The Age (Australia)

Tomatometer-approved publication
Rating Title/Year Author
2.5/5 Fantasy Island (2020) Jake Wilson There's a degree of strain and tedium in the effort to convince us the story ultimately makes sense. Perhaps Wadlow's next project, Magic 8-Ball, will be his breakthrough. For the moment, however, his fantasy of making a good movie remains unfulfilled. EDIT
Posted Feb 13, 2020
3.5/5 Richard Jewell (2019) Jake Wilson This is, frankly, a political film and it's no secret that Eastwood is not exactly on the left, but, ever the pragmatist, he leaves room for multiple readings. EDIT
Posted Feb 12, 2020
3/5 Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (2020) Jake Wilson It hardly needs saying that Robbie aces the role and she's not only a gifted clown, but one of the most intriguingly modern of Hollywood stars. EDIT
Posted Feb 6, 2020
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) Erle Cox (The Chiel) It is not often that a film that is heralded by a blast of trumpets lives up to Its reputation, but this picture does all that, and more. EDIT
Posted Feb 5, 2020
An American in Paris (1951) Bruce Grant The appeal of the film is its music; its dancing arid its carefree charm. EDIT
Posted Feb 5, 2020
All About Eve (1950) D.J.B. Never has a film, both in story and in technique, been brought more closely to the stage than All About Eve... Its appeal and its success depend almost entirely on gesture and conversation. EDIT
Posted Feb 5, 2020
3.5/5 Color Out of Space (2019) Jake Wilson Cage in particular is very much in his element, proving his reputation as an undisciplined weirdo is less than deserved. His performance is one long freakout, but a carefully calibrated one, escalating as the situation deteriorates. EDIT
Posted Feb 5, 2020
Wings (1927) Age Staff The picture bears the compelling stamp of truth. No film previously shown here has attempted to depict on so large a scale, or with such verity, the part played by aeroplanes in the war. EDIT
Posted Feb 4, 2020
From Here to Eternity (1953) J.B. McA It is not a pretty picture, with its drunkenness, brawls, illicit affairs, bullyings and subservience to rank, but it is a true picture, and that is what matters most. EDIT
Posted Feb 4, 2020
You Can't Take It With You (1938) Age Staff Here Is a brilliant production, blending philosophy and farce in a play of Ideas. EDIT
Posted Jan 29, 2020
3/5 The Peanut Butter Falcon (2019) Jake Wilson As calculated as the film might be, it's hard to dislike. And while Nilson and Schwartz use Gottsagen's sincerity as a guarantee of their own good intentions, this never feels as exploitative as it might have. EDIT
Posted Jan 29, 2020
3/5 A Hidden Life (2019) Jake Wilson The drama lacks inner tension. Rather than wrestling with himself, as other Malick heroes do, Franz remains a noble waxwork helplessly true to his own convictions. EDIT
Posted Jan 29, 2020
Hamlet (1948) Erle Cox (The Chiel) Add to Sir Laurence as Hamlet a cast that is equal to each role, and we have the perfect production. EDIT
Posted Jan 28, 2020
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) Age Staff The production and photography arc amazingly good, and the acting flawless. EDIT
Posted Jan 27, 2020
Grand Hotel (1932) Age Staff Grand Hotel is superbly acted and finely produced. EDIT
Posted Jan 24, 2020
The Life of Emile Zola (1937) Age Staff Though Paul Muni's vital portrayal of the great French novelist dominates the scene, it is the Dreyfus affair, the performance of a miracle of Justice, which illumines our social consciousness, making us say, on reflection, "This is a great film." EDIT
Posted Jan 24, 2020
Cavalcade (1933) Age Staff It is a film that everyone should see. EDIT
Posted Jan 24, 2020
Gentleman's Agreement (1947) Erle Cox (The Chiel) The film is great stuff throughout, and Is well worth seeing. EDIT
Posted Jan 23, 2020
2/5 Underwater (2020) Jake Wilson The dream-like atmosphere must be partly intentional, if the recurring Alice in Wonderland references are anything to go by -- though it also seems like a result of sheer indifference to the many gaps in the script. EDIT
Posted Jan 23, 2020
All the King's Men (1949) Erle Cox (The Chiel) The cast Is tremendous, though only three or four carry the heavy end of the log. Broderick Crawford makes a very good job as Stark, whom he portrays as a likable U.S. reprobate, in whom there are still sparks of decency. EDIT
Posted Jan 21, 2020
Landfall (1949) Erle Cox (The Chiel) It makes good average entertainment. EDIT
Posted Jan 21, 2020
Ambush (1949) Erle Cox (The Chiel) As a story the show is melodrama, but as a. western it breaks new ground where It has been gone over so often one would have thought that no new ground existed. EDIT
Posted Jan 17, 2020
Savage Splendor (1949) Erle Cox (The Chiel) This one has an entertainment value far ahead of most of the commercial films. It Is real all through, and Is free from faking of any kind. EDIT
Posted Jan 17, 2020
1.5/5 Dolittle (2020) Jake Wilson An awful disappointment on all fronts: the dullest version of the material yet. EDIT
Posted Jan 16, 2020
3/5 My Spy (2020) Jake Wilson The charm of the film lies exactly in its mix of tones and genres: globetrotting action is pitted against domestic comedy, with the latter triumphing over the former. EDIT
Posted Jan 13, 2020
Untouchable (2019) Debi Enker The rise and fall of movie mogul Harvey Weinstein has been given a lot of coverage, but this thoughtful, probing and revealing feature-length documentary directed by Ursula Macfarlane adds a constructive perspective to the allegations about him. EDIT
Posted Jan 2, 2020
2/5 Spies in Disguise (2019) Jake Wilson The formula of Spies in Disguise doesn't exactly turn into sludge, but first-time directors Nick Bruno and Troy Quane don't have it quite perfect, either. EDIT
Posted Dec 30, 2019
() Age Staff The fire scenes, the gladiatorial exhibitions, and the loosing of a score or more of lions in the arena upon a band of martyrs were most realistic. EDIT
Posted Dec 26, 2019
4/5 Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019) Jake Wilson Despite the contained setting, the film has an epic quality, as well as a romantic intensity that marks a major leap forward from Sciamma's previous films Tomboy and Water Lillies. EDIT
Posted Dec 23, 2019
3.5/5 Sorry We Missed You (2019) Jake Wilson Loach in this mode is frankly a "message" director and there are all the usual things to be said against such an approach: that his characters are counters first and people second, and that he rigs the game. But he does all this on a high level. EDIT
Posted Dec 18, 2019
3/5 Black Christmas (2019) Jake Wilson All this threatens to veer towards the heavy-handed, but there's enough wit to make it work. There's a degree of visual style, too. EDIT
Posted Dec 12, 2019
2/5 The Whistleblower (2019) Jake Wilson The result is all over the map, in every sense. But despite the stilted acting and artless expository dialogue, the unpredictable shifts of gear hold attention over most if not all of the lengthy running time. EDIT
Posted Dec 11, 2019
1.5/5 The Two Popes (2019) Jake Wilson Well before its end, the film has settled into the groove of a corny buddy comedy so unreal that little trace remains of the serious issues at stake. EDIT
Posted Dec 5, 2019
4/5 Knives Out (2019) Jake Wilson Johnson's fancy style remains as appealing as ever, though his signature stylistic moves -- the rapid pans, the close-ups from low angles, the tricks with focus -- are by now as recognizable as the line of a cartoonist. EDIT
Posted Nov 27, 2019
2/5 I Am No Bird (2019) Jake Wilson I Am No Bird contains much to mull over, but not always with a sense that Baker has been able to shape her material into a cohesive narrative or argument. EDIT
Posted Nov 14, 2019
3.5/5 The Report (2019) Jake Wilson Ultimately, the film is a character study as much as anything else -- focused, obviously, on Americans, not on the actual victims of torture. Burns has been lucky in his actors, starting with Driver, whose performance is one long slow burn. EDIT
Posted Nov 14, 2019
3.5/5 Marriage Story (2019) Jake Wilson You can feel the actors' joy in playing these long, almost theatrical scenes -- and the director's joy in seeing them take the script to a new level. EDIT
Posted Nov 13, 2019
() Age Staff The general setting out of the story is good, and the artists know their business. EDIT
Posted Nov 7, 2019
The Furies (2019) Jake Wilson The effort to combine sermonising and sadism at worst feels hypocritical, and even at best has a vaguely self-congratulatory air. After all, many earlier horror films have addressed similar themes without being so heavy-handed about it. EDIT
Posted Nov 6, 2019
2.5/5 Doctor Sleep (2019) Jake Wilson With Doctor Sleep, no room is left to doubt that the good characters merit sympathy and the bad ones deserve to suffer. That would be fine in a fairytale, if it were short and sweet enough, but it seems a meagre vision for two and a half hours. EDIT
Posted Nov 6, 2019
4.5/5 The Irishman (2019) Jake Wilson The Irishman is pure cinema, all three and a half hours of it - and one of Scorsese's jazziest, most difficult films, borrowing from many sources while riffing freely though often mournfully on the themes and techniques of his previous crime epics. EDIT
Posted Nov 6, 2019
3.5/5 47 Meters Down: Uncaged (2019) Jake Wilson The film ups the ante on its predecessor, resulting in a pure, rather beautiful example of genre as ritual. EDIT
Posted Oct 30, 2019
3/5 Terminator: Dark Fate (2019) Jake Wilson That Hamilton has kept a low profile in recent times gives an edge to her performance, which suggests that she, like her character, feels no need to ingratiate herself with anybody. EDIT
Posted Oct 29, 2019
3/5 Ready or Not (2019) Jake Wilson There's no attempt to be seriously disturbing, or to offer us anything more than a macabre good time. Still, on that level the film delivers. EDIT
Posted Oct 24, 2019
1.5/5 Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (2019) Jake Wilson Jolie seems utterly trapped by the narrow conception of the role, which requires her to speak in a clipped British accent and keep emotional display to a minimum. Sometimes her stiffness is played for laughs, sometimes she's just stiff. EDIT
Posted Oct 17, 2019
4/5 A Thousand Thoughts (2018) Karl Quinn It's an ambitious project that teeters on the edge of preciousness without ever toppling. As a hybrid form, though, it sometimes leaves you wishing it could make up its mind and just be one thing or the other. EDIT
Posted Oct 15, 2019
3.5/5 Gemini Man (2019) Jake Wilson This is a film to ponder; once again leaving the impression that Lee is an adult among children -- or to put it another way: one of the few interesting artists still at work in mainstream Hollywood. EDIT
Posted Oct 9, 2019
4/5 The Souvenir (2019) Jake Wilson Hogg's lighter touch discourages easy judgment. Despite this she has a knack for the kind of vignette that speaks volumes about a relationship. EDIT
Posted Oct 2, 2019
2.5/5 Joker (2019) Jake Wilson [Joaquin Phoenix] never manages to make Arthur into a coherent person, partly because it's hard to see this schmuck as any kind of future arch-villain and partly because the film's thesis is kept broad and vague. EDIT
Posted Oct 2, 2019
2/5 The Goldfinch (2019) Jake Wilson The Goldfinch is an unmistakable fiasco, pretentious and incoherent even on its own terms. EDIT
Posted Sep 25, 2019