|
4/4
|
92%
|
In Search of Beethoven (2009) |
"
As good as the film is, Beethoven remains mysterious. He refuses to roll over, so to speak."
—
Sydney Morning Herald
Posted Oct 30, 2009
|
|
4/4
|
65%
|
High School Musical 3: Senior Year (2008) |
"
A real, honest-to-goodness teen musical throwback, as if Andy Hardy had never died and James Dean had never lived."
—
Sydney Morning Herald
Posted Dec 8, 2008
|
|
4/4
|
89%
|
The Visitor (2008) |
"
A beautiful, quiet, measured movie about the death of some American values since September 11, 2001."
—
Sydney Morning Herald
Posted Aug 29, 2008
|
|
4/4
|
82%
|
Live Free or Die Hard (2007) |
"
One of the surprises of the fourth instalment, apart from how good it is (who expected that?) is that the threat is internal."
—
Sydney Morning Herald
Posted Aug 10, 2007
|
|
4.5/5
|
85%
|
The Tree of Life (2011) |
"
The tone of the film is mesmeric, transcendent, awe-inspiring. "
—
Sydney Morning Herald
Posted Jul 12, 2011
|
|
4.5/5
|
71%
|
Never Let Me Go (2010) |
"
Real men will see this and weep, as I did. It is one of the most moving and profound films in a long time."
—
Sydney Morning Herald
Posted Mar 30, 2011
|
|
4.5/5
|
99%
|
Toy Story 3 (2010) |
"
A crowning achievement for Pixar."
—
Sydney Morning Herald
Posted Jun 16, 2010
|
|
4.5/5
|
75%
|
The Road (2009) |
"
It calls on all of one's powers of emotional endurance but it rewards the brave. It is relentless but beautiful, harrowing but tender."
—
Sydney Morning Herald
Posted Jan 26, 2010
|
|
4.5/5
|
81%
|
Los Abrazos Rotos (Broken Embraces) (Broken Hugs) (2009) |
"
Hypnotic beauty and emotion reveal the Spanish director to be still at the height of his powers."
—
Sydney Morning Herald
Posted Dec 13, 2009
|
|
4.5/5
|
90%
|
Hunger (2009) |
"
The most harrowing, moving and original drama I've seen this year."
—
Sydney Morning Herald
Posted Nov 14, 2008
|
|
4.5/5
|
91%
|
Letters from Iwo Jima (2006) |
"
Even by [Eastwood's] own high standards, Letters is an extraordinary achievement."
—
Sydney Morning Herald
Posted Feb 23, 2007
|
|
3.5/4
|
51%
|
Funny Games (2008) |
"
It's a tawdry kind of horror movie plot, given new meaning by Haneke's considerable intellect."
—
Sydney Morning Herald
Posted Sep 5, 2008
|
|
3.5/4
|
83%
|
Tropic Thunder (2008) |
"
Ben Stiller's confidence as a director is growing; this is comedy on a grand scale, with huge effects and a big cast."
—
Sydney Morning Herald
Posted Aug 22, 2008
|
|
3.5/4
|
64%
|
Death Proof (2007) |
"
Death Proof is superbly made. There's a terrible tension watching these beautiful and spirited young women getting too close to the flame, followed by enormous relief when the mood changes in the second story."
—
Sydney Morning Herald
Posted Nov 17, 2007
|
|
3.5/4
|
90%
|
The Simpsons Movie (2007) |
"
The pace is breakneck, and the animation -- though still primitive -- makes good use of the full width of the screen."
—
Sydney Morning Herald
Posted Jul 27, 2007
|
|
3.5/4
|
95%
|
Offside (2006) |
"
It's a very frank film about the daily frustrations for women who just want to enjoy their lives. It's a comedy, but of a fairly bitter sort."
—
Sydney Morning Herald
Posted Sep 29, 2006
|
|
4/5
|
96%
|
Silent Souls (2011) |
"
If Silent Souls is slow and cryptic, with long takes and mysterious metaphors, it achieves a great sense of poetic realism "
—
Sydney Morning Herald
Posted May 16, 2012
|
|
4/5
|
86%
|
The Pirates! Band of Misfits (2012) |
"
It has a very English kind of daffy humour, absurd but good-hearted, and it is pitched at adults as much as children."
—
Sydney Morning Herald
Posted Apr 4, 2012
|
|
4/5
|
100%
|
Autoluminescent: Rowland S. Howard () |
"
Lowenstein and Milburn are not just making a film about a guitarist but a whole movement and moments in time...The film is spectacularly successful at evoking those periods and at locating Howard in his times. "
—
Sydney Morning Herald
Posted Oct 26, 2011
|
|
4/5
|
84%
|
Contagion (2011) |
"
Contagion is what happens when a disaster movie gets sent to the headmaster for bad behaviour. "
—
Sydney Morning Herald
Posted Oct 20, 2011
|
|
4/5
|
92%
|
Take Shelter (2011) |
"
Shannon's performance is exceptional and the character is terribly moving. "
—
Sydney Morning Herald
Posted Oct 13, 2011
|
|
4/5
|
96%
|
Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2011) |
"
This is what 3-D was made for, puncturing the proscenium and taking us somewhere ''not yet offended''. "
—
Sydney Morning Herald
Posted Sep 21, 2011
|
|
4/5
|
95%
|
13 Assassins (2011) |
"
13 Assassins looks at honour from many angles, without becoming simplistic. Ichii hasn't lost his edge after all."
—
Sydney Morning Herald
Posted Sep 9, 2011
|
|
4/5
|
81%
|
Life in a Day (2011) |
"
It's a feel-good movie in that sense, affirmative without being sentimental or exploitative. "
—
Sydney Morning Herald
Posted Sep 2, 2011
|
|
4/5
|
95%
|
The Guard (2011) |
"
Boyle is probably the first screen hero in a long time whose heroism comes out of boredom and ennui. He gives nihilism a good name."
—
Sydney Morning Herald
Posted Aug 25, 2011
|
|
4/5
|
71%
|
Friends With Benefits (2011) |
"
It's not in the Hepburn-Tracy league but it is way smarter than most entries in this field."
—
Sydney Morning Herald
Posted Aug 25, 2011
|
|
4/5
|
92%
|
Senna (2011) |
"
In short, this is a brilliant, intimate, compelling film about Senna, but it's not the whole story."
—
Sydney Morning Herald
Posted Aug 10, 2011
|
|
4/5
|
86%
|
Get Low (2010) |
"
Get Low is a handmade kind of film. Its ambitions are modest, but fully attained. I rarely use the words ''go see it'', but I hope a lot of people do."
—
Sydney Morning Herald
Posted May 24, 2011
|
|
4/5
|
87%
|
Mad Bastards () |
"
This is poised and meaningful Australian cinema, however we classify it. "
—
Sydney Morning Herald
Posted May 4, 2011
|
|
4/5
|
84%
|
My Afternoons with Margueritte (2011) |
"
The danger is that it becomes sentimental, but there is a difference between sentiment imposed and sentiment earned. The film has only the latter."
—
Sydney Morning Herald
Posted Apr 6, 2011
|
|
4/5
|
77%
|
In A Better World (2011) |
"
This is a masterful, intense, thoughtful film and not to be missed."
—
Sydney Morning Herald
Posted Apr 1, 2011
|
|
4/5
|
80%
|
Barney's Version (2011) |
"
The film offers a lovely mix of compassion and humour. We get a sprawling comic tableau, the arc of a full life."
—
Sydney Morning Herald
Posted Mar 23, 2011
|
|
4/5
|
53%
|
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (2010) |
"
Seeing the first two films -- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played with Fire -- will make the third film more satisfying."
—
Sydney Morning Herald
Posted Feb 28, 2011
|
|
4/5
|
56%
|
Gnomeo and Juliet (2011) |
"
This is Romeo and Juliet with a happy ending -- which can't have been easy. Asbury does a good job of unifying the whole and preserving the English humour."
—
Sydney Morning Herald
Posted Feb 9, 2011
|
|
4/5
|
93%
|
127 Hours (2010) |
"
Boyle's film takes us back to the campfire for a story that is painful and powerful, as well as true."
—
Sydney Morning Herald
Posted Feb 8, 2011
|
|
4/5
|
96%
|
True Grit (2010) |
"
Jeff Bridges ain't the Duke, no sir, but the Duke weren't Jeff Bridges, neither."
—
Sydney Morning Herald
Posted Jan 24, 2011
|
|
4/5
|
73%
|
Sarah's Key (2011) |
"
The movie makes us care about Sarah, who never existed, rather than the thousands of Sarahs who ceased to exist. "
—
Sydney Morning Herald
Posted Dec 20, 2010
|
|
4/5
|
90%
|
Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010) |
"
The film is beautifully shot, using breathtaking winter landscapes. That helps to set up the comedy, because it's incongruous."
—
Sydney Morning Herald
Posted Dec 1, 2010
|
|
4/5
|
90%
|
The Messenger (2009) |
"
The film is poised, unforced and powerful."
—
Sydney Morning Herald
Posted Nov 5, 2010
|
|
4/5
|
69%
|
The Girl Who Played with Fire (Flickan som lekte med elden) (2010) |
"
The second film is more efficient than the first, less concerned with getting all the story on to the screen. "
—
Sydney Morning Herald
Posted Sep 24, 2010
|
|
4/5
|
85%
|
Easy A (2010) |
"
Omigod, the high school film is not dead. Text it high and text it low, for it has risen from the ashes with this clever, thoughtful and funny parable."
—
Sydney Morning Herald
Posted Sep 17, 2010
|
|
4/5
|
91%
|
The Father of My Children (Le pere de mes enfants) (2010) |
"
There's a lot of intelligence and humanity in the script and it follows its own path. [Hansen-Løve's] direction shows rare confidence and poise, a willingness to build characters slowly, with a natural flow of time."
—
Sydney Morning Herald
Posted Aug 27, 2010
|
|
4/5
|
55%
|
The Killer Inside Me (2010) |
"
It's a violent film about violence, but that makes it truthful."
—
Sydney Morning Herald
Posted Aug 25, 2010
|
|
4/5
|
82%
|
Cairo Time (2010) |
"
Nadda is a fine writer of dialogue, sensitive with her actors -- both of whom give superb performances -- and confident in her decision to slow things down."
—
Sydney Morning Herald
Posted Aug 20, 2010
|
|
4/5
|
85%
|
Beneath Hill 60 (2011) |
"
This is our first really good movie about the Western Front. It's not faultless, but it does what it does very well."
—
Sydney Morning Herald
Posted Aug 19, 2010
|
|
4/5
|
86%
|
The Special Relationship (2010) |
"
The film is immensely entertaining, whether fair or not. Sheen is brilliant, as we have come to expect, but Quaid's Clinton is perhaps the greater surprise because he gets well beyond the charm."
—
Sydney Morning Herald
Posted Aug 6, 2010
|
|
4/5
|
86%
|
Inception (2010) |
"
It is irritating for an hour, being so gloomily lit that you need fog lights, then it opens up into a marvellously inventive, somewhat silly but enjoyable heist movie, with a good cast doing things I doubt even they could explain."
—
Sydney Morning Herald
Posted Jul 21, 2010
|
|
4/5
|
65%
|
The Horseman on the Roof (1996) |
"
It's an admirably restrained film, even in the violence. Don't misunderstand: things get very rough, but not in every scene, and not until necessary."
—
Sydney Morning Herald
Posted Jul 7, 2010
|
|
4/5
|
88%
|
The Hedgehog (2011) |
"
It's a surprising film, largely because of the way it successfully combines these odd elements: three misfits in the enclosed, strictly hierarchical world of an elegant old Parisian building."
—
Sydney Morning Herald
Posted Jul 6, 2010
|
|
4/5
|
97%
|
Animal Kingdom (2010) |
"
An extraordinarily tense, menacing film set in a Melbourne crime family in the recent past."
—
Sydney Morning Herald
Posted Jun 8, 2010
|
66%
——
96%
