Junkee

Tomatometer-approved publication
Rating Title/Year Author
Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (2020) Merryana Salem Birds of Prey is unapologetic, chockers with talent, and full of witty criticisms of misogyny... EDIT
Posted Feb 21, 2020
Jenny Slate: Stage Fright (2019) Jared Richards Stage Fright calls on us to treat ourselves with respect, even when it feels like our world (personal, political, environmental) is crashing down. EDIT
Posted Nov 7, 2019
El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (2019) Cameron Williams A slow burn epilogue that provides closure for Jesse Pinkman (if that's what you're after), and it's far from cheap fan service. EDIT
Posted Oct 14, 2019
Australian Dream (1987) Jared Richards It's a small victory, in the scheme of things, but one which would move the dial in a country where the very name of Australia is an act of dispossession, a branding over the many nations that were here before - that are still here. EDIT
Posted Aug 29, 2019
Booksmart (2019) Claire White Booksmart makes up for its somewhat conventional plot with its original spin on the party film genre, updating and flipping old tropes on their heads. EDIT
Posted Aug 12, 2019
The Nightingale (2018) Sam Langford The Nightingale raises important questions on this front, and it does the film a disservice to simply dismiss its violence as unnecessary without considering why it was included in the first place. EDIT
Posted Aug 9, 2019
Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019) Cameron Williams Teen crushes, superhero succession plans and disappointing men. The MCU through a teenage lens is still a fun place to be. EDIT
Posted Jul 3, 2019
Top End Wedding (2019) Amy Thunig Top End Wedding is uplifting, and offered me something I had not experienced before as a viewer in a mainstream theatre - the chance to see First Nations people, relationships, and culture presented from a position of strength and normality. EDIT
Posted Jun 28, 2019
Yesterday (2019) Patrick Lenton If you love a simple, delightful, and gently funny love story in the vein of Notting Hill or even the cursed Love Actually, then you will genuinely enjoy Yesterday. EDIT
Posted Jun 28, 2019
Avengers: Endgame (2019) Patrick Lenton What a film. EDIT
Posted Apr 25, 2019
Us (2019) Joseph Earp Us has no clear answers as to how one might fix such inequality. It's a horror movie, and so like many horror movies, it positions the viewers emotionally closer to the victims than those committing acts of violence against them. EDIT
Posted Apr 4, 2019
Boy Erased (2018) Jared Richards Ultimately, Boy Erased misses too many of its own revelations... EDIT
Posted Apr 4, 2019
Hereditary (2018) Sam Langford Hereditary pushes the horror genre to a different extreme than the one we're used to, reminding us of the immense gulf between mere "scary" and "horrifying", and the result is like nothing you've ever seen. EDIT
Posted Apr 4, 2019
Climax (2018) Jared Richards Describing a drug-fuelled film as a 'trip' is cliché, but Climax pulls off a rare feat. EDIT
Posted Apr 4, 2019
Velvet Buzzsaw (2019) Jared Richards Velvet Buzzsaw's lost its buzz. How meta, how post-modern, how revolutionary! EDIT
Posted Apr 4, 2019
Captain Marvel (2019) Maria Lewis The messaging doesn't need to be subtle to be important, and Captain Marvel wears its heart firmly on its sleeve. EDIT
Posted Apr 4, 2019
The Dirt (2019) Cameron Williams Chooses to celebrate instead of interrogating what the band's excess says about the world and how they were able to get away with it that desperately tries certify the band's "legendary" status as survivors. EDIT
Posted Mar 26, 2019
Gravity (2013) Tara Judah ...a very simplistic story against some incredible achievement in visual effects and filmmaking craft. EDIT
Posted Jan 8, 2019
Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) Cameron Williams Proves the task of trying to define Queen may be impossible. EDIT
Posted Nov 1, 2018
A Star Is Born (2018) Cameron Williams Prefers to focus on what great music should be - and how a music career should be run - rather than getting to the heart of what leads to someone to bare their soul through music EDIT
Posted Oct 18, 2018
The Breadwinner (2017) Glenn Dunks ...a sort of Yentl in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, is evocative and was a little-discussed gem EDIT
Posted Jun 20, 2018
Roman J. Israel, Esq. (2017) Glenn Dunks And there's something to be said about a film that takes such wide-flared gambles with narrative and character. EDIT
Posted Jun 20, 2018
The Boss Baby (2017) Glenn Dunks Has the best "where babies come from" gag in a while, too. EDIT
Posted Jun 20, 2018
Loving Vincent (2017) Glenn Dunks Still, sometimes you won't notice the bland dialogue or storytelling when getting lost within the swirling, colourful frames. EDIT
Posted Jun 20, 2018
All the Money in the World (2017) Glenn Dunks Now, if only they had replaced Mark Wahlberg, too, because he's acting in a far blander picture than Plummer and co-star Michelle Williams. EDIT
Posted Jun 20, 2018
I, Tonya (2017) Glenn Dunks Furthermore, the film lazily utilises a fake documentary format that only seeks to highlight how much better the story was told in The Price of Gold. EDIT
Posted Jun 20, 2018
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) Glenn Dunks More of the same, and yet a case of diminishing returns. EDIT
Posted Jun 20, 2018
Molly's Game (2017) Glenn Dunks Aaron Sorkin loves his own words so much that not even Jessica Chastain to get out from under them long enough to breathe life into this overlong and overstuffed poker drama. EDIT
Posted Jun 20, 2018
My Nephew Emmett (2017) Glenn Dunks Straight forward, although doesn't really hit its dramatic stride until its concluding moments... EDIT
Posted Jun 20, 2018
Baby Driver (2017) Glenn Dunks It is perhaps appropriate that the last time we will (hopefully) ever have to look at Kevin Spacey's smug face is in a film that is as equally proud of itself. EDIT
Posted Jun 20, 2018
Ferdinand (2017) Glenn Dunks ...skip this cute-but-unnecessary feature and just watch the seven-minute Oscar-winning short from 1938 instead. EDIT
Posted Jun 20, 2018
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017) Glenn Dunks This is a film with seemingly no real concept of what its strongest assets are, preferring buffoonery and irony over intelligence and nuance. EDIT
Posted Jun 20, 2018
Edith+Eddie (2017) Glenn Dunks I just wish director Laura Checkoway had confronted any of the issues that her documentary raises. EDIT
Posted Jun 20, 2018
Darkest Hour (2017) Glenn Dunks As the credits rolled, the strongest opinion I had about it was a shrug. EDIT
Posted Jun 20, 2018
Marshall (2017) Glenn Dunks Strangely, they told a story from Marshall's life where he took the backseat to a white man. EDIT
Posted Jun 20, 2018
The Insult (2017) Glenn Dunks As subtle as its characters are stubborn, and with a couple of genuinely eye-rolling narrative twists - one of which I am still laughing at to this day. EDIT
Posted Jun 20, 2018
Kong: Skull Island (2017) Glenn Dunks This incarnation's weird Apocalypse Now vibes are an odd fit... EDIT
Posted Jun 20, 2018
Revolting Rhymes (2016) Glenn Dunks This adaptation of Roald Dahl's 1982 parody of nursery rhymes is more Sunday morning cartoon than anything approaching the genius of The Witches. EDIT
Posted Jun 20, 2018
Dear Basketball (2017) Glenn Dunks Nice animation, but Bryant's poem is barf-worthy. EDIT
Posted Jun 20, 2018
Victoria & Abdul (2017) Glenn Dunks Your nan's fave starring Judi Dench also just happens to be a putrid ode to colonialism. What fun! EDIT
Posted Jun 20, 2018
Beauty and the Beast (2017) Glenn Dunks Disney's effort to turn their animated wonders into live action slogs continues apace with Beauty and the Beast, an ugly mess of cartoonish CGI. EDIT
Posted Jun 20, 2018
B+ Unsane (2018) Glenn Dunks Soderbergh has taken some potentially very taboo subject matters and given them a formally inventive twist and provocative narrative shell. EDIT
Posted Jun 20, 2018
C- Breath (2017) Glenn Dunks There is a moment in the third act where Eva calls Sando's old wise man shtick "guru shit", and it would be amusingly self-observant if the screenplay wasn't fully committed to embracing two hours' worth of that very new-age nonsense. EDIT
Posted Jun 20, 2018
Ready Player One (2018) Cameron Williams A nostalgic thirst trap with no reverence for the pop culture moments it deploys haphazardly. EDIT
Posted Mar 28, 2018
B Flammable Children (2018) Glenn Dunks It's vulgar and absurdly over-the-top. It's also really funny and a surprisingly refreshing summer tonic during Oscar season... EDIT
Posted Mar 14, 2018
Annihilation (2018) Cameron Williams A spectacular work of science fiction that not only gets under your skin but it becomes part of it. EDIT
Posted Mar 12, 2018
5/5 Mulholland Dr. (2001) Simon Miraudo Mulholland Drive is maddeningly abstract and inscrutable on first viewing, but hypnotic and haunting on every viewing after. EDIT
Posted Nov 22, 2017
Justice League (2017) Matilda Dixon-Smith Congratulations Ezra Miller, you almost singlehandedly saved the Justice League movie! EDIT
Posted Nov 17, 2017
Unrest (2017) Naomi Chainey The film is both a record and an intrinsic component of an emerging patient revolution. EDIT
Posted Nov 15, 2017
Thor: Ragnarok (2017) Hari Raj Minor quibbles aside, Thor: Ragnarok is an absolute joy. EDIT
Posted Oct 27, 2017