23 June 2016
Director James Wan returns from helming the Fast & Furious franchise to deliver the latest instalment in his series of films about paranormal investigators (the Insidious films were basically the same thing, only without the “based on a true story” hook).
17 June 2016
As a writer-director, Shane Black doesn’t have a whole lot of tricks up his sleeve, but he puts them all to very fun use in this buddy comedy-thriller where the snappy dialogue hits harder than the double-figure body count.
16 June 2016
Casting James Franco and Robert Pattinson in a movie set in pre-World War One Arabia is a pretty gutsy move. Unfortunately for director Werner Hertzog, it doesn’t pay off. Pattinson as T.E. Lawrence (“of Arabia”) works largely because his appearances are scattered through this film; a look at the real-life exploits of Gertrude Bell (Nicole Kidman) as she explored the desert and met with many of its tribes.
15 June 2016
The big problem with the first Now You See Me movie is that while it was sold as a magic-based heist film, it turned out to be, well, a magic-based heist film.
11 June 2016
High-energy cable TV finance expert Lee Gates (George Clooney) is the host of fairly crass cable TV show ‘Money Monster’, so when he’s taken hostage during a live broadcast at first his viewers think it’s part of the act. Then when the bullets start flying, only his producer Patty (Julia Roberts) keeps a level head.
6 June 2016
When problem child Ricky Baker (Julian Dennison) – his crimes include kicking stuff, burning stuff and loitering – is relocated to a New Zealand bush farm by somewhat intense social worker Paula (Rachel House), he’s taken under the wing of Bella (Rima Te Wiata) and her silently menacing husband Hec (Sam Neill).
2 June 2016
After the death of her husband, New Yorker Marnie Minervini (Susan Sarandon) has moved out to LA to be closer to her scriptwriter daughter, Lori (Rose Byrne).
31 May 2016
The trouble with reviewing a sequel when the original was a): awful, but b): successful, is that there’s not much of a point in complaining about the same stuff all over again. Clearly whatever was wrong with the original wasn’t enough to keep audiences away, so in a sense it clearly wasn’t “wrong” in the first place. On the other hand, Alice Through the Looking Glass… is still pretty much terrible.
26 May 2016
The X-Men franchise has always been over-stuffed with characters, so it’s hardly surprising that this instalment – now set in the early ’80s – focuses on yet another group of new mutants.
23 May 2016
The year is 1944, and the wealthy heiress Florence Foster Jenkins (Meryl Streep) is the doyen of the New York classic musical scene, hosting concerts and spending money like water.
17 May 2016
The original Bad Neighbours – in which a young, no-longer hip, dope-smoking couple (Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne) had to deal with a frat house next door – was a surprise delight, managing the tricky act of being dumb in a very smart way.
16 May 2016
With every Marvel movie ending in serious civilian-squashing destruction of the “something big falls from the sky” variety, it was only a matter of time before someone suggested putting superheroes on a leash.
13 May 2016
Michael Mason (Game of Thrones’ Richard Madden) is a US pickpocket working the streets of Paris.
4 May 2016
Les (John Brumpton) runs a pawn shop in Barkly Street, Footscray where “people come in bullshitting and leave pissed off”.
2 May 2016
The story of Eddie the Eagle walks a very fine line. As Great Britain’s first competitor in Olympic Ski Jumping, he was pretty much a joke who got in on a technicality, and his media success was as much to do with laughing at him as it was about admiring his pluck.
30 April 2016
Adelaide real estate agent Frank Mollard (Anthony LaPaglia) isn’t doing well. He’s divorced from his actress wife, estranged from his son, drifting aimlessly through his job and now his mum’s on the phone telling him she’s not happy.
29 April 2016
Roy (Michael Shannon) and Lucas (Joel Edgerton), along with the pre-teen Alton (Jaeden Lieberher) are sitting in a hotel room.
21 April 2016
Trying to build a sequel around one half of a successful double-act is tricky work (just ask Speed 2: Cruise Control). As a sequel to Snow White and the Huntsman, The Huntsman: Winter’s War just about makes it work. With Kristen Stewart’s Snow White gone, the focus is on Liam Hemsworth’s Huntsman.
17 April 2016
Part three in the Divergant series begins where part two ended; with the “shock” reveal that the whole faction system that rules in the ruins of Chicago is an experiment put in place by mysterious beings beyond the city wall.
14 April 2016
When billionaire business mogul Michelle Darnell (Melissa McCarthy) is sentenced to six months (in a very cushy) prison for insider trading, her harried assistant and single mother Claire (Kristen Bell) is finally free… until six months later, when Michelle shows up on her door with nowhere else to go.
8 April 2016
Remember when Po (the voice of Jack Black) was worried he was never going to fit in with the martial arts legends The Furious Five?
6 April 2016
It’s been 14 years since My Big Fat Greek Wedding, and not much has changed: Toula Portokalos (Nia Vardalos who again wrote the script) now works in the family restaurant, lives on the same street as her family and dotes on her 17-year-old daughter Paris (Elena Kampouris).
4 April 2016
Rock icon Marianne Lane (Tilda Swinton) is mutely relaxing on a sunny coastal retreat with her boyfriend Paul (Matthias Schoenaerts) after throat surgery when their lazing around is harshly interrupted by the arrival of her high energy ex Harry (Ralph Fiennes) and a young lady who he claims is his daughter Penelope (Dakota Fanning).
1 April 2016
Eighteen months have passed since the city-smashing events of Man of Steel, and while much of the world has embraced Superman (Henry Cavill), there’s still a lot of mistrust – especially from vigilante Batman (Ben Affleck), who’s become increasingly bitter and violent in his old(er) age.
