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 French Dispatch Review
One of the most remarkable things about Wes Anderson is his ability to draw large crowds of millennials to an art deco cinema in Leederville on a school night for a film that hasn’t even come out yet. This feat is even more impressive when you consider the recent summation of an older filmmaker regarding this demographic and our “fucking cellphones” preventing us from wanting to go to the movies. ...
Titane Review
Below is my review of this year’s Palme d’Or-winning film Titane – the sophomore feature from one of the most exciting directors in the infancy of her career, Julia Ducournau. It is impossible to review this film without spoiling it, so if you want to go in blind then it’s probably best to stop here. In 2017 Ducournau directed her first feature-length film Raw, a coming-of-age story about a ...
Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn Review
I learned two very important things from Bad Luck Banging Or Loony Porn, the provocative new film from Romanian director Radu Jude: 1) that people of a certain age are both shamefully interested in and incredibly uncomfortable with seeing sex on-screen and 2) that Romanians are aresholes. The latter may require more research, but seeing this film with a rather undiversified demographic on a Saturd...
Venom: Let There Be Carnage Review
I recall a boozy Saturday night spent watching 2018’s Venom with some fondness. A kind soul had lent us the 4K Blu-ray but the bad word of mouth led to its addition to the pile of great unwatched. It wasn’t until we moved house and the rest of our movie collection was boxed up that we finally gave the alien comic book flick a shot, and perhaps it was the gin’s doing but I found myself pleasantly s...
Last Night in Soho Review
Edgar Wright’s love for vintage music has been more apparent than ever from his last few films, more recently in his documentary The Sparks Brothers and prior to that, the thumpingly cool caper Baby Driver. But music is also put to expert use in his earlier comedies. I’m sure many (like myself) still associate Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now” with Shaun of the Dead and his new film, Last Night In Soho,...
Zola Review
In the spring of 2015, I wasn’t exactly doing a lot with my life. Working part-time in a minimum wage job I began a second Bachelor of Arts, because one round of unemployment wasn’t enough. I had just wrapped up my seventh rewatch of Sex and the City and was in search of another text through which to live vicariously as a sad twenty-something with no social plans on a Saturday night. It was the mo...
The Many Saints of Newark Review
“Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in” – Silvio Dante (in his beloved Michael Corleone bit) accurately describing what all Sopranos fans were thinking upon seeing the trailer for The Many Saints of Newark, the new film from Alan Taylor (director of the original series.) After many Covid-related reschedules it’s finally here and refreshingly, in theatres. Sopranos creator...
Riders of Justice Review
As someone who’s turned a Mads Mikkelsen obsession into a personality trait I am contractually obliged to wax lyrical about everything he does. But I don’t think it’s bias talking when I say that Riders of Justice, from Anders Thomas Jensen, is a wholly successful absurdist action comedy for (almost) the entire family. Its ultraviolence fits nicely in the John Wick/Nobody era of frustrated male wi...
Palazzo Di Cozzo Review
Palazzo Di Cozzo offers a glimpse at the rise and current plight of larger than life Melbourne furniture icon Franco Cozzo in the directorial debut from Madeleine Martiniello. We delve into Cozzo’s backstory, from his journey to Australia from Sicily (“32 days of shipping – it was too long”) to his ingenious ‘Grand Sale’ commercials in the 80s, to the waning interest from the public in baroq...
Pig Review
Whoever said ‘You catch more flies with honey than vinegar’ (a honey salesman, probably) was surely referring to Nicolas Cage’s arc in Michael Sarnoski’s directorial debut Pig. Marketed (wrongly, or perhaps sneakily) as a swiney John Wick, this is a film that shows its subject as much tenderness and care as Cage’s character shows every ingredient he uses in its grand finale. For those expect...
Annette Review
“So may we start?” sing Sparks and the cast at the beginning of Annette, a film that asks its audience’s permission before proceeding with surely one of the most unique cinematic experiences they’ll have this year. It is the English language debut from bizarro French auteur Leos Carax (Holy Motors) that Wikipedia describes as a ‘musical romantic drama film’ but that IMDb classifies as a documentar...
The Ice Road Review
Liam Neeson is on thin ice as he attempts to rescue miners trapped in a diamond mine in Canada’s Northwest Territories after a curiously preventable explosion causes the mine to collapse. He and his small entourage have just 30 hours before the oxygen supply is depleted to deliver a wellhead and enable the miners’ escape. The passage is precarious though – they must traverse The Ice Road (a ...