comedy
Hard Truths Review
Marianne Jean-Baptiste (Fatman, The Sea Beast) effortlessly portrays a woman on the edge of an emotional breakdown. However, Mike Leigh’s Hard Truths being an easily relatable week in the life of tale only goes so far. Moments of insult comedy laced with zingers aside, the film comes off underwhelming. Leigh’s (Peterloo, Vera Drake) direction and Dick Pope’s (The Air Up There) ci...
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy Review
The opening hour of Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy takes its sweet time—way too much of it, in fact. We meet Bridget several years after Bridget Jones’s Baby, where she and Mark had a son and got hitched. In Mad About the Boy, Bridget has become a widow and single parent to Billy and his younger sister, Mabel, after Mark died while on a humanitarian trip four years prior. This new reality ...
Paddington in Peru Review
Paddington in Peru, the third cinematic entry for Michael Bond’s famous bear, falls short of its predecessors. Directed by Dougal Wilson (his feature film debut) with the titular bear voiced by Ben Whishaw (No Time to Die). Campy performances mixed with wholesome character arcs result in a watchable family flick. However, this entry lacks the charm of the first two films. Paddington in Peru sees P...
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 Review
Jeff Fowler and his familiar fast band of hyperactive heroes return to Aussie cinemas this boxing day, with Sonic The Hedgehog 3. A surprisingly decent animated action flick with enough juice to please everyone. Some mild spoilers to follow. Don’t worry if you’ve missed the first and second entries in this franchise, adapted from the Sega video game series. The story opens with enough information ...
Audrey Review
Natalie Bailey (Retrograde, The Thick of It) and Lou Sanz (The PM’s Daughter) present cinema goers with a sardonic, dysfunctional, contemporary Aussie family. Starring Jackie Van Beek (What We Do in the Shadows), Josephine Blazier (True History of the Kelly Gang), Jeremy Lindsay Taylor (The Dry) and Hannah Diviney (Latecomers), as The Lipsick’s. Audrey is a relentless dark comedy that tackles cont...
Your Monster Review
Laura Franco (Melissa Barrera) is having the worst time. Not only has her boyfriend broken up with her while she’s been undergoing cancer treatment, but he has also taken the musical they composed together and cast a famous actress in the role they wrote for her. Seeking comfort, Laura returns to her childhood home, where she finds a monster (Tommy Dewey) in her closet, and begins a surreal romanc...
Saturday Night Review
Directed by Jason Reitman, Saturday Night is a high energy and manic paced film. Perfectly capturing backstage chaos, 90 minutes before the premier of a show that nobody believes in. Everybody except producer Lorne Michaels, played by Gabe LaBelle (The Fablemans), and the clock is ticking. Saturday Night Live is an institution. Even if comedy is not your thing or you were born thirty years later, ...
Runt Review
Runt is the wholesome and heartwarming family flick that we need right now. Adapted from Craig Silvey’s beloved children’s story of the same name, Runt is directed by John Sheedy and he brings the same classic family-friendly atmosphere and sense of hope as in the original novel. Set in Upson Downs, the fictional country town suffering mid-drought inhabited by a bevy of kooky characters, and in p...
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Review
“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” marks the long-awaited return to Tim Burton’s twisted, supernatural (under)world. Fans (myself included) of the original 1988 film are hoping this sequel will recapture the magic that made the first such a cult classic. After a sudden family tragedy, three generations of the Deetz family find themselves back in their hometown of Winter River. Lydia (Winona Ryd...
Mr Blake At Your Service! Review
Releasing today, mostly French production Mr Blake at Your Service! is an odd one. Starring John Malkovich (Red, Burn After Reading), this endearing and quirky comedy drama shirks genre tropes and fails to realise the stakes it takes an hour and fifty minutes to set up. In order to unpack this film a little some spoilers are ahead. Fair warning, it’s a little désordonné. Director Gilles Legardinie...
Fly Me to the Moon Review
The United States’ Apollo program was established in 1962, when President Kennedy announced that men would walk on the moon by 1970. At the time of that announcement, America was already engaged in what the media termed the Space Race. This had started five years previously, in 1957, when the Soviet Union had launched the world’s first unmanned space vehicle, Sputnik 1 and it became more intense i...
The Garfield Movie Review
If anyone could resurrect Garfield from it’s previously dismal incarnations it would be Mark Dindal, director of cult classic The Emperor’s New Groove. Harking back to slapstick humour with strangely sophisticated punchlines, reminiscent of your favourite Looney Tune classics – The Garfield Movie is looking better than it’s 2004 iteration – but is it really one to watch? Starring as t...