Heatwave ★★ WHY do I watch some of this garbage? Two reasons I guess. One, in case I come across a hidden gem and two, so you don’t waste your time doing the same thing. American thriller Heatwave makes little sense and won’t win any acting awards either. It’s about […]

Heatwave blows cold

Censor  ★★★ THE 2021 British psychological horror film Censor tries to be something different. Sometimes it succeeds but overall the result is lacking in story and visual appeal. It’s very interestingly set during the 1980s when the British Government was reacting to a media-driven frenzy over increasingly violent horror films. […]

Interesting take on ‘nasties’ era

365 Days: This Day ★½  There are trashy good films and there are just plain trashy ones. Paul Verhoeven’s ridiculous Showgirls is a good example of the former. 365 Days: This Day is the epitome of the latter. This Polish film is a sequel to 365 Days which attracted some […]

There’s trashy and then there’s this

Catch the Fair One ★★★½ KEEP an eye out for Catch the Fair One, a taut 2021 thriller written, directed, and produced by Josef Kubota Wladyka. This is Wladyka’s first feature after directing episodes of several strong television series. It also features the acting debut of professional Native American boxer […]

Catch this more than fair one

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent  ★★★½ WHO else but Nicholas Cage could pull off playing himself in a fictional role? The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent isn’t deep in any particular way, but it does raise questions as to how much Cage actually reveals of himself. Based on past […]

Cage’s massive talent is back

Red Rocket  ★★★½ SEAN Baker is an amazing film-maker. He has only made a handful of films since 2000 but it’s his approach that has endeared him to critics. Baker’s films look and feel different, using bare locations, shooting quickly and with many non-actors. The results, such as 2015’s Tangerine […]

Baker continues to shine

Get Carter  ★★★★ BRITISH crime movies don’t come better than 1971’s Get Carter. Mike Hodges made his directorial debut with this modern classic featuring one of Michael Caine’s best performances. As the hard-nosed London gangster seeking to avenge his brother’s death, Caine is riveting and creates an archetypal anti-hero that […]

Carter, Caine and crime a perfect combination

Trigger Point  ★★ BRAD Turner, the director of 2021 Canadian action-thriller Trigger Point claims he invisaged his film as the first instalment of a John Wick style trilogy. A few problems here. One, it’s just a slightly above average action movie with no memorable moments. Two, Barry Pepper is an […]

Trigger Point jams at start

All The Old Knives  ★★★ THE title, All the Old Knives, is fitting for a new American spy thriller that is old-fashioned at its core. Not necessarily in the plot, which centres on the investigating of a terrorist airline hijacking, but in the deep, measured tone of the interaction between […]

Spy thriller throwback

Deadly Virtues ★★  LADIES and gentlemen, the award for most pretentious title for 2014 goes to Deadly Virtues: Love.Honour.Obey. I mean really – why not just Deadly Virtues and why in hell the full stops between each word? Anyway, this horror/thriller is directed by Dutchman Ate de Jong who hasn’t managed […]

Learning as you go

CRASH ★★★½ A FEW weeks back I reviewed Canadian director David Cronenberg’s first major feature film, Shivers from 1975. Now let’s look at his most controversial to date, Crash, which had to be cut before it could be shown at all in Australian cinemas. At the 1996 Cannes Film Festival […]

Sex, death and Cronenberg

The Duke  ★★★ YOU’RE in safe hands with Jim Broadbent and Helen Mirren. The Brit veterans are perfectly cast as husband and wife in the amiable British comedy/drama The Duke. Based on actual events, Broadbent plays proud, working-class pensioner Kempton Bunton who has  most of his adult life in Newcastle […]

Acting royalty in The Duke