Film Reviews
Bernie
Saturday, August 18th, 2012 Film Reviews,It may be true that everyone has a breaking point and everyone has a dark side. These are possible lessons to take away from Bernie, a semi-documentary tragi-comedy, set in a small town in southern Texas. Then again, it may be that Bernie Tiede, the protagonist of this story, had spent so much of his […]
Cosmopolis
Saturday, August 11th, 2012 Film Reviews,If ever a film might be used to demonstrate how not to adapt a novel, that film is Cosmopolis. Don DeLillo published his tale in 2003, but set it “In the year 2000 – A Day in April.” Director, David Cronenberg, has taken this black satire on global capitalism, and let us believe the action […]
The Sapphires
Saturday, August 11th, 2012 Film Reviews,It has been a long time since the Australian film industry has produced anything so uplifting, so irresistible, as The Sapphires. After an extended run of murder, mayhem, bad dialogue, and simple embarrassment, we have produced a feel-good film that actually makes one feel good – as opposed to feeling as if one is drowning […]
Forever Marilyn
Saturday, August 4th, 2012 Film Reviews,Exactly fifty years ago, on the night of 4 August 1962, Marilyn Monroe died of an overdose of barbituates. The world’s greatest sex symbol, the most idolised actress of her age, was dead. Now 20th Century Fox has decided to commemorate this tragic event in the way they know best: by cashing in. Marilyn may […]
Magic Mike
Saturday, August 4th, 2012 Film Reviews,Mainstream films about strippers are often surprisingly anodyne. Many a poor male must have been disappointed in Gypsy (1962) when it first hit the cinemas, while The Full Monty (1997) could cheerfully be described as a family film. There are sleazier variations, such as Paul Verhoeven’s Showgirls (1995), but it has to be admitted that […]
The Dark Knight Rises
Saturday, July 28th, 2012 Film Reviews,To say Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy is “dark” is a dismal understatement. It is pitch-black, numinous. Christian Bale’s Batman appears to be permanently depressed, wracked with guilt and self-loathing. Gotham City, which he strives to rescue from one apocalypse after another, is so corrupt and ugly it is barely worth saving. With Heath Ledger’s death […]
And If We All Lived Together?
Saturday, July 28th, 2012 Film Reviews,Having watched two films about old age over the past month, I’m beginning to wonder if this is the start of a trend: perhaps a reaction to all those movies about comic book heroes. In these geriatric sagas there are no super powers on display – it’s enough if characters can keep their faculties intact […]
The Door
Saturday, July 21st, 2012 Film Reviews, Other Writing,For Helen Mirren fans, please note: this is one of those rare movies in which she gets to keep her clothes on. In the part of Emerenc, a grumpy old cleaning lady, she is rarely seen without a headscarf and all the woolies required to withstand a winter in Budapest. This film suggests that for […]
I Am Eleven, The Curse of the Gothic Symphony
Saturday, July 21st, 2012 Art Essays, Film Reviews, Other Writing,Screening opportunities are limited for Australian filmmakers, let alone documentary makers who may only expect to recoup their costs through TV and DVD sales. Two new efforts, I Am Eleven and The Curse of the Gothic Symphony, are currently enjoying the novelty of limited releases in cinemas around Australia. I Am Eleven by rookie film-maker, […]
Hysteria
Saturday, July 14th, 2012 Film Reviews, Other Writing, Uncategorized,For centuries hysteria was one of the most mysterious conditions known to medical science. The ailment was exclusive to women, and is believed to have been first diagnosed by the ancient Greeks. Plato echoed the belief that its diverse symptoms were due to a “wandering womb” that floated throughout the body causing all sorts of […]