“On a normal morning, a lone police car would be parked out the front of the station, waiting for something illegal to happen.” Cedar Valley, Holly Throsby’s second novel, begins with the arrival of two strangers on the first day of summer in 1993. One, Benny Miller, has come to live in a house which…
Jennifer Garner returns to the big screen in Peppermint. This by-the-numbers crime actioner features a vigilante seeking revenge. I counted one surprise in the entire film. The criminal justice system fails Riley North (Garner). She and husband Chris (Jeff Hephner) have a 10-year-old daughter, Carly (Cailey Fleming). While they may be struggling to make ends…
Steve McQueen blows up the heist movie with Widows. Then he picks up the pieces and puts them back together with an Allen key. This fascinating jigsaw of a movie is definitely not what you might expect, but it’s also one of the most intriguing films of the year. It’s almost like McQueen decided to…
One of the much-hyped books this year has been psychological suspense thriller The Nowhere Child by Christian White. The book was the winner of the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award and has been raved about for its intriguing premise (a child kidnapped in the US turns up years later in Australia). Here’s the blurb: ‘Her name is…
David Lowery is a hard director to pin down. His versatility means he’s equally at home in a bleak crime drama (Ain’t Them Bodies Saints), a supernatural love story (A Ghost Story) or a family-friendly adventure (Pete’s Dragon). Now he brings us The Old Man and the Gun, a kind of family-friendly crime drama and…
Ignorance is bliss, they say. And in the case of Fede Alvarez’s The Girl in the Spider’s Web, they might just be right. The film is a continuation of the so-called Millennium saga, originating from Steig Larsson’s books. You’re probably familiar with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which was made into both Swedish (2009)…
There are films that aren’t much of a story and still leave a certain impression. The same applies to Thoroughbreds where two teenage girls, each with a specific personality disorder, come up with a plan to kill someone. The two haven’t seen each other for a long time – an eternity in which much has…
The Sunday Girl by Pip Drysdale – this snappy, fast-paced debut thriller hooked me in right from the outset and kept me on tenterhooks. Here’s the blurb: Any woman who’s ever been involved with a bad, bad man and been dumped will understand what it feels like to be broken, broken-hearted and bent on revenge….
If you’re not familiar with Ukrainian politics, you’ll be at a decided disadvantage when you see Donbass. While you may get the gist of it, I dare say much of the nuance would be lost unless you have some knowledge of that part of the world. Corruption, violent and politics feature in this absurdist comedy-turned-tragedy….
Motorcycles, intimidation and sex feature in the new Australian biker movie 1%. In short, everything is about a power game. 1% is a modern-day Macbeth. It follows Paddo (Ryan Corr), 2IC of the Copperheads motorcycle gang. He assumes the mantle of club leader while Knuck (Matt Nable) does three years in prison. Paddo’s vision for…
