A formulaic and predictable rom-com both set in and shot around Sydney, Anyone But You taps into the familiar tropes of the genre without adding anything particularly fresh or original. A meet-cute between ambivalent law student Bea (Sydney Sweeney) and stock broker Ben (Glenn Powell) in a coffee shop leads to a one-night stand, which…
Make a wish and have it instantly granted – if only it were that easy. While the enticing idea forms the basis of the Disney animated feature Wish, things of course aren’t quite that straightforward. Magnifico (the voice of Chris Pine) has studied the magic of the world, and soon becomes a mighty sorcerer and…
Just who isn’t corrupt? That seems to be the question asked in the action-thriller The Bricklayer. The CIA is in the firing line, literally and figuratively. Someone is blackmailing the agency by assassinating foreign journalists and making it look like the CIA is responsible. That someone appears to be Radek (Clifton Collins Jr.), formerly on…
Think old-fashioned midday movie or a Mills and Boon novel and your head will be in the right space for One True Loves. Since school days, Sam (Simu Liu) has been into Emma (Phillipa Soo). But Emma always had the hots for swimming champion Jesse (Luke Bracey). As it turned out, Jesse swept Emma off…
The youngest generation possibly hasn’t experienced either Gene Wilder or Johnny Depp’s Willy Wonka, dating back 52 years and 18 years respectively. So, now they have their own Wonka and the singing, dancing Timothee Chalamet makes a good fist of it in the title role. Willy Wonka is charming and effusive as the magic man…
The Eight Mountains presents a beautifully shot and languidly paced story exploring the friendship between Bruno and Pietro over the course of four decades. “I didn’t expect to find a friend like Bruno in my life. Nor that friendship was a place where you put down roots” says the adult Pietro in the opening moments…
Actor-director Bradley Cooper shows his success in A Star is Born was no fluke with Maestro. This impressionistic portrait of the conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein is technically dazzling, although its oblique approach may distance some viewers. As with A Star is Born, Cooper again pulls triple duty as director, actor (in the titular role…
Paul Schrader’s nihilistic films have often explored troubled men and outsiders with a violent past who are seeking redemption for their past deeds. Narvel Roth (Joel Edgerton) is one such man, hiding from the demons of his past, making him a quintessential Schrader creation. Roth is the chief horticulturalist tending to Gracewood Gardens, the sprawling…
As the director of Borat and Bruno, Larry Charles can hardly be accused of playing it safe. So it is again with Dicks: The Musical. This is a hard-swearing, politically incorrect comedy, which will delight those sick and tired of woke. Dicks is the cinematic adaptation of the musical stage play F…ing Identical Twins: The…
The low-brow comedy Bottoms comes out on top. PJ (Rachel Sennott) and Josie (Ayo Edibiri) are besties. They’re also gay. Neither is popular at school. Still, PJ is ready to go with the flow, but Josie is not, convinced she will never get laid. Josie has her eyes on cheerleader Isabel (Havana Rose Liu), who…
