Film Reviews
Gloria
Saturday, March 1st, 2014 Film Reviews,Over the past few years there has been an increasing volume of films about old people having sex – or thinking about having sex, or remembering what it was like to have sex. What began as an interesting sub-genre now resembles a movement. The trickle has become a torrent. One may only speculate on the […]
RoboCop
Saturday, February 22nd, 2014 Film Reviews,RoboCop redux generates seriously diminished expectations. How could one expect anything but a travesty of Paul Verhoeven’s original RoboCop of 1987? The big budget remake of Verhoeven’s Total Recall was possibly the most execrable Hollywood production of 2012, so one could only brace for the worst. It is with relief and surprise that I can […]
Dallas Buyers Club
Saturday, February 22nd, 2014 Film Reviews,It was startling enough to see Christian Bale porking up to play a middle-aged conman in American Hustle, but this seems like a piece of cake – or perhaps lots of cake and donuts – alongside Matthew McConaughey’s drastic transformation for Dallas Buyers Club. Anyone can pile on the kilos but it takes extraordinary discipline […]
Blue is the Warmest Colour
Saturday, February 15th, 2014 Film Reviews,Queen Victoria allegedly saw no reason for criminalising lesbianism because she couldn’t understand what such women actually did. Although this old story is almost certainly false, on the very slim chance there is anyone today feeling similarly bewildered, Blue is the Warmest Colour offers a most comprehensive demonstration. This film, which goes by the catchy […]
The Past
Saturday, February 15th, 2014 Film Reviews,To the best of my knowledge there is not a single ten minute lesbian sex scene in the entire corpus of Iranian cinema. For films made in Iran even the simplest questions about sex, religion or morality can fall foul of the censors. The paradox is that these strictures have produced a body of work […]
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
Saturday, February 8th, 2014 Film Reviews,There is a special tone reserved for the bio-pic of some major historical figure. Such films tend to be stately, respectful, almost in awe of their subject. Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom is a textbook example of the genre. Despite the obligatory disclaimer that it will show us the hero as we have never seen […]
A Touch of Sin
Saturday, February 8th, 2014 Film Reviews,For this week’s second film I’m going to depart from the mainstream and discuss Jia Zhang-ke’s A Touch of Sin, screening throughout February at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image in Melbourne. To give a first viewing to important movies that have yet to find a distributor in this country is one of ACMI’s […]
12 Years a Slave
Saturday, February 1st, 2014 Film Reviews,It used to be commonplace for directors to cut their teeth in the theatre before moving on to the cinema. In the future it seems likely there will be more directors who begin their careers at art school making videos and installations before progressing to full-length features. Steve McQueen is currently the most prominent example […]
Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones
Saturday, February 1st, 2014 Film Reviews,Paranormal Activity has become one of those franchises that seems destined to drag on forever, with each new installment introducing a few small innovations to keep the fans interested. The original Paranormal Activity of 2007 was a low budget sensation. Reputedly made at a cost of US$15,000, it has grossed more than US$100 million since […]
The Great Beauty
Saturday, January 25th, 2014 Film Reviews,From one wild party to another. The Great Beauty (La Grande Bellezza) was the opening attraction of last year’s Italian Film Festival. This week it gets a theatrical release, having just been nominated for the Academy Award for the best Foreign Language Film. Whether it wins or not, director Paolo Sorrentino has made a movie […]