By now, you know what you’re in for with a Kevin Smith film. People talk about stuff. Then they talk some more. Whether it’s a couple of slacker clerks in Clerks, or a couple of fallen angels in Dogma, it’s the Smith style, and he has developed a huge fan base that enjoys his dry […]
This robot-boxing movie - that dishes out clichés blow-by-blow - plays for the crowd, and will no doubt win a few hearts with its sentimental father and son reunion tale. But it will also lose a few minds – the formulaic storytelling and cardboard cut-out characters tipped on the heavyweight side of the scales.
For a moment it seemed like this one was going to be so bad it might just be good. But…nah, it’s just bad. With the mushometer maxed out, and a score that starts on overdrive and heads for overbearing, this ridiculously melodramatic tale of forbidden love tries to bury its narrative flaws with a colourful […]
The film may be billed “charming” but I’m not quite so sure the same applies to Oliver Tate, its central character. But then, what 15-year-old is? It’s an awkward, angst-ridden and - let’s face it - ugly stage of life. Actor turned writer/director Richard Ayoade (yes, he’s Moss from The IT Crowd) pieces together an […]
Wordy drama written for the theatre rarely makes for great cinema, and Michael Rymer’s Face to Face is a perfect example of the challenges a filmmaker faces in transforming a dialogue-driven story set in one room into a big screen experience. And whilst he definitely makes the best of it – with top-drawer performances and […]
Although best known as an actor, Tom McCarthy makes a third outing as writer/director with Win Win, continuing his exploration of ordinary people and everyday problems. And, as with his previous films The Station Agent and The Visitor, he proves a superb and witty observer of humanity’s small frailties and extracts finely tuned performances from […]
An intimate and subdued tale of suppressed talent and filial loyalty, Rene Feret’s film about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s older sister Maria-Anna (who was known as Nannerl) builds an engaging fiction around some of the facts of her life, and creates an informal and everyday view of an era when a young woman had little chance […]
A courtroom drama exposing the little known story of the trial of Mary Surratt after the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, The Conspirator is both gripping and a rather formal flag-waving exercise – men with whiskers and high collars proselytising on the processes of the legal system in times of war. Yes, it’s 1865 on […]
One of the most powerful and moving films from last year’s Cannes Film Festival (where it won the Grand Prix - or second prize), Of Gods & Men has taken its time to get to the big screen outside its native France, but it’s absolutely not to be missed. Unhurried and with the most exceptional […]
Every two years, the staff of Sydney’s Methodist Ladies College, under the leadership of Music Department head Karen Carey, stage a concert at the Sydney Opera House. Every one of the school’s 1200 girls is expected to perform. Mrs Carey is something of a character, demanding a lot from her students as she pulls together […]
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