Friday the 13th Part 4 ★★★ DEVOTING the first three minutes of a 90-minute film to recapping the previous three instalments might suggest a franchise was in trouble. But that’s the kind of weird decisions that were made by producers and studios back in the 1980s and ‘90s when they were […]

Sequels an up and down affair

Insidious: The Red Door ★★½ INSIDIOUS franchise stalwart Patrick Wilson takes the helm for the fifth instalment Insidious: The Red Door. It’s the actor’s directorial debut and while he does a decent job it fails to reinvigorate a film series that continues to spin its wheels. Unlike the adjacent Annabelle […]

Insidious franchise spinning its wheels

Them ★★★½ FRENCH critics love certain foreign directors, including Woody Allen, Clint Eastwood and Roman Polanski. But they especially love the late Alfred Hitchcock whose techniques continue to serve as a template for many thrillers. Them, released in 2006, is a case in point; a nerve-jangling thriller full of Hitchcockian […]

French pay homage to master

Dream Scenario ★★★½ WHAT a great end to the 2023 film year. Norwegian director Kristoffer Borgli’s Fourth feature, Dream Scenario, is a wonderfully black comedy that tears massive holes in contemporary non-sensical thinking and lifestyles. It also provides Nic Cage with another great role following his recent efforts in Pig and […]

Dreams provide captivating scenario

Priscilla ★★★ ITS hard to determine what to ultimately make of Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla. It’s doubtless well made but, like most of her recent output, doesn’t reach the heights attained by her first three films – The Virgin Suicides in 1999, Lost in Translation and Marie Antoinette. Some key observations. […]

The King’s crown slips

Maestro ★★★½ IS there anything Bradley Cooper can’t do? Let me see…he can act, write, direct, produce, play guitar, play piano, conduct an orchestra, speak fluent French, perform open heart surgery. Maybe not the last one; but his second film as director, Maestro, confirms he is going to be around […]

What can’t Bradley Cooper do?

Anyone But You ★½ BRYAN Brown must be kidding. He’s in the ensemble cast of American comedy Anyone But You, which is loosely based on William Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. In an interview Brown claims the Bard would have been happy with the film. I very much doubt it. He […]

The Bard would be bored

Wonka ★★★½ FAMILY films or musicals are not my first choice, but Wonka is a pleasant surprise, despite being in both genres. Timothy Chalamet shows his versatility in the lead role of the gifted, idealistic young chocolate maker who arrives in the city with 10 gold sovereigns and big dreams. […]

Wonka one for all the family

Bring Him to Me ★★½ AUSTRALIAN director Luke Sparke is heading in the right direction. His fifth film, crime drama Bring Him to Me, is probably his most accomplished to date, based on my viewing of two previous efforts and other critic responses. It managed to snare American actor Barry […]

Sparke on right path

The Marvels ★★ IF YOU’RE not up with the Marvel Universe overall, including some of the television series, you can forget about the 33rd film, The Marvels, making much sense. Granted it’s partly on me that I can barely recall the plot of 2019’s Captain Marvel and haven’t seen the […]

MCU #33 far from Marvellous

The Family Plan ★★★½ AMERICAN action comedy The Family Plan does exactly what it says on the cover. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel in any particular way, shape or form. But what it does, it does very well, providing an entertaining and amusing family-friendly film. Even though it could be […]

Comedy goes according to plan

River Wild ★★★ THE 1994 film The River Wild is probably best known for casting Meryl Streep as the lead in an action thriller. In that film she had to contend with two of the participants on her rafting trip who turn out to be armed criminals. It was an […]

Ride the wild river…again