Blended families can be problematic. So it is when Minna (the voice of Robyn Dempsey) becomes sister to Jenny (Emma Jenkins). Minna’s dad John (Tom Hale) and Jenny’s mum Helene (Karen Ardiff) are engaged. Minna has a great relationship with her father … and her adorable hamster Viggo Mortensen. Jenny is a lot harder work….
Tragedies and reckonings during 2020 brought the issue of sexualised violence prominently into the headlines. So Emerald Fennell’s powerful contemplation on the topic, Promising Young Woman, couldn’t be better timed. Fennell is a British actor and writer (she worked on the hit UK shows The Crown and Killing Eve), and Promising Young Woman marks her…
A well-meaning but slight portrait of war-time suffering, Summerland felt manufactured to me. Despite its subject matter, I thought it lacked gravitas and authenticity. We’re in Kent in south-eastern England during the Blitz of 1940-41. Alice Lamb (Gemma Arterton) is an avid researcher and writer. She analyses folklore. Her small community regards her as harsh…
Art and capitalism can be uneasy bedfellows. In our society each depends on the other to some extent. The exploitation of art in the name of money is nothing new, but things could be changing. Critical examinations are now happening around their relationship, particularly as it intersects with issues of race and power. Steven Soderbergh…
A deeply traumatic beginning gives way to emotionally wrought second and third acts in Kornél Mundruczó’s drama Pieces of a Woman. From a well-to-do family, Martha (Vanessa Kirby) is in a relationship with a rough and ready working class man, Sean (Shia LaBeouf). They both excitedly await the birth of their first child. Martha opts…
Well, that was a year! With everything that went on in 2020, movies proved both a comfort and a hope for better times. The big story of the year was the rise of streaming as a genuine alternative to (and in some cases, a replacement for) traditional cinemas. Those changes played out elsewhere, and we…
When Australian filmmaker Robert Connolly directs a feature film, audiences pay attention. His latest is The Dry, and this thriller doesn’t disappoint. Based on Jane Harper’s novel of the same title, The Dry powerfully depicts a community in crisis. Connolly’s previous feature, Paper Planes (2014) proved a surprise hit, and there’s no reason The Dry…
The ancient and modern worlds collide in the special effects action blockbuster Monster Hunter. Based on a video game series of the same name, the plot – such that it is – is basically inconsequential. It’s merely an excuse for non-stop fighting and a legion of monsters to test and retest the limits of human…
Cinema, like any art form, has boundless capacity to surprise. Disney-Pixar has struggled a little recently (see Onward, for example). But the studio reclaims its title as the benchmark in animation with the incredible Soul. I suspect the success of Soul has a lot to do with the return of Pete Docter to the director’s…
The truth, they say, can be stranger than fiction. In Lydia Dean Pilcher’s A Call to Spy, the true story of remarkable women spies might not be all that strange, but it is powerful. Virginia Hall is sometimes touted as America’s first woman spy. While the title might not be entirely accurate, she was one…
