Brokeback Mountain ★★★★ ANG Lee’s Brokeback Mountain is one of the great modern romance films. Initial credit where it’s due – the script is based on a 1997 short story by American author Annie Proulx. But Taiwanese director Lee also brought his sensitive approach and cinematic flair to the tale […]

Ang Lee’s great modern romance

Heretic ★★★ AFTER holding us tightly in its grasp for 90 minutes, Heretic loses its nerve and opts for a conventional ending. Unlike other recent intellectual exercises in high-concept psychological horror, like Ari Aster’s Hereditary and Midsommar and Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance, 2024’s Heretic doesn’t carry its plot through a […]

Hugh’s heretic a hoot

How To Make Gravy ★★★½ IT’S A good idea – turning a popular song into a film. I’m not sure how often it’s been done before, but 2024’s How to Make Gravy may not be the last. The great Australian singer/song-writer Paul Kelly released ‘How to Make Gravy’ in 1996 […]

How to make a good Xmas movie

Borderlands ★★½ ELI Roth’s Borderlands isn’t as bad as many people would have you believe. I know it could be seen as damning with faint praise, but there are plenty worse sci-fi action comedies around. Yes, it’s all over the place at times in tone – perhaps too scary for […]

Bordering on being fine

Nosferatu ★★★½ ROBERT Eggers continues to be one of the most interesting film directors working today. Despite having just three features to his name since 2015, the quality, originality and audacity of The Witch, The Lighthouse and The Northman mean his latest has been keenly anticipated since 2022. And now, […]

Fine tribute to classic horror

Bloodsport ★★½ IF I had been a 10-year-old boy in 1988 I might have loved Bloodsport. But I wasn’t and this 1988 American martial arts film largely passed me by. While Newt Arnold’s film is pretty typical of the action output at that time, it is most notable for giving […]

Origin of The Muscles

Weekend in Taipei ★★½ EVEN though it’s co-written by Luc Besson, the action film Weekend in Taipei doesn’t fully follow the Frenchman’s familiar approach. Recent films in which Besson is involved are generally straight action fare with dangerous men and even more dangerous, beautiful women. But this George Huang directed […]

A more comedic Besson vehicle

Fly Me to the Moon ★★★ THE most interesting aspect of rom-com Fly Me to the Moon is the sub-plot. Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum have good chemistry in Greg Berlanti’s film which provides pretty standard fare in terms of how the key relationship plays out. But it’s the set-up […]

Moon landing sub-plot lifts off

Mope ★★★ MOPE is definitely not for everyone. In fact this 2019 low-budget drama set in the world of pornographic film-making is probably not for most people. But as the story progresses it becomes quite compelling thanks to the script being based on a true story and a pair of good […]

Tragic story of porn failures

My Old Ass ★★★ CANADIAN actress Megan Park surprised many critics with her 2021 directorial debut The Fallout. She has followed this up in 2024 with the more comedic drama My Old Ass featuring one of those unexplainable sci-fi concepts where a teenager finds herself being able to communicate with […]

Wisdom between worlds

The Return ★★ ONCE again, Ralph Fiennes is the best thing about a film that fails to reach any heights. In fact Uberto Pasolini’s retelling of Homer’s Odyssey, The Return, is a pretty turgid affair all round. Fiennes plays the historic hero Odysseus who washes up back on the shores […]

The Return – a budget Odyssey

The Moogai ★★★ AUSTRALIAN indigenous-themed films tend to be either dramas or comedy-tinged dramas. It’s not often that they stray into any another genre, let alone straight-up horror. So it’s a pleasant change to have the 2024 release The Moogai as the first feature written and directed by Jon Bell. […]

The Moogai – a rare indigenous horror story