Drama

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...

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...

The Duke Review

Jim Broadbent is an idealistic (and wholly unsuccessful) poet who doesn’t think he should have to pay to watch telly in The Duke, the latest (and final) film from dear departed British director Roger Michell. Michell directed Hugh Grant at his floppiest-haired and most charmingly befuddled, and had the good sense to pull out of helming that second Craig-era Bond film that no one likes nor remember...

Goliath Review

GOLIATH opens with a disclaimer. ‘Although based on real events, the characters and situations portrayed in this film are fictional. Nevertheless, resemblance to actual persons or events is no coincidence’.  The following film definitely portrays some polarising characters, and situations. I can see why they needed to make that legal disclaimer. It protects them from prosecution, but it also makes...

The Batman Review

Much as when Spider-Man finally turned up in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Matt Reeves’ The Batman smartly eschews retreading the caped crusader’s origin story, assuming correctly that after 80 years, almost everyone turning up for a Batman movie understands the lay of the land. We know who Bruce Wayne (Robert Pattinson) is, and why he dresses up as a bat to fight crime in the oppressive urban he...

Cyrano Review

Little did he know that when he made his 2005 adaptation of Pride & Prejudice, Joe Wright would be cementing his place in my bubble bath cinema of joy. Having rewatched his version countless times from the warm, sudsy confines of someone else’s bathtub, I feel the same sense of calm and contentment each time that only a two-hour massage or beta blockers bring. With his new film Cyrano (an adap...

Infrared Review

Abandoned camera film, recently discovered. No sign of the people it belongs to.  I love a found-footage horror film, and INFRARED definitely commits to the bit. It’s decidedly dedicated to it. There’s no opening credits, no music. The title card tells us we’re about to watch footage from a tv pilot. It’s a ghost hunting show called INFRARED. The host is Wes, played by Jesse Janzen. He’s hal...

Belfast Review

In an interview with Stephen Colbert, Belfast Boy Kenneth Branagh speaks on the origins of his new, uncreatively-named film – an autobiographical account of his own childhood in the capital of Northern Ireland during The Troubles. His was a time of great change when the village he resided in was thrown into violence and turmoil in 1969 from fighting between Protestants and Catholics (or Unio...

Spencer Review

It is the Christmas Season of 1991. On the 24th of December, the British Royal Family assemble at the Queen’s Sandringham estate. The only person not to have arrived on time is Diana Spencer (Kristen Stewart), now better known to the world as Princess Diana (although yes, technically she was not a princess, royalty fans, we know). Despite having been to Sandringham many times before, she has becom...

Licorice Pizza Review

Gary Valentine (Cooper Hoffman, prodigal son of the late Philip Seymour) is a 15 year old student and part time actor with dreams of entrepreneurship. When he notices ’22’ (25) year old Alana Kane (Alana Haim of the eponymous family band) assisting with high school yearbook photos of his peers, he falls rather hard. We follow the saga of their not-quite relationship as they try to get ...