Reviews
Aquarius (Kleber Mendonça Filho - 2016) Movie Review [Sydney Film Festival]
Aquarius is a shrine to an incredible woman with a confounding central performance from Sonia Braga. Writer/director Kleber Mendonça Filho crafts a consuming tale about principles and passion.
Jackie (Pablo Larraín - 2016) Movie Review
Jackie Kennedy, the woman behind one of the greatest and most influential Presidents in the history of the United States, gets an intimate impressionist portrait. Forging the myths of “Camelot,” interrogating the morality of being a widow in the most drastic and heavily scrutinised circumstance; director Pablo Larraín and hypnotic star Natalie Portman finds ways to render gut punching alternate perspectives to well trodden history.
Nocturnal Animals (Tom Ford - 2016): The Wretched
Nocturnal Animals is a dark tragedy. Ford's motivation for the film is writ large in the opening credits. Obese, grotesque, American women gyrate in slow motion like a 'Fourth of July' themed, trailer park strip show. Like war photography, Ford wants to find the beauty in darkness.
Café Society (Woody Allen - 2016) Review: Play it again Woody
Cafe Society feels like you're ready to dismiss it and then you realise that you're engrossed to the point you can't look away.
Hell or High Water (2016) Movie Review: No Country For Bad Accents
Hell or High Water has had some pretty poor comparisons to No Country for Old Men in the buzz and hype for the film. That's not to deny that HOHW is a quality viewing, but rather that the world at large is not generating forces like Javier Bardem's Anton Chigurh to be unleashed upon the characters. Instead writer Taylor Sheridan is tackling American financial corruption head on.
Sully (2016) Movie Review: Time to Heal
With each new perspective of the day, despite knowing the outcome, the Hudson River landing sequence becomes harrowing because the people matter.
Jane Got a Gun (2016) Movie Review: "Shooting Blanks"
Jane Got a Gun is misleading; it should be renamed “Jane had an old 'friend' who was a soldier with mad skills.”
The Neon Demon (2016) MIFF Movie Review: "Mauled by a Diamond Encrusted Hyena"
The Neon Demon gives fangs to high fashion. It’s a stunning descent into the madness of narcissism and self-preservation even when it’s stating the bleeding obvious.
Tickled (2016) Movie Review: "Internet Oddity"
Tickled ends up being more like a great story you heard at a party about a friend of a friend.
The Shallows (2016) Movie Review: "Blake Lively vs Giant Bloody Shark"
Ultimately it feels that the main tension driving The Shallows is not Blake Lively vs a giant bloody shark, rather the film’s high concept genre premise vs its studio backing.
Keanu (2016) Movie Review: “Because the internet”
... essentially catnip for cat memes.
Sing Street (2016) Movie Review: "My Brother's Keeper"
Sing Street has the hair of the 80s, but a timeless heart.
Sausage Party (2016) Movie Review: "Dixar," you're damned right.
Sausage Party should have you laughing out loud and shaking your head in awe. Try slipping a sausage into a bun the same way ever again.
Elle (2016) MIFF Movie Review: Michele, Ma Belle
Bet you never thought you’d see the words ‘rape revenge comedy’ in the one sentence to describe a film? Well, you probably weren’t considering Paul Verhoeven (Basic Instinct, Showgirls). Coupled with Isabelle Huppert, Elle is a visceral and unstoppable force that will suck you in from start to finish.
Suicide Squad (2016) Movie Review: “Really, really, BAD”
Suicide Squad is one long stuttering introduction with fugitive glimpses of the film's potential.
Weiner (2016) MIFF Movie Review: Weiner, pls
Oh Weiner, Weiner, Weiner. What are we going to do with you?
The Salesman (2016) MIFF Movie Review: Farhadi, You’ve Done It Again!
While The Salesman might not pack the same punch as A Separation (let’s face it, not a lot does), its suspense and tension is transfixing and ultimately devastating.
Jason Bourne (2016) Movie Review: "Bourne This Way"
Bringing the Bourne band back together with director Paul Greengrass, Matt Damon and some great session players in Tommy Lee Jones, Alicia Vikander and Vincent Cassel is great; but it feels like déjà vu.
Star Trek Beyond (2016) Movie Review: “Pine-ing for Purpose”
Beyond doesn’t quite have the magic of Abrams’ Trek; but it shouldn’t. If Trek is about dreams, Beyond solidifies the reality.
Personal Shopper (2016) Movie Review: I Boo Dead People
Personal Shopper is a film with the power to beguile and send you into a rage.