Masterfully constructed, Wildlife is an independent film with real bite. It plays out as a tripartite coming-of-age story. It’s small town America – Montana – in the 1960s. Joe Brinson (Ed Oxenbould) is 14 years of age. His parents – Jeanette (Carey Mulligan) and Jerry (Jake Gyllenhaal) – are about to face a major shift…
The inspiring and humane documentary Backtrack Boys shows that there are very real and effective alternatives to juvenile detention in helping turn around the lives of troubled teenagers. In the northern NSW town of Armidale, jackaroo Bernie Shakeshaft has established a community-based organisation called Backtrack, which works with troubled boys who are on the path…
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…
Apart from some exaggerated teeth, Bohemian Rhapsody is an absorbing biopic of a man, his music and a complicated life. That man is of course Freddie Mercury, a supremely talented show pony. He fronted one of the most successful rock bands of all time in Queen and the film’s title is highly appropriate for what…
At age six months, three identical male siblings are adopted out to three different families by a now defunct adoption agency. The reason they are separated has to do with a bizarre nature-versus-nurture experiment, the results of which are never published. In a nutshell, that’s the documentary Three Identical Strangers. The trio – Edward Galland,…
I defy you to try to make sense of Ghost Stories. The central character is Professor Philip Goodman (Andy Nyman), a renowned sceptic. Most unexpectedly, his idol, psychologist Charles Cameron – who had mysteriously disappeared – sends Goodman a message that he wants to see him. When Goodman rocks up, a curmudgeonly Cameron reveals he…
Director Perry Lang offers a polished but polarizing work in An Interview with God. This Bible-bashing drama promised much, but ultimately delivered little. Covering the war in Afghanistan provided journalist Paul Asher (Brendon Thwaites) with some of the best stories of his young career. But that endeavor ended up costing him so much more than he…
Beautiful Boy tracks the love and loss of an 18-year-old. Nicolas Sheff was a good student, editor of his high school newspaper, an actor in the school play and a member of the water polo team. A voracious reader and a talented artist, he was set to enter college. He had started experimenting with drugs…
Book Week is the comedic tale of a complete screw-up who never seems to learn. And, believe it or not, he’s a high school English teacher who, of course, should know he is setting the worst possible example. Budding author, Nicholas Cutler (Alan Dukes), has been waiting 44 years for his life to start. Well,…
This revisit of Halloween from the ‘70s features a good story – and it’s genuinely scary. \In this Halloween, Jamie Lee Curtis returns to her iconic role as Laurie Strode, as she comes to her final confrontation with Michael Myers. He of course is the masked figure who has haunted her since she narrowly escaped…
