Dead Snow ★★★★ A MEDICAL student scared of the sight of blood is forced to defend himself with a chainsaw in a fight to the death against Nazi zombies. How good is the 2009 Norwegian horror comedy Dead Snow? Bloody good. This is one of my favourite horror films released […]

The best Nazi zombie film bar none

In the Land of Saints and Sinners  ★★★½ LIAM Neeson is a good actor, but he usually seems to be just coasting along.. For the best part of a decade now, when he should be picking and choosing some great roles, he’s happy to have the B-grade venegeful father/husband character […]

Neeson back in a decent saddle

Flesh + Blood ★★★ BAT SHIT crazy is one way to describe Paul Verhoeven’s 1985 adventure film Flesh + Blood. I’m not sure what the Dutch enfant terrible of international cinema had in mind, but it’s a bizarrely messy and violent medieval tale set in 1501 that includes Australia’s Jack […]

Early look into Verhoeven madness

The Zone of Interest ★★★★½ WHAT a year it’s been for Sandra Huller, giving terrific performances in two of the best films of 2023. The German actress played the lead role in Anatomy of a Fall and one of the two main characters in Jonathan Glazer’s brilliant The Zone of […]

Unique take on the banality of evil

Argylle ★★½ IT HAD to happen eventually…British director Matthew Vaughan has made a bad film. Well, not necessarily a bad film, just nowhere near as good as the other seven he has made since debuting with Layer Cake in 2004. Vaughan is best known for his three Kingsman films which […]

Argylle is Vaughan’s first blemish

May/December ★★★½ ONE of the biggest omissions from the recent Academy Awards’ nominees was Todd Haynes’ May/December. At the least I would have placed it above both Barbie and Maestro and given nods to Natalie Portman and Charles Melton over Annette Benning in Nyad and Ryan Gosling in Barbie. Before […]

May/December has lingering impact

Manhunter ★★★★ ANTHONY Hopkins’ portrayal of Hannibal Lector in The Silence of the Lambs is one of the most chilling supporting performances ever in a horror film. Some critics would have you believe that Brian Cox’s portrayal of the same character three years earlier in Michael Mann’s Manhunter is better. They’re […]

Lector still shades Lektor

All of Us Strangers  ★★★★ BRITISH romantic drama All of Us Strangers is billed as a film that will particularly resonate with a certain audience due to the fact its two main characters are gay males. That may be true, but it resonates with everyone who reflects on choices they […]

Warning…there will be tears

Force of Nature ★★★ JANE Harper has successfully tapped into the form of crime mystery that features a character who is forced to confront their own past during a current investigation. You know the type of story – there are probably 20 versions in European television series on Netflix right […]

Force of Nature stays close to formula

Sick  ★★½ SCREAM writer Kevin Williamson may be behind the 2022 American slasher film Sick, but it doesn’t equal success. It’s set during the COVID years but for much of the running time you’re wondering why. We then have a couple of twists that initially seem quite novel. But when […]

Covid-set slasher doesn’t quite cut it

The Holdovers  ★★★★ TWO decades after Sideways, Alexander Payne and Paul Giamatti have triumphantly reunited for The Holdovers. This film is a joy from start to finish, beautifully combining comedy and drama in a story that effortlessly crosses age, class and race divides. Giamatti has previously shown that there is […]

Triumphant reunion for Giammati and Payne

22 July ★★★½ IT’s hard not to compare Paul Greengrass’ 22 July from 2018 and Justin Kurzel’s Nitram (2022). Both films deal with actual massacres of unsuspecting civilians – 22 July on the 2011 events on an island off Oslo in Norway and Nitram on the 1996 tragedy at Port […]

The trouble with depicting true crime