American remakes of European movies perhaps don’t have the best track record. But Bart Freundlich’s After the Wedding – a re-working of Susanne Bier’s 2006 Danish film of the same title* – mostly succeeds thanks to some clever writing, sharp direction and fine acting. The action is transplanted from Copenhagen to New York; but the…
We’ve all heard the adage “family first”, but this is ridiculous! Every time a person marries into this wealthy and secretive family … at midnight they have to play a game. That is a time-honoured tradition that can’t be broken. You see, this clan made its money off the back of board games. The new…
As a filmmaking culture, Australia has a lot of people with great ideas. But small budgets and stingy government funding mean sometimes those ideas aren’t fully realised. And sadly, Promised is one of those. Writer-director Nick Condi’s somewhat unconventional family drama is apparently based on a true story, but its heart gets lost in a…
While the recent Yesterday concentrated on the music of The Beatles; Blinded by the Light, focuses on a young man heavily influenced by The Boss, Bruce Springsteen. This one is inspired by fact, which isn’t the case with the other. Set in 1987, during the austere days of Margaret Thatcher’s Britain, Blinded by the Light…
Prince Hal (Timothee Chalamet) was never destined to become king of England. He was a playboy, drunkard and womaniser, and his tyrannical father Henry VI (Ben Mendelsohn) passed him over in the line of succession for his younger brother Thomas (Dean-Charles Chapman). But England at that time was a land in chaos, divided by years…
Just as it depicts Judy Garland’s life Judy, the movie, is a train wreck. In fact, I couldn’t wait for it to end. Garland wasn’t allowed to be a regular kid and was lauded over by the studio head Louis B. Mayer and her obnoxious, overbearing mother, Ethel. Given pill after pill at an early…
What would you do if the impossible was real? Director Rowan Athale wants you to contemplate that big question in his new thriller Strange But True. Unfortunately his big question gets lost in a muddled script that strains credibility. Eric Garcia has adapted John Searles’ novel of the same name for the screen. It seems…
The latest installment in the Disney Villains spin-offs is a reprise of Maleficent – a twisted view of the Sleeping Beauty fable. Picking up where the original left off, Aurora (Elle Fanning) has been crowned Queen of the Moors and is living in the idyllic woods with her godmother Maleficent (Angelina Jolie), sidekick Diaval (Sam…
A hard working wife and mother has her life is turned upside down in Michal Aviad’s Working Woman. Orna (Liron Ben Shlush) is happily married to Ofer (Oshri Cohen). They have three young children. Two months ago, Ofer opened a restaurant, but the business is struggling. Middle-aged businessman Benny (Menashe Nov) offers Orna work selling…
Janine Hosking’s The Eulogy provides a compelling portrait of an virtuoso Australian pianist who died far too young. This intriguing film is among the finest documentaries of the year. The starting point is the controversial eulogy former Prime Minister Paul Keating delivered at Geoffrey Tozer’s memorial service (which the ex-PM agreed to re-enact for this…
