The Age (Australia)

Tomatometer-approved publication
Rating Title/Year Author
3/5 I Care a Lot (2020) Jake Wilson As a tricky tonal balancing act with Pike's performance at the centre, the bulk of the film succeeds almost better than you could hope. EDIT
Posted Feb 24, 2021
The Hitch-Hiker (1953) Brian McArdle Talman's portrayal of evil incarnate is a finely sustained performance that is bound to assault the nerves of even the hardest-bitten film-goer. EDIT
Posted Feb 23, 2021
3/5 The Little Things (2021) Jake Wilson Often enough that there are two ways to respond to The Little Things: you can yawn at its star going through the same old routine, or you can appreciate how he's got it down to a fine art. EDIT
Posted Feb 17, 2021
Babes in Arms (1939) Age Staff Should there have been any doubt in your mind as to the progress of the 19-year-old comedian Mickey Rooney, Babes in Arms... with Judy Garland and Charles Winninger starred also, will set it at rest. EDIT
Posted Feb 12, 2021
2.5/5 Synchronic (2019) Jake Wilson Less successfully realized is the bond between the two heroes. Dornan is not as badly miscast here as he was in Fifty Shades of Grey, but Dennis is never a terribly engaging character. EDIT
Posted Feb 10, 2021
Casablanca (1942) Age Staff It has exciting story to unfold - and it does at a tempo that allows no slackening of suspense; It has a solid quota of romance, plenty of skilful characterisation, a fair issue of comedy, and, into the bargain, it has the exotic background of Casablanca. EDIT
Posted Feb 10, 2021
Merton of the Movies (1924) Age Staff A story of human aspirations, heartaches and disappointments, and blended in it is some delightful comedy. EDIT
Posted Feb 5, 2021
2.5/5 Palmer (2021) Jake Wilson To its credit, the film never jumps to glib conclusions about who Sam is or might become. Nor can I doubt that its heart is in the right place, even if there's a degree of hokey sentimentality in the premise. EDIT
Posted Feb 3, 2021
3.5/5 The Nest (2020) Jake Wilson It's more adult, absorbing and carefully made than most current releases, and the central subject -- how a preoccupation with status or material success can lead to disaster -- may well feel uncomfortably close to home. EDIT
Posted Feb 3, 2021
The Defiant Ones (1958) Age Staff It is a film full of the sounds of fury, and it deals, through a cleverly contrived situation, with the necessity for racial co-operation. EDIT
Posted Jan 29, 2021
3.5/5 Malcolm & Marie (2021) Jake Wilson For all Levinson's attention to the ever-shifting "discourse" around cinema, there's something quite traditional if not outright old-fashioned in his portrayal of the relation between a male artist and his rebellious muse. EDIT
Posted Jan 22, 2021
The End of the Storm (2020) Craig Mathieson Liverpool fans will enjoy this triumphant summation, but any football follower would find Klopp informative. EDIT
Posted Jan 21, 2021
3.5/5 () Craig Mathieson Then and now is a powerful force here if you have memories of these acts. EDIT
Posted Jan 21, 2021
1.5/5 Music (2021) Jake Wilson The equivalent to a pop-up bar furnished with hastily assembled knick-knacks from the 1990s, in desperate hope we might assume the randomness was somehow by design. Utterly consistent, however, is the commitment to cloying whimsy. EDIT
Posted Jan 13, 2021
The Private Life of Helen of Troy (1927) Age Staff The picture is well produced, and there are some fine mob scenes in it. EDIT
Posted Jan 7, 2021
3.5/5 Belushi (2020) Craig Mathieson The barrier that looms over so many posthumous artist biographies isn't broken through here, but Cutler's documentary does get you close up so you can feel the texture and sense the breadth of that wall. EDIT
Posted Jan 5, 2021
3/5 Monster Hunter (2020) Jake Wilson What does merit taking seriously is the screen presence of Jovovich -- an action icon easily up there with Keanu Reeves, in some respects her male equivalent. EDIT
Posted Jan 5, 2021
1.5/5 A Call to Spy (2019) Jake Wilson Given the potential of the material, there's no excuse for the dullness of A Call To Spy, a film as clumsy as its title. EDIT
Posted Dec 28, 2020
3/5 Wonder Woman 1984 (2020) Jake Wilson Gadot as Wonder Woman -- or Diana Prince, as she's more commonly known -- may be the single best piece of casting in a superhero role since Christopher Reeve first donned the cape and spandex of the Man of Steel. EDIT
Posted Dec 28, 2020
The Man With the Golden Arm (1955) Colin Bennett The film is a morally courageous, if unsavory, achievement. EDIT
Posted Dec 22, 2020
2.5/5 Dreamland (2019) Jake Wilson The squared-off framing and lateral tracking shots suggest a study of modern film school favorites like Wes Anderson and Bong Joon-ho. While all this might be taken to signal a facetious distance from the material, irony and cynicism are curiously absent. EDIT
Posted Dec 18, 2020
3.5/5 Cedar Boys (2009) Jim Schembri Clearly an admirer of Jules Dassin (Topkapi, Rififi), director Serhat Caradee shows skill at building tension through stillness, often filling quiet scenes with long, uneasy pauses that suggest bloodshed is just one wrong word away. EDIT
Posted Dec 18, 2020
The Joy Luck Club (1993) Neil Jillet The Joy Luck Club has greater emotional power when it becomes more intimate. This inspires the film's best performances, both by women playing Ying Ying Yu Fei Hong [France Nuyen and Faye Yu]. EDIT
Posted Dec 17, 2020
Heartbreak Ridge (1986) Mike Daly There are no surprises in films like Heartbreak Ridge, only catharsis. Like war and contact sport, they release the pent-up aggression of adolescent males. Never mind the cliches, feel the muscle. EDIT
Posted Dec 14, 2020
Howard the Duck (1986) Michael Shmith This creature with a mobile bill, scrawny body, and with a voice like Humphrey Bogart proves irritating beyond belief. Also, Howard has the glassy eyes of a doll and an artificiality that even his brusque, wise-quacking manner cannot quite conceal. EDIT
Posted Dec 14, 2020
Daughter of Shanghai (1937) Age Staff The means by which the leaders of this illicit traffic are discovered and finally brought to justice is shown in an exciting and absorbing film. Anna May Wong is splendid. EDIT
Posted Dec 11, 2020
Rudeboy: The Story of Trojan Records (2018) Kylie Northover It's much more than a tale of a savvy business idea - it's a joyous celebration of Britain's first multicultural pop movement. EDIT
Posted Dec 10, 2020
2.5/5 Roald Dahl's The Witches (2020) Jake Wilson Who could improve on the regal fury of Anjelica Huston?... Certainly not Anne Hathaway, whose performance in this remake, by comparison, has more than a tinge of the high school drama club. EDIT
Posted Dec 10, 2020
2.5/5 The Furnace (2020) Jake Wilson MacKay is not lacking in talent, but for a first-time director he may have taken on a little too much. While the scattered quality of the storytelling may be partly deliberate, a bigger problem is the lack of consistent tone. EDIT
Posted Dec 10, 2020
Gentleman Jim (1942) Age Staff Saved chiefly by a few comedy sequences and an attractive girl from being a continual boxing, match, Gentleman Jim is a film which will be appreciated only by keen supporters of the sport. EDIT
Posted Dec 8, 2020
3.5/5 Oliver Sacks: His Own Life (2019) Jake Wilson Despite the relatively conventional filmmaking, what comes through most strongly in this portrait is Sacks' uniqueness -- a quality, as he said himself, which he shared with everyone else who has ever lived. EDIT
Posted Dec 4, 2020
4 Devils (1928) Age Staff So naturally are the sound effects rendered -- applause, expressions of alarm and so on -- that complete illusion results. EDIT
Posted Dec 3, 2020
2.5/5 Happiest Season (2020) Jake Wilson Happiest Season sets itself the challenge of acknowledging pain and conflict while somehow finding its way to a unifying happy end. But the sentiment here never feels earned, especially as much of the writing is broad to the point of crudity. EDIT
Posted Nov 30, 2020
A Night at the Opera (1935) Age Staff This is pantomime at its best, and the greatest clown of the three is Harpo. EDIT
Posted Nov 19, 2020
3/5 Mank (2020) Jake Wilson Mank feels like a project undertaken for obscure personal reasons, which perhaps never had much chance of artistic success. At the least, though, it's an unusually ambitious and interesting failure. EDIT
Posted Nov 19, 2020
The Whistler (1944) Age Staff Unfortunately, it has been handled by a script writer and director with barely an original thought between them, so that it is developed in a drab, routine manner. EDIT
Posted Nov 19, 2020
Andy Hardy's Blonde Trouble (1944) Age Staff This is the 14th of the Hardy films, and most fllmgoers should know by now whether it is likely to toe their cup of tea. EDIT
Posted Nov 19, 2020
Sweet Rosie O'Grady (1943) Age Staff It is in technicolor, and this fact, combined with the period dressing and lavish sets, imparts some charm to the production. EDIT
Posted Nov 18, 2020
The Seventh Cross (1944) Age Staff [Spencer Tracy's] acting, always sincere, is consistently compelling, despite the fact that the theme of Anna Segher's best seller "The Seventh Cross," is not without its limitations. EDIT
Posted Nov 18, 2020
Now, Voyager (1942) Age Staff Bette Davis, as the neurotic daughter, Claude Rains, the doctor, and Paul Henreid, combine to make a fine production. EDIT
Posted Nov 18, 2020
Double Indemnity (1944) Age Staff A melodrama of first-rate standard. EDIT
Posted Nov 18, 2020
Home of the Brave (1949) Erle Cox (The Chiel) James Edwards, who plays Pete Moss in the film, does a really first class lob. EDIT
Posted Nov 16, 2020
The Legion of the Condemned (1928) Age Staff The final scenes in the drama are both exciting and interesting. EDIT
Posted Nov 12, 2020
3.5/5 Freaky (2020) Jake Wilson Newton is up to the task of embodying a relentless "murder Barbie," but most of the comedy is assigned to Vaughn, more enthusiastically committed here than in many of his recent roles. EDIT
Posted Nov 12, 2020
On the Rocks (2020) Jake Wilson In her best film in close to a decade, Sofia Coppola tries at long last to imagine some version of adulthood, in the most equivocal possible way. EDIT
Posted Oct 30, 2020
The Brood (1979) Jake Wilson One of the films that gave rise to the term "body horror," David Cronenberg's 1979 shocker is a characteristic mix of the sombre, the wacky and the viscerally grotesque. EDIT
Posted Oct 30, 2020
The Pit and the Pendulum (1961) Jake Wilson Roger Corman is legendary as a B-movie producer, but his less-heralded gifts as a director are displayed in this 1961 entry in his series of fantasia on themes from Edgar Allan Poe, staged with an elegance that belies the low budget and lurid content. EDIT
Posted Oct 30, 2020
Passport to Pimlico (1949) Jake Wilson A near-perfect expression of the lightly anarchistic ethos associated with Britain's Ealing studio, with a host of great character actors and a script by... TEB Clarke that stands as a model of how to develop an absurd situation step by step. EDIT
Posted Oct 30, 2020
Pauline at the Beach (1983) Jake Wilson Flawlessly constructed as usual, this 1983 instalment in Eric Rohmer's Comedies and Proverbs series is one of his most sensual films - and one of his saddest. EDIT
Posted Oct 30, 2020
3.5/5 Never Rarely Sometimes Always (2020) Jake Wilson In the refusal to spell out or resolve too much, something lingers. EDIT
Posted Oct 28, 2020