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2.5/4
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The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
(2005)
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Megan Spencer
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It is [America Ferrara] -- this extraordinarily confident and accomplished young actress -- who grounds this film in something real, giving it a much-needed boot up the pant, making each moment she's on screen powerful and a pleasure to watch.
Posted Mar 13, 2023
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3.5/4
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Wild Things
(1998)
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David Stratton
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Throughout all the devious twists and turns of the plot, McNaughton keeps the temperature on the boil, with a directorial style that's firmly over the top, deliberately and joyously melodramatic.
Posted Feb 02, 2023
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4.5/5
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The Big Lebowski
(1998)
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David Stratton
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In the wake of the wonderful Fargo, Joel and Ethan Coen have made a delightfully quirky comedy comparable to their second feature, Raising Arizona.
Posted Jan 20, 2023
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Black Book
(2006)
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Travis Johnson
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Black Book may be Paul Verhoeven's most visceral film, and that's saying something.
Posted Jan 17, 2022
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Sword of Trust
(2019)
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Travis Johnson
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a perfectly formed, drily witty, indie comedy that uses an outrageous situation to highlight some essential truths - and necessary falsehoods - about how we live with and love each other.
Posted Jan 03, 2022
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Black Sea
(2014)
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Travis Johnson
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Black Sea isn't so much a film as a yarn or a ripping tale; one of those classical adventure movies seemingly designed to be viewed on a lazy Sunday afternoon after a big lunch.
Posted Oct 27, 2021
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Red Sun
(1972)
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Travis Johnson
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A weird but plausible Western from one of the fathers of modern action cinema, with a stacked international cast.
Posted Oct 24, 2021
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The Fog
(1980)
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Travis Johnson
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Carpenter, a rather minimalist, formally restrained filmmaker even when employing the grand guignol excesses of The Thing, knows when to let pure story do the work, and The Fog is a story about stories.
Posted Oct 24, 2021
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The Commitments
(1991)
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Travis Johnson
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At base The Commitments is about the common experiences and emotions that unite us.
Posted Oct 24, 2021
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Cooties
(2014)
|
Travis Johnson
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People straight up react badly when you kill kids.
Posted Oct 24, 2021
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Suspiria
(2018)
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Travis Johnson
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...revels in its differences as much as its similarities, wringing new and complex thematic material from the same basic narrative.
Posted Oct 24, 2021
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Mad Bastards
(2011)
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Travis Johnson
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Contrasts stunning outback landscapes with a raw, observational approach to its characters and their situations, the result being a heady mix of the epic and intimate.
Posted Sep 13, 2021
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Broke
(2016)
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Travis Johnson
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An uncommonly humane movie about what happens after you hit rock bottom.
Posted Sep 13, 2021
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The Painter and the Thief
(2020)
|
Travis Johnson
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To be seen, to be heard, to be accepted - isn't that all anyone really wants?
Posted Sep 02, 2021
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Ema
(2019)
|
Lynden Barber
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You may love it or hate it or find yourself conflicted. You probably won't forget it easily.
Posted May 24, 2021
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2.5/5
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Liar's Dice
(2014)
|
Michelle Orange
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Both Thapa and Siddiqui glower very well, I believed every dark flicker, but the tension between their characters barely moves past its original, obvious form.
Posted Mar 19, 2021
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4.5/5
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The Boys
(1998)
|
David Stratton
|
Sewell and Woods also know exactly how much to show - and what not to show - for maximum dramatic effect.
Posted Jul 15, 2020
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2.5/5
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Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same
(2011)
|
Craig Mathieson
|
An amusing, if occasionally intermittent, mash-up of the quirky American indie romance and a 1950s sci-fi B-movie.
Posted May 29, 2020
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3.5/5
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These Final Hours
(2013)
|
Rochelle Siemienowicz
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These Final Hours may be that rare beast -- a low budget Australian film that could satisfy a multiplex audience in search of an edge-of-the-seat thrill.
Posted Apr 08, 2020
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The Endless
(2017)
|
Dan Barrett
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This is a low-fi, buttoned-down, and intensely creepy film that will linger on your mind for months to come.
Posted Feb 14, 2019
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4/5
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Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
(2018)
|
Dan Barrett
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After seeing the results here, one can't help but wish all of the live-action films were as visually inventive and lively as Into The Spider-Verse. It's the most shamelessly fun movie you'll see in 2018.
Posted Feb 14, 2019
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2.5/5
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The Notebook
(2004)
|
Megan Spencer
|
The Notebook is the kind of syrupy, heightened melodrama more likely to be found in the pages of a Mills & Boon paperback than on the silver screen.
Posted Feb 02, 2019
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3/5
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I, Robot
(2004)
|
Megan Spencer
|
It's not as dazzling or thrilling a blend between realism and fantasy as Minority Report or even Hollow Man, but it certainly is an easy film to watch and to at times get lost in.
Posted Dec 15, 2018
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4/5
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Lady Bird
(2017)
|
Rochelle Siemienowicz
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Lady Bird's depiction of the intense and difficult relationship between a commonsense mother and her whimsical daughter is pitch perfect in its mix of love, disappointment and resentment.
Posted Feb 16, 2018
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3.5/5
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Black Panther
(2018)
|
Nick Bhasin
|
Lupita Nyong'o and Danai Gurira, who play Nakia and Okoye respectively, are particularly fierce, especially in their numerous fight scenes, a rarity for women in a superhero movie outside of Wonder Woman.
Posted Feb 15, 2018
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3/5
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Cold Souls
(2009)
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Simon Foster
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Barthes' first film indicates a fearless, imaginative writer/director with a great deal more to offer audiences with her future projects; if Cold Souls isn't always easy to warm to, it certainly lights the fire of a talent worth watching.
Posted Feb 06, 2018
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4/5
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All the Money in the World
(2017)
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Rochelle Siemienowicz
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Minor quibbles aside, All the Money in the World is a well-structured, effective and engaging thriller that takes us deep inside the paradoxical and eternally fascinating psychology of the very rich.
Posted Jan 03, 2018
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4/5
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Call Me by Your Name
(2017)
|
Rochelle Siemienowicz
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The biggest achievement of Call Me by Your Name is that it manages to depict something universal about first love and first loss...
Posted Dec 27, 2017
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3.5/5
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Star Wars: The Last Jedi
(2017)
|
Craig Mathieson
|
The dialogue is peppered with droll admissions and Star Wars-savvy sarcasm, which helps to prick the heroic sweep so common to these trilogies.
Posted Dec 14, 2017
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2/5
|
Jolly LLB
(2013)
|
Russell Edwards
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The ill-fitted nature of the film's limp comical jibes, and this odd finale, suggest Kapoor (and his producers) may have deliberately toned down the strong material for fear of retribution.
Posted Dec 12, 2017
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4.5/5
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The Disaster Artist
(2017)
|
Dan Barrett
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This is an absolute crowd-pleaser that will have you laughing harder than most studio comedies.
Posted Nov 22, 2017
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I Still Hide to Smoke
(2016)
|
Amal Awad
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It's a reminder of why we watch stories.
Posted Nov 14, 2017
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Solitaire
(2016)
|
Amal Awad
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... director Sophie Boutros delivers a colourful and humorous exploration of a tragic-comic life.
Posted Nov 14, 2017
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4/5
|
Thor: Ragnarok
(2017)
|
Anthony Morris
|
Increasingly, it's obvious that much of the Marvel universe works best when it goes big and silly: Thor: Ragnarok is about as big and silly as a Marvel movie is ever going to get.
Posted Nov 02, 2017
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3/5
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Suburbicon
(2017)
|
Rochelle Siemienowicz
|
Suburbicon feels obvious and lazy and sometimes downright nasty.
Posted Nov 02, 2017
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3.5/5
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Kabhi Kabhie
(1976)
|
Peter Galvin
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Since there are so many moments in Kabhi Kabhie that are really wonderful it's easy to dismiss anything that might appear dated.
Posted Oct 30, 2017
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2.5/5
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Tees Maar Khan
(2010)
|
Peter Galvin
|
The screenwriters manage to redeem Khan; but it's not quite enough to save the movie, which, given the velocity of the frantic action, should have played brisk and buoyant.
Posted Oct 30, 2017
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2.5/5
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Raavan
(2010)
|
Simon Foster
|
This melodramatic mishmash fails to deliver.
Posted Oct 30, 2017
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3.5/5
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The World Before Her
(2012)
|
Craig Mathieson
|
Tradition and fashion, history and the future, politics and consumerism - these are the conflicts of this strong documentary.
Posted Oct 30, 2017
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4/5
|
Good Time
(2017)
|
Anthony Morris
|
... Good Time always leaves just enough room between the dramatics for the characters to reveal their humanity.
Posted Oct 12, 2017
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3/5
|
It
(2017)
|
Anthony Morris
|
While the idea of a "creepy clown' is pretty much an oxymoron - just put a regular clown out there and the creeps will flow naturally - Skarsgård's performance gives Pennywise some much-needed shading between the jump scares.
Posted Sep 06, 2017
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Gallipoli
(1981)
|
Dave Crewe
|
One of Australia's enduring cinematic artefacts.
Posted Jul 07, 2017
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3.5/5
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Una
(2016)
|
Rochelle Siemienowicz
|
There's no denying this is uncomfortable, claustrophobic viewing, as it should be. But for all the film's efforts to transport the story from stage to screen, there's still something inescapably stagey and static about Una.
Posted Jun 22, 2017
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3/5
|
Wilson
(2017)
|
Anthony Morris
|
It's a brave way to structure a film, and the sentimental side gradually undercuts the laughs until all that's left is a vague warm feeling towards a character we'd flee from in real life.
Posted Jun 01, 2017
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4/5
|
Wonder Woman
(2017)
|
Rochelle Siemienowicz
|
What makes Wonder Woman work so well is the character of Diana herself, who's written and performed with the kind of emotional intelligence that's rare in these kinds of films.
Posted Jun 01, 2017
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3.5/5
|
The Book of Birdie
(2017)
|
Rochelle Siemienowicz
|
Despite being a film soaked in blood, obsessed with blood, The Book of Birdie, the debut feature from UK-based writer-director Elizabeth E. Schuch manages to be lusciously pretty. It's gorgeous, actually, and unstintingly feminine.
Posted May 25, 2017
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4/5
|
Dearest Sister: Nong Hak
(2016)
|
Rochelle Siemienowicz
|
A superb slow-burn supernatural thriller that's as much a portrait of contemporary Lao class differences, as it is an effectively spooky domestic chiller.
Posted May 18, 2017
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3/5
|
Don't Tell
(2017)
|
Anthony Morris
|
This is Lyndal's story and West gives a searing performance as a young woman clutching at her last chance to try to make things right.
Posted May 18, 2017
|
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5/5
|
Purple Rain
(1984)
|
Alexandra Heller-Nicholas
|
The film is a love letter to collaboration, to passion, and to the power of music: this is Prince's legacy, brought to life nowhere more memorably than in Purple Rain.
Posted May 11, 2017
|
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3.5/5
|
Alien: Covenant
(2017)
|
Anthony Morris
|
This is the closest thing to a straight-up Alien remake the series has seen yet.
Posted May 11, 2017
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