Both Sides of the Blade ★★★½ JULIETTE Binoche and Vincent Lindon are titans of contemporary French cinema. So it’s a joy to see them play a couple in Clair Denis’ latest film Both Sides of the Blade. From the opening sequence of this romantic drama you can tell it’s going […]

Veterans display raw emotion

The Good Nurse  ★★★½ WATCH The Good Nurse without knowing anything about the true events it depicts and you get an interesting added perspective. We follow two nurses, one male and one female, who become close friends until one realises the other may be guilty of a heinous crime. Eddie […]

Sterile authenticity to true events

Terrifier 2 ★★★ CONTRARY to what you might think, it’s incredibly hard to create a good horror villain. I mean a villain that captures the imagination and you can build a franchise on. There’s Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees, Freddie Krueger, Ghostface and Hannibal Lecter. Plenty of others have tried but […]

Art’s just clowning around

The Woman King ★★★★ VIOLA Davis is an exceptional actress capable of playing many different types of roles. But I would not have expected to see her as the machete-wielding leader of a group of 19th Century African warriors. Of course she does a great job in The Woman King, […]

The Woman King rules

Barbarian  ★★★½ THE 2022 independent American horror film Barbarian has been a sleeper hit thanks mainly to a nice U-turn that occurs about half-way. Zach Greggor wrote the film which is also his solo directorial debut. So far it’s made more than $50 million in cinemas, from a budget less […]

Barbarian U-turn a shocker

Clerks  ★★★★ THE ultra-low budget Clerks is one of those cinematic lightning in a bottle events. It was made by a novice, Kevin Smith, and shot over a couple of weeks, principally in the convenience store where he used to work. Smith enlisted the help of friends and even a […]

King of the ultra-low budget hits

The Match ★★½ CROATIAN/American co-production The Match is based on a dramatic, real-life moment in history. The so-called football ‘Death Match’ was played between Dynamo Kiev and a German Nazi side in 1942. The Hungarian team won the game but various historical records claim players were executed as a result of […]

Great version still on the bench

She Said  ★★★½ HE IS a piece of work that Harvey Weinstein. The former Hollywood heavyweight is now in prison paying for his crimes against women over several decades. But apparently he’s still been reaching out from his cell and trying to block the release of the biographical drama She […]

She Said gives voice to victims

Athena  ★★★★ GREEK/French director Costa-Gavras is best known for his third film, the political thriller Z. Released in 1969, it won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film but, more importantly, brought a new visual style to cinema. Gavras’ documentary realistic approach to shooting action sequences in a manner that […]

Like father, like son

The Stranger ★★★½  DANIEL James Morcombe was abducted in Queensland in December 2003 when he was 13 years old. Eight years later, following an elaborate police investigation, Brett Pete Cowan was charged with Daniel’s murder. DNA tests confirmed bones found in the Glass House Mountains were Daniel’s and in March […]

Another tough Oz crime watch

Damien: The Omen II  ★★★ THE first sequel to The Omen had big shoes to fill so it’s no surprise that it was generally a let-down. Apart from a couple of moments, Damien: The Omen II is rarely frightening, thus stumbling at the first horror hurdle. It’s entertaining, yes, in […]

Teenage Damien far less scary

Bros ★★★½ “MAYBE we can be emotionally detached together.” That’s the question Bobby asks of himself and Aaron in the very funny Bros. It’s difficult to strike that balance between raunchy and romantic comedy but Bros’ co-writers Nicholas Stoller and Billy Eichner have succeeded where most other comedies don’t even […]

Bros is what’s up in comedy