Drama
True Things Review
TRUE THINGS is a viscerally uncomfortable film to watch. This isn’t me denigrating the film. TRUE THINGS is very good. My deep, skin-crawling discomfort whilst watching it is testament to the skill of the lead actors. Ruth Wilson is distressingly earnest as the love hungry Kate. And Tom Burke as Blond is a fascinating character study on the quintessential… Well, it rhymes with ‘tuckboy’. Kate wor...
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...
Where the Crawdads Sing Review
Based on the best selling 2019 novel of the same name, Where the Crawdads Sing, directed by Olivia Newman, is a magical and muddy modern fairytale of a beaten down woman triumphing over her oppressors in 1950s North Carolina. It weaves a captivating, although heavy handed at times, story of romance, coming of age and murder mystery that will leave you wistfully yearning for the lawless freedom of ...
The Phantom of the Open Review
It is 1976, and Maurice Flitcroft (Mark Rylance), a crane driver in his mid-40s, is being made redundant at the Vickers Armstrong shipyard in Barrow-in-Furness (Cumbria, England). His wife Jean (Sally Hawkins) encourages him to pursue his dreams. When Maurice was a boy he loved books, painting and languages, but was prevented from following these paths. Now, he is a middle-aged man who has a step-...
The Woodcutter Story Review
Mikko Myllylahti’s debut feature film tells the story of an idyllic Finnish village descended in to madness with the closure of the local sawmill. Pepe (Jarkko Lahti), lives a simple, happy life filled with ice fishing and labour at the sawmill. Together with his colleague, neighbour and friend Tuomas (Hannu-Pekka Björkman), they exist like contented kings of not much in particular. However,...
Elvis Review
Elvis Aaron Presley was an American singer whose music and influence made him an icon of the 20th Century. From 1956, when he sold 10 million singles for the RCA company in twelve months, until his untimely death in 1977 at the age of 42, Elvis was a global star. His effect on new music waned in the later 1960s, however his fame and his influence were intact until he died. He was dubbed The King o...
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...
Little Tornadoes Review
It’s Australia, 1971, and a revolution is happening in the cities. But in the country, things stay exactly the same. The first thing I noticed about LITTLE TORNADOES was the overwhelming soundscape. The insects were singing. They chirped, or shrieked, in a way that was almost claustrophobic. It made it seem like a horror film, but the jump scare never came. Instead, I had to sit with the op...
Top Gun: Maverick Review
After more than thirty years of service as one of the Navy’s top aviators, Pete Mitchell is where he belongs, pushing the envelope as a courageous test pilot and dodging the advancement in rank that would ground him.
To Olivia Review
It’s easy to be a bit snobby about a film like TO OLIVIA. It’s so very earnest. Made for British tv, but released in cinemas in Australia, it tells the story of author Roald Dahl and his Hollywood star wife, Patricia Neal. Considering Dahl’s famous writing, you might expect a childish, macabre, and wickedly funny take on the lead up to his success with ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’. Alternat...
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...
How to Please a Woman Review
HOW TO PLEASE A WOMAN is a fun little comedy about great sex, housework, and the mature woman. Being a mature woman at this point (in longevity if not life accomplishments), I had a really great time watching it. Sally Phillips plays Gina, a busy woman who is feeling unfulfilled, but hasn’t quite noticed yet. She’s taken for granted, both at work and by her husband. The highlight of her day is her...