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

Trap ★★ “DADDY. You think I’m a really good singer, don’t you?” “Of course I do sweetheart.” “And you think that I could have a really good career?” “Of course I do.” “If only I could get noticed by a lot of people; then they would think the same thing […]

M. Night ensnares us in his daughter’s trap

Blitz ★★★½ BRITISH director Steve McQueen has only made six feature films in 16 years. While I can’t vouch for 2023’s Occupied City, all the others – Hunger, Shame, 12 Years a Slave, Widows and now Blitz – are well worth seeing. As the name suggests, Blitz is set in […]

McQueen delivers some classic story-telling

Skincare ★★½ IN THE shadow of The Substance, one of 2024’s best films, the American thriller Skincare has been billed as something similar. It’s not. Skincare will not make your skin crawl in the beautifully horrific way that Coralie Fargeat’s film does. But what Skincare does share with The Substance […]

Banks is best thing about Skincare

The Outrun ★★★½ SAIORSE Ronan adds to her impressive gallery of strong, intelligent and nuanced characters with the 2024 drama The Outrun. The Irish actress, who was actually born in New York and lived there until she was three, plays Rona who has recently returned to her family home on […]

Ronan adds to her impressive list

The Shadow Strays ★★★½ INDONESIA’S Timo Tjahjanto is one of the best action directors working in cinema today. As one half of the Mo Brothers, he burst onto the scene with 2014’s Killers and followed with Headshot in 2016, the terrific The Night Comes For Us (2018) and now blistering […]

Indonesia ups the ante on action

Executive Action ★★★ WITH the attempted assassination of Donald Trump still echoing, it’s fascinating to watch the 1973 thriller Executive Action. It’s not the best directed film, in fact some scenes are a little amateur in their pacing and editing, but the context and story make up for these problems. Even […]

Executive Action lays out Kennedy conspiracy

Lee ★★★½ WHAT a person Elizabeth ‘Lee’ Miller must have been. In her 70 years she was a socialite, fashion model, surrealist photographer, war correspondent and gourmet chef, achieving success and notoriety at every turn. During World War II, she forced her way into being allowed to work on the […]

Winslett shines, but there’s much more to Lee

Gladiator II ★★★½ IS Gladiator II worth the long wait? As usual, it depends on your expectations. If you expect big-screen entertainment that is unlikely to measure-up to the original film, you won’t be disappointed. The original’s director, English big-budget specialist Ridley Scott, again delivers an entertaining spectacle highlighted by […]

For those about to watch

Snapshot ★★ SO, your stalker spies on you from the driver’s seat of his ice cream truck? No kidding, that’s part of the plot in the 1979 Australian thriller Snapshot. This is a weird film all round with odd characters, uneven acting, a bland script and mostly pedestrian direction. The […]

Stalked by Mr Whippy

Woman of the Hour ★★★ NOTHING screams ‘Welcome to America’ more than a serial killer using a television game show to target his next victim. Actress Anna Kendrick surprisingly chose this real-life premise for her 2024 directorial debut, the interesting crime thriller Woman of the Hour. When he appeared on […]

Kendrick is Woman of the Hour with directing debut