You’ve probably noticed a rift in the film community between those who despise streaming services and those who embrace them. While some big names are in the “despise” camp, acclaimed director Steven Soderbergh is firmly in the “embrace” camp. After collaborating with Netflix for High Flying Bird, the director re-teams with them for The Laundromat….
Tim Minchin’s genius in picking out the best bits of our common Australian experiences and presenting them back to us like a proud parent is evident once again in Upright. Upright opens with Lucky (Minchin), on the wrong side of the country from his mother who is seeing out her last days at home, in…
After taking on vampires (What We Do in the Shadows) and superheroes (Thor: Ragnarok), hugely talented NZ director Taika Waititi takes on Nazis in Jojo Rabbit. But unlike the breezy charm of those films, this time Waititi goes to some very dark places. Jojo Rabbit is a cautionary tale about the dangers of “drinking the…
Judy and Punch is a real mixed bag. This Australian production from actor-turned-director Mirrah Foulkes is something of a breakthrough for the local industry. It proves Australian cinema can be more than just sunshine, beaches and gritty dramas. But its wildly uneven tone and confronting themes will test audiences’ patience. Domestic violence presents a huge…
I decided to watch Russian Doll when I saw Amy Poehler was one of the show’s writers and producers. But if you think this show is going to be a light Parks & Recreation-style comedy, think again. It is a comedy but it’s dark – a fact the writers specifically acknowledge in one episode. The…
A filmography featuring Dumb and Dumber To and Shallow Hal doesn’t exactly scream Oscar. Yet director Peter Farrelly finds himself as an Oscar frontrunner for his crowd-pleasing film Green Book. This conventional take on race relations in the American South of the 1960s seems to be carefully designed to push the right buttons. Of all…
Extremely contrived, but feel good entertainment, The Confirmation is a story about a divorced man, an alcoholic carpenter, who is struggling to get by and his intelligent and perceptive young son. Clive Owen plays the down-on-his luck Walt, whose God-fearing ex-wife Maria Bello has remarried. She and her new husband Matthew Modine head off to…
War Dogs is a story so ridiculous it couldn’t possibly be real – but it is. From director Todd Phillips (The Hangover trilogy), this is a comedic drama based upon true events (notwithstanding the fact that they use composite characters and undoubtedly embellish). It stars Jonah Hill (The Wolf of Wall Street) and Miles Teller…
You could call A Hologram for the King a coming-of-age story for a man or a midlife crisis tale. It’s Tom Hanks in less-than-populist filmmaking mode. The film features an unconventional narrative based on a culture clash. In recession-ravaged 2010, American businessman Alan Clay (Hanks), broke, depressed and freshly divorced, arrives in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia…
