There’s a certain period-piece sexuality billowing through Widow Clicquot that brings to mind other such similarly-set efforts as Atonement and Pride & Prejudice. And given that those films’ second-unit director, Thomas Napper, is at the helm here, it makes perfect sense that such detail and intimacy is adhered to; fittingly, Joe Wright, director of the…
Read MoreWhether you actually want to admit it or not, there’s something admirable about a comedy that revels in the fact that it doesn’t play well with others. Audrey is very much that bitch. It delights in being psychologically grotesque, and despite the fact that it features the type of teen mean girl embodiment that would’ve…
Read MoreAfter impressing festival audiences with its acerbic humour, Audrey is a twisted, razor sharp film, both gloriously absurd and strangely relatable. Its black comedy at its best, inspired by modern classics like Muriel’s Wedding and Jennifer’s Body. With New Zealand’s funniest export leading the charge, alongside Australian screen veterans and emerging stars, Audrey is far from your average mother-daughter…
Read MoreKnown primarily for his dramatic work across our screens for over three decades now, Jeremy Lindsay Taylor is embracing a new comedic persona in the audacious Audrey, a twisted, razor sharp film, both gloriously absurd and strangely relatable. Its black comedy at its best, inspired by modern classics like Muriel’s Wedding and Jennifer’s Body. As a husband and…
Read MoreThe Adelaide Film Festival presented the Australian Premiere of director Justin Kurzel’s movie The Order at the Piccadilly Theatre last Wednesday evening. Based on a true story, it stars Jude Law as world weary FBI agent Terry Husk, who is sent to investigate a series of armed robberies in the Pacific Northwest in 1983. Nicholas…
Read MoreTo celebrate the home digital release of The Wild Robot, thanks to Universal Pictures Home Entertainment and Organic. we have an exclusive piece of framed concept art to give away to one lucky reader, as well as a Digital Access Code so you can view the film at home. The film comes from a new…
Read MoreFollowing on from our red carpet chats with the cast and creatives of Gladiator II at the Australian premiere, Connie Nielsen sat down with our own Peter Gray to further discuss her return as Lucilla after over 2 decades, if she saw a change in Ridley Scott’s directing after this time, and if she could…
Read MoreUshering in a new generation of heroes, legendary director Ridley Scott continues the epic Gladiator saga of power, intrigue, and vengeance set in Ancient Rome with Gladiator II. Years after witnessing the death of the revered hero Maximus at the hands of his uncle, Lucius (Paul Mescal) is forced to enter the Colosseum after his…
Read MoreFrom the ICC to multiple UTS venues, the Palace, and beyond, the energy of Australia’s film industry was unmistakable at SXSW Sydney 2024’s Screen Festival. Here are some of our highlights from panels, interviews, and sessions featuring indie pioneers and industry giants alike. Creative folks talking candid shop What better way to open a festival…
Read MoreA young Aboriginal couple brings home their second baby. What should be a joyous time takes a sinister turn, as the baby’s mother starts seeing a malevolent spirit she is convinced is trying to take her baby. Such is the logline for Jon Bell’s The Moogai, a new horror film from the producers of The…
Read MoreAn extraordinary, true-life tale, Queen of the Ring is an uplifting drama that follows Mildred Burke, the legendary professional wrestler and single mother who defied incredible odds to become the first million-dollar female athlete and longest reigning champion at a time when the sport was banned across most of America. Through Emily Bett Rickards‘ transformative…
Read MoreThe prospect of being stuck in a cab for 90 minutes with a driver that isn’t afraid to wax lyrical about the dynamics of men and women doesn’t exactly sound like the most pleasant experience. And whilst that it is the entire premise of Christy Hall‘s conversation-provoking Daddio, audiences pre-empting their annoyance at such a…
Read MoreFrom Spielberg to Saturday Night. After making his mark as Sammy Fabelman in Steven Spielberg’s acclaimed The Fabelmans, a loosely-based detailing of the famed director’s adolescence, rising star Gabriel LaBelle is taking on another icon of the industry in Lorne Michaels, the long-running creator of the American sketch comedy program, Saturday Night Live, in Jason Reitman’s…
Read MoreIt’s too easy to claim that writer/director Sean Baker makes inaccessible films due to the fact that so many of his narratives centre around the society underrepresented, chief among them being sex workers. As we saw in such previous works as Tangerine and Red Rocket, Baker seeks to remove such a stigma around pornography performers, prostitutes…
Read MoreThe cast of The Correspondent and other dignitaries were out in force for the opening night of the Adelaide Film Festival. The movie tells the gripping story of Peter Greste, a journalist who was sent to cover the riots in Egypt following the election in 2013, and was arrested and convicted of terrorism. Richard Roxburgh…
Read MoreFor almost 50 years, Saturday Night Live has been an institution of (primarily) American culture. Every weekend it invites audiences to surrender to the thrill of live television, where anything could go wrong at any given moment, amongst a staple of regular segments and musical performances. Its structure has shifted over time, but the core…
Read MoreWhen I reviewed Venom: Let There Be Carnage in 2021, I noted that it was an entirely overwhelming sequel that was unpretentious and, due to its absolute ludicrousness, never boring. Some of that sentiment can be shared for Venom: The Last Dance, the supposedly (and hopefully) final instalment in this surprisingly fertile series that is,…
Read MoreLee Miller is the type of figure that feels as if she should’ve already had a biopic made about her, due to her staggering spirit and defiance in the face of what was expected of her. Lee is ultimately the only film that Miller deserves, with director Ellen Kuras, a cinematographer making her directorial debut,…
Read MoreOscar winner Kate Winslet stars in Lee, a fascinating portrait of the great American war correspondent Lee Miller, whose singular talent and ferocious tenacity gave us some of the 20th century’s most indelible images. A former model, Lee is now tired of being viewed through a lens and by men, and focusses on her own…
Read MoreNo matter how hard you try, you can’t break up with your past. This Valentine’s Day, Oscar winner Ke Huy Quan rockets into his first major leading man role as an unlikely hero, a seemingly mild-mannered realtor with a dark secret that he is desperate to leave behind. Spoiler alert: He won’t. From 87North producers…
Read MoreNo matter how hard you try, you can’t break up with your past. This Valentine’s Day, Oscar winner Ke Huy Quan rockets into his first major leading man role as an unlikely hero, a seemingly mild-mannered realtor with a dark secret that he is desperate to leave behind. Spoiler alert: He won’t. From 87North producers…
Read MoreWhilst there is a sense of an on-the-nose metaphorical aspect to Pools, and a whole lot of “girl who is going to be okay” mentality to it too, Sam Hayes‘ dramedy manages to just keep itself afloat enough in the self-discovery genre it serviceably adheres to. College student Kennedy (Odessa A’zion) doesn’t have her shit…
Read MoreAs we learned from “the rules of a horror sequel” in one of the few horror sequels that actually held its weight against the original – 1997’s Scream 2 – things are always bigger and bloodier in a Part 2; “Carnage candy,” as it was so deliciously described. And, indeed, Parker Finn has a sweet…
Read MoreFollowing the critical and commercial success of Smile in 2022, writer/director Parker Finn knew that if he was going to make a sequel, it had to be an “insane” idea. Centering on a global pop sensation, Skye Riley (played by Naomi Scott), who begins experiencing increasingly terrifying and inexplicable events ahead of a world tour,…
Read MoreNew office. New Aussie boss. The hotly-anticipated Australian Original comedy series is the thirteenth version of the global hit juggernaut franchise The Office and has the first-ever female lead in the iconic role, comedian and actor Felicity Ward. In the eight part series, Hannah Howard (Ward) is the managing director of packaging company Flinley Craddick….
Read MoreThanks to Sony Pictures Australia we have 5 double in-season passes (Admit 2) to see Tom Hardy in the epic conclusion, Venom: The Last Dance, exclusively in Australian theatres from October 24th, 2024. In Venom: The Last Dance, Tom Hardy returns as Venom, one of Marvel’s greatest and most complex characters, for the final film…
Read MoreHe Ain’t Heavy follows 30-year-old Jade (Leila George) who has sacrificed the better part of her life to rescue her little brother Max (Sam Corlett) from drug addiction. In desperation, unbeknownst to their ever-forgiving mother Bev (Greta Scacchi) Jade locks Max inside their vacant rural home in an attempt to “get him clean’. But when Bev arrives, a…
Read MoreThe mental, emotional and physical destruction that can come from one’s addiction is at the core of He Ain’t Heavy, David Vincent Smith‘s confronting, oft-harrowing drama that surpasses the intimacy of its setting and miniature ensemble with its brutal mindset. An expansion of his short film I’m Not Hurting You, He Ain’t Heavy very much…
Read MoreOf all the ways to ruminate on grief and loss, a stop-motion animated dramedy is not the most obvious option, but, despite the whimsical nature of the medium, Adam Elliot‘s heartbreaking Memoir of a Snail proves such a catharsis on the emotion. Animated it may be, Memoir of a Snail is not a child-friendly affair,…
Read MoreGrace Pudel is a lonely misfit with an affinity for collecting ornamental snails and an intense love for books. At a young age, when Grace is separated from her fire-breathing twin brother Gilbert, she falls into a spiral of anxiety and angst. Despite a continued series of hardships, inspiration and hope emerge when she strikes…
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