Prior to the official kick off of 2020, I couldn’t think of a single film on the release slate for the year that I was genuinely looking forward to watching. All things considered, 2020 did turn out to be a better year for movies than it had any right to, what with the film industry…
Invoking the name Cronenberg is an immediate, unfailing method to conjure up mental images of grotesque body horror occurring at the intersection of sex, violence and technology. In this respect, Brandon Cronenberg was always going to find it difficult to escape the shade cast by his father’s long shadow. If Possessor is any indication, however,…
Anyone who knows me well has likely accepted the fact that I hold no truck for the sentimental. Any kind of romanticised emotional mugging just rubs me up completely the wrong way, and a swell of strings in a film is usually accompanied by rising bile from the pit of my stomach. The way to…
Director Thomas Vinterberg is probably best known for co-founding the Dogme 95 movement, along with fellow Dane and agent provocateur, Lars Von Trier. Vinterberg’s debut feature, Festen (The Celebration), was a deliciously dark comedy, but since that film he’s generally played it a lot safer than his aforementioned compatriot. I had hoped that Another Round,…
Sandra Wollner’s new film makes its Australian debut at an interesting time. The debate around any kind of depiction of the sexualisation of minors has been burning hot, with Netflix’s bungled launch of Cuties a notable example of the intensity inherent in the discourse. The Trouble With Being Born has itself not arrived unscathed. It…
If you’ve started reading this review against your better judgement, worried about spoilers, rest assured there is no cause for concern here. I could certainly divulge plot details—minor and major—but they would soon get lost in the shuffle. To say Tenet is heavily plotted would be an understatement. In the early stages especially, it is…
It’s hard out here for a Tinsel Town A-Lister. Consider Ben Affleck, once a Miramax Golden Boy, leading man, Oscar-winning writer, and a lauded director of a Best Picture winner, no less. If you believe everything you read, you’d be convinced that Ben’s been having a tough time of late, the last 5 years being…
Boy No other figure in history captures Australia’s obsession with the outlaw hero persona as perfectly as Edward ‘Ned’ Kelly – the 19th century bushranger whose final uttered words find themselves inscribed in the flesh of more than a handful across this land: “Such is life.” His life and death have indeed indelibly marked the…
25. Enemy 24. Her 23. I Saw The Devil 22. Walden 21. Tower 20. Lost River 19. A Long Day’s Journey Into Night 18. The House That Jack Built 17. Blue Valentine 16. Mother! 15. High Life 14. The VVitch 13. Post Tenebras Lux 12. Apocalypse After 11. Hard To Be A God 10. Holy…
Jay Roach’s Bombshell, having had little in the way of preceding fanfare, dropped onto our collective radars with the unveiling of its memorable teaser trailer back in August. Memorable because it said so much with so little – even if one didn’t recognize Charlize Theron’s Megyn Kelly, or Nicole Kidman’s Gretchen Carlson, or had any…
Cinema Etc. 