Laura Blundell
Laura hopes to one day have a video store within her house, to fill the Blockbuster-sized hole that the eradication of physical media left behind.
The Whale Review
“…and I felt saddest of all when I read the boring chapters that were only descriptions of whales, because I knew that the author was just trying to save us from his own sad story, just for a little while.” A crumpled essay read a thousand times over, an allegedly broken webcam and a very sad story are at the centre of Darren Aronofosky’s The Whale, an adaptation of another author’s semi autobiogr...
Babylon Review
Like the elephant in the opening scene that relaxes its sphincter and covers one of its handlers in liquid filth, Damien Chazelle puckers up and explodes all over his audience for three hours in Babylon, a love/hate letter to debaucherous early Hollywood that’s as ambitious as it is unbalanced. This polarising epic is drawing 5-star reviews from some and 1-star from others, seemingly depending on ...
Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon Review
From Ana Lily Amirpour, acclaimed director of a film about a dangerous girl who punishes bad people with her fangs, comes Mona Lisa And The Blood Moon, a film about a dangerous girl who punishes bad people with her mind. Starring Jeon Jong-seo as the eponymous heroine, Craig Robinson as the cop pursuing her and Kate Hudson as you’ve never seen her, this is a highly enjoyable neon-soaked romp that ...
The Stranger Review
Joel Edgerton and Sean Harris are not as they appear in Thomas M. Wright’s quietly terrifying sophomore feature, The Stranger. Based on one of the better-known true crimes of early 2000s Australia (and if you’ve managed to avoid the trailer or synopsis, the a-ha moment packs a subtle punch), the film follows two men and the apparent roles they play in an abduction and murder case that went unsolve...
On The Count Of Three Review
A pistol points directly at the face of a “ramen noodle-headed” Christopher Abbott as he stares intently at someone off-camera. “I love you man. You’re my best friend,” comes a voice from the weapon’s wielder and director of On The Count Of Three, Jerrod Carmichael; he too stares down the barrel of a gun held by his buddy. The pair start to count towards their demise but they’re hilariously out of...
Clean Review
From the director of Big In Japan (a doco about an Australian man chasing fame overseas) comes a story about an Australian woman who managed to reach such heights by getting her hands dirty. In Lachlan Mcleod’s Clean, we follow Sandra Pankhurst and the staff of her trauma cleaning business into the homes of Victoria’s most vulnerable and (oftentimes) deceased, carrying out the grim tasks that once...
Tuesday Club Review
Panko-crusted salmon is the way to the heart in Annika Appelin’s debut feature, Tuesday Club – a dish described on the menu as ‘spicy’ but when it arrives, you realise the chef was referring to cinnamon. Despite its lack of heat, this is a film with sweet notes and familiar flavours (especially if you’re a divorced woman in later adulthood), that pairs nicely with a glass of chardonnay...
Nope Review
Below is a somewhat spoiler-y (though not as spoiler-y as its three minute trailer) review of Nope. I’m still not entirely sure where I land on the film, so please take the following appraisal as a first impression left on the stove for a few days and only just remembered. Nope stands for Not Of Planet Earth and may describe the state of Jordan Peele’s mind as he dreamed up his third feature ̵...
Men Review
Alex Garland brings two of the most talented actors of modern cinema and theatre together, stacks the odds against one of them and gaslights an entire viewership in the process in Men, a gorgeously absurd new film that ponders the question: if a strange bloke turns up naked at your house but doesn’t actually get inside, has any harm been done? Garland takes a different approach at highlighting the...
Hatching Review
Hatching is a festival award-winning Finnish horror film directed by a woman (Hanna Bergholm) who’d never made a full-length feature before. Appropriately titled Egō in the festival’s host country and Pahanhautoja (which the ever trustworthy Google Translate claims to mean ‘evil graves’) in its native tongue, the film contains an outer membrane of gooey unpleasantness and a delicious yolk full o...
Everything Went Fine Review
Sophie Marceau (the object of every 90s Bond fan’s desire) is a woman whose father asks too much in Everything Went Fine, the new film from acclaimed French director François Ozon. Based on Emmanuèle Bernheim’s autobiographical novel Everything Went Well, the story follows two sisters dealing with the aftermath of their father’s major stroke and the often comedic hoops through which they must jum...
The Northman Review
In a one-two punch of New England folklore and carelessly spilled beans, Robert Eggers established himself as a modern auteur to watch. I remember seeing The Witch on a weekday afternoon in a huge, empty cinema – factors that only added to the feeling of isolation and unease. I left with a massive appreciation for the role that sound plays in horror and a newfound goat phobia. Watching The L...