In M. Night Shyamalan’s intriguing psychological thriller, Knock at the Cabin, Kristen Cui plays eight-year-old Wen – a bright young girl who collects grasshoppers so she can study them. She’s special because she was adopted by her two dads – Andrew (Ben Aldridge) and Eric (Jonathan Groff) – when she was only a baby. Now…
The Whale is the film that has excited me more than any other since lockdown. While the story itself is remarkable, the acting has me champing at the bit to recommend it. It’s all set in a rundown apartment in Idaho. Charlie (Brendan Fraser) is morbidly obese. His blood pressure is off the charts and…
After 16 years, Todd Field makes a long-awaited return to the director’s chair with Tár. Having made two under-appreciated gems of the early 2000s with In the Bedroom (2001) and Little Children (2006), he hurtles back into the cultural conversation with this challenging but dazzling film. Tár is set in the rarefied world of Western…
Sunday Reed is a firecracker. She is a woman unlike any other. She is instinctive … a free spirit. Although she has some mental health issues, Sunday doesn’t hold back. She says what she thinks and feels. Married to John, he surprises her when – on a whim – he purchases a farm in Heidelberg (in Melbourne’s northeast) in the…
Whatever else you might think about writer-director Damien Chazell’s first two films – Whiplash and La La Land – they definitely had a very clear narrative drive. And, even though it was grander in scope, you could say the same about his third film, First Man. But with Babylon, he replaces sharp linear narrative with…
This re-imagined production of Peter Schaffer’s Tony Award winning drama about the fictional rivalry between Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri is being staged as part of the 50th anniversary celebrations for the Sydney Opera House. Classical music and opera are incorporated into Schaffer’s drama. Snippets of Mozart’s famous compositions and his operas, such as…
Emily is a fictitionalised story about lauded 19th century writer and poet Emily Brontë (Wuthering Heights). Australian actor-turned-writer/director Frances O’Connor has woven a compelling tale. As a youngster, Emily (Emma Mackey) enjoyed making up stories. Considered odd and deviating from the norm, her mind worked differently to others. While comfortable in the company of family,…
When the most advanced “toy” in history goes rogue, lives are at stake in Gerard Johnstone’s engaging horror sci-fi thriller M3gan. Nine-year-old Cady (Violet McGraw) is on a trip to the snow with her parents when she is in a car accident that leaves her bloodied and claims their lives. That leaves her in the…
In the conversation around the greatest living movie director, Steven Spielberg is very much in the mix. From his feature debut with Duel, through his trademark films like E.T. and the Indiana Jones series, to his serious works in Schindler’s List and Lincoln, few directors can match his filmography. Now he takes his audience back…
Told in flashback, Blueback is a feel-good story with a strong environmental message about protecting the reef. Abby Jackson (Mia Wasikowska) is a marine biologist researching coral bleaching. Unexpectedly, she learns that her mother Dora (Radha Mitchell) has just had a stroke and can’t speak. She quickly returns to her childhood home on the Western…
