Drive Away Dolls ★★½ WHILE I definitely don’t begrudge the Coen brothers delivering separate projects, they still do their best work together. Fargo, No Country for Old Men and Miller’s Crossing are genuine modern classics while the brothers’ more outright comedies are much revered. A year or so ago Joel […]

Coen brothers better together

The Passenger ★★½ LOW budget thriller The Passenger jumps out of the blocks with a compelling opening act. Our hero is kidnapped following a shocking incident at a fast food restaurant. But, rather than wanting a hostage, the kidnapper seems more interested in making his victim deal with the problems […]

Mixed ride with The Passenger

Dungeons and Dragons: Honour Among Thieves ★★★ YOU don’t have to a fan of the Dungeons and Dragons game to enjoy the latest film version, Dungeons and Dragons: Honour Among Thieves In fact you probably don’t even need to know it is based on a game. It’s an entertaining medieval […]

Pine shines in fantasy romp

Megalomaniac ★★★ THE Belgian film Megalomaniac is an unusual exercise in presenting a tale of real-life horror. During the 1990s a serial killer dubbed the Butcher of Mons was responsible for several murders, leaving the remains of his victims in plastic bags along roadsides. The film is set years later […]

Belgian horror a disturbing exercise

Baghead ★★½ MANY debut horror films are based on a short film previously made by the same writer/director. One of the latest in this vein is Alberto Corredor’s Baghead, a feature length expansion of his 2017 short film. The cast, which includes veterans Peter Mullan and Ned Dennehy, is fine […]

Baghead a little too empty

Bob Marley: One Love ★★★ BOB Marley probably deserves a little better in his memory than the American biopic Bob Marley: One Love delivers. The Jamaican wasn’t just a good singer and songwriter; he was an inspirational figure to a generation and beacon for societal change in his native Jamaica […]

Marley biopic lacks depth

Madame Webb ★★½ I’M going to say it…Madame Web isn’t that bad. Yes, if you’re an MCU enthusiast or comic book film fan, this movie will be pretty forgettable. It provides backstory for some B-list superheroes, whom nobody really cares about anyway, and doesn’t progress the overall franchise narrative one […]

Madame Webb isn’t awful

Sexy Beast ★★★★ DON Logan is one of the greatest villains in film history. As played by Ben Kingsley in Sexy Beast, Logan is a force of nature at its most ferocious and chaotic. Even though you don’t see Logan carry out much violence, the constant threat is absolutely palpable. […]

Kingsley’s villain an agent of chaos

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