Damien Chazelle shows why he’s regarded as one of the most promising directors of his generation with First Man. After Whiplash and La La Land, this is his third knockout movie in a row – and one that will likely put him in the Oscars frame once again. This is Chazelle’s most mature film to…
The new tween adventure Harmony is another walk down the dark side of fantasy. Harmony (Jessica Falkholt) is different … very different. She has the supernatural power to absorb others’ fear. Each person she touches literally loses their trepidation. She absorbs it as a black liquid that she later washes from her skin. So, healing…
Friends and family gather for a weekend in the countryside in Michael Mayer’s version of Chekhov’s The Seagull. While everyone is caught up in passionately loving someone who loves somebody else, a tragicomedy unfolds about the eternal desire to live a purposeful life. Sorin (Brian Dennehy), a retired government employee, and his sister Irina (Annette…
How not to plan and execute a heist. Four totally clueless amateurs get involved in something they should never have attempted in American Animals. Frighteningly, it’s based on relatively recent reality. The story centres around unpredictable wild child Warren (Evan Peters) and aspiring artist Spencer (Barry Keoghan), two friends from the middle-class suburbs of Lexington,…
Yet another superhero movie featuring a second-tier character from the Marvel stable. Or should that be a super-anti-hero, because Venom isn’t your usual superhero? We first met Venom in the Sam Raimi-helmed Spider-Man 3, when he was played by Topher Grace. And despite its origins with Spider-Man, Venom sits outside the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The…
This low budget drama is the sophomore feature film from Australian writer/director Benjamin Gilmour, and follows his 2007 drama Son of a Lion, set in post 9/11 Pakistan. Gilmour is familiar with the region and has chosen to set his new film in Afghanistan. Jirga deals with an Australian soldier who returns to the region…
Custody is built on fear – the fear inspired by a man prepared to do anything to get back a woman who wants nothing to do with him in a bid to escape his violent behaviour. Miriam (Léa Drucker) and Antoine (Denis Ménochet) Besson have divorced. Antoine is seen as a permanent threat to those…
Set during the last great Ice Age in Europe some 20,000 years ago, Alpha is an epic adventure. This brutal tale of survival in a harsh wilderness is a bit like a prehistoric version of The Revenant. It’s also something of a coming of age tale as it follows a teen’s journey to manhood. There…
Joaquin Phoenix is ideally suited to fill the role of an inveterate drinker who pays a horrendous price for his addiction, Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot. Phoenix frequently tackles more obtuse material and appears to revel in it. The last day slacker John Callahan (Phoenix), who lives in the US city of…
The phrase “a Kevin Hart comedy” is oxymoronic. Hart is one of the unfunniest comics making movies in Hollywood, and his grating, shrill, over the top and unsubtle shtick wears thin very fast. At the preview of his latest effort Night School, we were told Hart’s films have grossed something like $124 million at the…
