|
5/10
|
52%
|
This is 40 (2012) |
"
In trying to please everyone he satisfies no one and, far from being brave, the fleeting concerns of This Is 40 are closer to cowardly. "
—
The Sunday Age
Posted Jan 16, 2013
|
|
5/10
|
69%
|
Liberal Arts (2012) |
"
Radnor's problem stems from his casting prowess: Jenkins, Janney and Olsen are all so pleasurably adept in their parts that the film's star suffers by comparison. Jesse needs more than Josh Radnor's glibness. "
—
The Sunday Age
Posted Dec 12, 2012
|
|
6/10
|
74%
|
Rise of the Guardians (2012) |
"
Rise of the Guardians is both reasonably quirky and mildly serious. It wants children to believe there's more to animation than fast food tie-ins. "
—
The Sunday Age
Posted Dec 12, 2012
|
|
5/10
|
51%
|
Trouble with the Curve (2012) |
"
Hopefully, this decent but uncomplicated movie isn't a final acting hurrah for Clint Eastwood. "
—
The Sunday Age
Posted Dec 7, 2012
|
|
6/10
|
92%
|
Skyfall (2012) |
"
Seen against the ineffectual backdrop of 2008's Quantum of Solace, this is a return to form but it doesn't exceed Craig's impressive debut as Bond in 2006's Casino Royale. "
—
The Sunday Age
Posted Nov 22, 2012
|
|
6/10
|
43%
|
Two Little Boys () |
"
With a backdrop of natural wonders and a suitably ironic deployment of familiar Kiwi pop hits, Two Little Boys strikes a fair balance between the outlandish and the recognisable. "
—
The Sunday Age
Posted Nov 14, 2012
|
|
7/10
|
86%
|
The Master (2012) |
"
It drags a touch in the middle, and the final scene as epilogue - a Paul Thomas Anderson staple - is unduly perplexing, but the movie exerts an undeniable hold. It's difficult not to believe. "
—
The Sunday Age
Posted Nov 8, 2012
|
|
8/10
|
75%
|
Killing Them Softly (2012) |
"
Dominik's film is bleak but nonetheless perceptive and arresting. Crime still pays, just not like it used to. "
—
The Sunday Age
Posted Oct 12, 2012
|
|
3/5
|
93%
|
Shadow Dancer (2013) |
"
Marsh improves the movie from the page to the screen. What's shown is often more striking than what's said, but in the perpetual subterfuge of Shadow Dancer that can't fully distinguish a familiar plot from its numerous predecessors."
—
sbs.com.au
Posted Oct 12, 2012
|
|
2.5/5
|
43%
|
The Wedding Party () |
"
The Wedding Party may well have been a better film if the underdone premise of the fake wedding had been done away with altogether, because the movie is more interesting when it picks at the foibles and fears that gather around these couples."
—
sbs.com.au
Posted Oct 12, 2012
|
|
5/10
|
21%
|
Taken 2 (2012) |
"
Unfortunately, most of the action is overzealously edited, to the point of incomprehensibility, but Neeson's purposefulness and menacing voice provide the framework for a performance. "
—
The Sunday Age
Posted Oct 4, 2012
|
|
3/5
|
40%
|
Mental (2013) |
"
Mental's flaws are never fatal, and its commitment to an unhinged, sometimes episodic, contrast between the crass and the poignant is a welcome comeback from a filmmaker whose Hollywood sojourn became increasingly straitjacketed. "
—
The Sunday Age
Posted Oct 2, 2012
|
|
6/10
|
45%
|
On the Road (2012) |
"
While the film is lacking in connective tissue, Stewart and Hedlund go a long way to transcending the flaws. When they dance at one point, dusted with sweat and pleasure, On the Road truly moves. They're completely on the Beat."
—
The Sunday Age
Posted Sep 27, 2012
|
|
4/5
|
92%
|
Lore (2013) |
"
It may have taken eight years, but Cate Shortland has tied the most personal of themes to a historic perspective and each manages to deepen and inform the other. "
—
The Sunday Age
Posted Sep 20, 2012
|
|
2/5
|
47%
|
Bait (2012) |
"
Bait 3D needs to put aside the forced poignancy and attain full great bad movie status. Or at least let the sharks eat more characters. "
—
The Sunday Age
Posted Sep 20, 2012
|
|
4/5
|
86%
|
Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012) |
"
Beasts of the Southern Wild is raucous and deliberately affecting - the talent lies in making that transformation appear offhand and improvised, as if it's unfolding on the spot. "
—
The Sunday Age
Posted Sep 13, 2012
|
|
2.5/5
|
48%
|
Hit & Run (2012) |
"
In Hit & Run the talk is better than the torque. "
—
The Sunday Age
Posted Sep 6, 2012
|
|
1.5/5
|
26%
|
Kath & Kimderella () |
"
The show's creators have attempted to make a stand-alone movie moderately distinct from the small-screen episodes. It's a welcome idea but unfortunately the execution is so deeply flawed that the film suffers mightily. "
—
The Sunday Age
Posted Aug 30, 2012
|
|
|
94%
|
Moonrise Kingdom (2012) |
"
Moonrise Kingdom, which the director wrote with regular collaborator Roman Coppola, feels like his most emotionally honest work since his 1998 breakthrough, Rushmore. "
—
The Sunday Age
Posted Aug 30, 2012
|
|
1/5
|
86%
|
Careless Love () |
"
Careless Love leaves you wincing at its numerous shortcomings. "
—
The Age (Australia)
Posted May 16, 2012
|
|
3/5
|
83%
|
Wish You Were Here (2013) |
"
The underdone ending is what prevents a good film being a great one. "
—
The Age (Australia)
Posted Apr 26, 2012
|
|
4/5
|
79%
|
The Deep Blue Sea (2012) |
"
The plot is formulaic; the power lies elsewhere. "
—
The Age (Australia)
Posted Apr 11, 2012
|
|
3.5/5
|
80%
|
Goodbye First Love (2012) |
"
The film is quiet and accumulative, staying with its subject through emotional outpourings and everyday transactions; the audience is embedded. "
—
Sydney Morning Herald
Posted Apr 4, 2012
|
|
4.5/5
|
99%
|
This Is Not a Film (2012) |
"
It's hard to think of a more powerfully uplifting and resonant finale in a film released this year. The title's black satire becomes superfluous, with This is Not a Film revealed as the most heartfelt act of defiance."
—
sbs.com.au
Posted Nov 10, 2011
|
|
3.5/5
|
100%
|
Autoluminescent: Rowland S. Howard () |
"
Autoluminescent has an unspoken sense that he was an uncertain proposition for those close to him. Whether that is compelling or cautionary may depend on if you're one of the true believers."
—
sbs.com.au
Posted Oct 27, 2011
|
|
3.5/5
|
85%
|
Contagion (2011) |
"
The film wraps up tightly and somewhat too quickly, but it's a delight to experience Soderbergh at the top of his game. "
—
sbs.com.au
Posted Oct 20, 2011
|
|
2.5/5
|
71%
|
Footloose (2011) |
"
Wormald and Hough don't look or dance like adolescents letting off steam; their professionalism overwhelms what should be a simple pleasure. The film sometimes has the same problem."
—
The Age (Australia)
Posted Oct 12, 2011
|
|
3/5
|
73%
|
The Whistleblower (2011) |
"
[Weisz's] restraint offers a cold, evaluative gaze that makes what transpires all the more telling, and in the absence of direction that can make something more out of these elements than just condemnation, that becomes a strength."
—
sbs.com.au
Posted Sep 29, 2011
|
|
2.5/5
|
21%
|
Snow Flower And The Secret Fan (2011) |
"
Unfortunately that truth isn't illuminated with any originality: tearful confessions and pensive gazing out windows are commonplace."
—
The Age (Australia)
Posted Sep 21, 2011
|
|
3.5/5
|
87%
|
Submarine (2011) |
"
An idiosyncratic tone, one that is both funny and affecting, is far easier to sparingly strike than it is too maintain for the length of a feature. To his not inconsiderable credit, Richard Ayoade keeps a steady, if stylised, hand all the way through."
—
sbs.com.au
Posted Sep 8, 2011
|
|
3.5/5
|
95%
|
Pina (2011) |
"
3D feels suddenly human after you use it to watch Pina."
—
sbs.com.au
Posted Aug 19, 2011
|
|
3/5
|
81%
|
Red Dog (2012) |
"
This is the most widely appealing Australian film since Bran Nue Dae, complete with a lovely Bill Hunter cameo, and hopefully Koko gets a chance to work here again before he's whisked off the luxury kennels of Hollywood."
—
sbs.com.au
Posted Aug 4, 2011
|
|
3.5/5
|
89%
|
The Trip (2011) |
"
If the narrative is just a touch out of puff by the end, it's worth it for such subtly hilarious scenes along the way. With The Trip it really is the journey that matters, not the destination."
—
sbs.com.au
Posted Jun 30, 2011
|
|
3.5/5
|
77%
|
The Last Circus (2011) |
"
The director mixes and matches with mordant wit."
—
sbs.com.au
Posted Jun 23, 2011
|
|
2/5
|
13%
|
Main Street (2011) |
"
An unreleased movie is like a kind of commodity, one whose value goes up and down depending on the vagaries of circumstance."
—
sbs.com.au
Posted May 19, 2011
|
|
2.5/5
|
77%
|
In A Better World (2011) |
"
You can surrender to the skill of the filmmaking, and the nuanced performances of the ensemble, but nonetheless it's not an entirely convincing picture. It doesn't get a grip on you."
—
sbs.com.au
Posted Apr 1, 2011
|
|
3/5
|
62%
|
Griff the Invisible (2011) |
"
It doesn't make a lot of progress - to the point where you actually want more from the movie - but there's enough here to suggest that Ford has a promising future, while his leading man, expatriate cable star Ryan Kwanten, has genuine versatility."
—
sbs.com.au
Posted Mar 23, 2011
|
|
2.5/5
|
76%
|
The Reef (2010) |
"
The film is good at what it does, goes to plan and concludes in a modest 88 minutes. Yet if that's success, it's also a failing, for it's not particularly memorable or distinctive."
—
sbs.com.au
Posted Mar 17, 2011
|
|
1/5
|
0%
|
A Heartbeat Away (2010) |
"
Not only does [Edwards'] approach fail, it nosedives into terminal velocity, rendering A Heartbeat Away an annoying, close to distressing, viewing experience."
—
sbs.com.au
Posted Mar 17, 2011
|
|
1.5/5
|
43%
|
Faster (2010) |
"
A vicious revenge flick riddled with unfulfilled ambitions."
—
sbs.com.au
Posted Feb 3, 2011
|
|
3.5/5
|
96%
|
True Grit (2010) |
"
True Grit is as good as one of their minor works gets."
—
sbs.com.au
Posted Jan 27, 2011
|
|
2.5/5
|
24%
|
The Dilemma (2011) |
"
The film spends too long dancing around the problem's possibilities, but barely addresses the potential of the solution."
—
sbs.com.au
Posted Jan 13, 2011
|
|
3/5
|
69%
|
Heartbreaker (L'Arnacoeur) (2010) |
"
In being farcical instead of cute, Heartbreaker reveals itself as a welcome treat. It leaves you knowingly happy."
—
sbs.com.au
Posted Dec 23, 2010
|
|
2.5/5
|
10%
|
Little Fockers (2010) |
"
Nowhere near as good as 2000's Meet the Parents, but neither is it as dismal as the repetitive 2004 sequel Meet the Fockers."
—
sbs.com.au
Posted Dec 23, 2010
|
|
2.5/5
|
50%
|
Desert Flower (2011) |
"
It cannot get past the simplest of outlooks, with Waris as victim, survivor or star; there's little insight into she really is."
—
sbs.com.au
Posted Dec 8, 2010
|
|
2.5/5
|
53%
|
Agora (2010) |
"
Earnest but dull, Agora is about the clash of science and religion, but the filmmaking elements never quite create the necessary sparks."
—
sbs.com.au
Posted Nov 18, 2010
|
|
3/5
|
97%
|
GasLand (2010) |
"
GasLand works by effectively reminding you of that in slightly different ways again and again. It's not subtle, but it's effective."
—
sbs.com.au
Posted Nov 18, 2010
|
|
0.5/5
|
72%
|
Machete (2010) |
"
A dreadful effort, a loud and self-satisfied movie that is brazenly short-sighted."
—
sbs.com.au
Posted Nov 10, 2010
|
|
3.5/5
|
90%
|
The Messenger (2009) |
"
The two leads give nuanced, lived in performances that unfold slowly but with certain determination."
—
sbs.com.au
Posted Nov 10, 2010
|
78%
——
——
85%
45%
40%
