Sand Storm is a family drama that takes place in a Bedouin Village in the desert in southern Israel. Two women, mother and daughter, are dealing with life changing events at the same time. Jalila is a 42-year-old with four children. Her eldest child is an 18-year-old university student, Layla (Lamis Ammar). Jalila is coping…
Cinematographer David Parker has, with his wife writer/director Nadia Tass, created some of the best Australian comedies, with the classics Malcolm and The Big Steal. But when branching out as a filmmaker on his own the results have been a little less spectacular. With The Menkoff Method Parker steps back into the director’s chair for…
Boys in the Trees is another local coming of age story that joins a growing number of recent Australian films exploring familiar themes of the pain of growing up, friendship, angst, romance, the loss of innocence, memory. However, this one is suffused with a surreal quality, quirky touches and an unsettling supernatural element. It has…
Movies about war are generally no picnic. When done well, they’re pretty much indelible (after all, people still talk about the opening sequence in Saving Private Ryan, a film that opened in 1998). Mel Gibson has had some experience in the genre as both an actor (in We Were Soldiers) and director (Braveheart); so while…
Isabelle Huppert shines in the lead role of Elle, a sordid, twisted tale of lust and brutality. Michèle (Huppert) seems indestructible. Head of a leading video game company, she brings the same ruthless attitude to her love life as to business. Being attacked in her home by an unknown assailant changes Michèle’s life forever. She…
Directed by Derek Cianfrance (The Place Beyond the Pines) and starring Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander, The Light Between Oceans is a beautiful looking, heartbreaking story about love and sacrifice. It is based upon the bestselling Australian book by M.L. Stedman, her first novel. Stedman’s novel became somewhat of a literary sensation upon its publication…
In late 1997 Anu Singh, a beautiful law-student in Canberra killed her boyfriend Joe Cinque after months of telling friends and colleagues she planned to kill herself and take him with her. Despite the warnings, no one stopped her. Joe Cinque’s Consolation is the screen adaptation of Helen Garner’s celebrated account of those events. It…
Inanely silly, slapstick comedic and fun, it is hard to believe that Masterminds is based upon a true story and wasn’t simply a late night, tall-tale concoction. It follows the riotous misadventures of unlikely anti-hero David Ghantt (Zach Galifianakis) as he pulls off one of the largest robberies in U.S. history. He is painted as…
The original Ouija, released in 2014, cost some $5 million to produce and ended up grossing some $100 million at the box office, so it’s no wonder that production company BlumHouse went back to the well for a second helping. But as the title suggests, Ouija: Origin of Evil is more of a prequel than…
If you want proof that Scientology is a cult and not a religion then you should see the fascinating first-hand documentary, Louis Theroux: My Scientology Movie. I say first hand because Louis Theroux is front and centre throughout. He wanted to get inside the so-called Church of Scientology and interview people associated with it. When…
