alicia Vikander) has been raised in an orphanage. The pipe-smoking abbess (Judi Dench) seems to have…
Plenty of frantic running and chasing and shooting, taking out nondescript bit part actors, a climactic hand to hand combat scene and a humungous car chase are what this fifth Jason Bourne movie are all about. I say the fifth and that is correct, but it is only the fourth starring Matt Damon because he…
With re-boots, re-writes and re-imaginings de rigeur these days, it’s not all that surprising that Robert Ludlum’s famous super-spy gets to have another go around in the eponymous Jason Bourne. This stylish thriller re-unites star Matt Damon with Bourne Supremacy and Bourne Ultimatum director Paul Greengrass. It hardly seems nine years since Ultimatum; but there…
Guy Ritchie (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch, RocknRolla) is at the helm of this fresh take on the popular TV series, which ran for four seasons from 1964 to ’68. Set against the backdrop of the early ‘60s, at the height of the Cold War, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. centres on CIA agent…
