Tag: sci-fi
Avatar: The Way of Water
Thursday, December 15th, 2022 Film Reviews,We are told “the Way of Water has no beginning and no end,” which sounds like a perfect description of James Cameron’s long-awaited Avatar sequel. Anyone who hasn’t seen the original Avatar of 2009, or like me, has forgotten most of it, will get the disconcerting feeling of having entered the film at the half-way […]
Don’t Worry Darling
Friday, September 30th, 2022 Film Reviews,Don’t worry darling, you can look it up when you get home. This is the best advice I can offer to those who walk out of Olivia Wilde’s much-discussed movie, wondering what on earth it was all about. No film this year has been more thoroughly picked over by the gossip columnists, following reports of […]
Nope
Friday, August 12th, 2022 Film Reviews,Jordan Peel has enjoyed a meteoric rise from the margins to the mainstream in the space of only three features. Peel’s debut effort, Get Out (2017), had all the hallmarks of a cult classic. An off-beat zombie movie with a political subtext, it gave a dark, satirical twist to those racial anxieties that have divided […]
Ultra Unreal
Tuesday, August 9th, 2022 Art Column,Things have been quiet at the Museum of Contemporary Art this year, but Ultra Unreal aims at a reboot. It’s an exhibition that pushes beyond the contemporary, drawing us into virtual realms, both futuristic and animistic. These imaginary worlds have been created by new technology and populated with supernatural beings. It all sounds breathlessly exciting. […]
Jurassic World Dominion
Friday, June 17th, 2022 Film Reviews,If Top Gun: Maverick took formula film-making into the stratosphere, Jurassic World Dominion has returned it to the primordial swamp. Whatever the shortcomings of the previous installment in this seemingly endless series, it feels like a classic alongside this new effort. In Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018) Spanish director, J.A.Bayona managed a few clever twists […]
Dune
Saturday, March 5th, 2022 Film Reviews,There are fans for whom Dune’s second coming has been anticipated with a kind of religious devotion. The first cinematic adaptation of Frank Herbert’s cult science fiction novel in 1984 was a film David Lynch would rather forget, so there were high hopes for Denis Villeneuve’s new version. Could they get it wrong again? Well […]
The Movies: A Boxing Day Round-Up
Saturday, December 25th, 2021 Film Reviews,For those not turned feral by the Boxing Day sales, the day after Christmas is the traditional detox after all that festive activity. Yes, it’s supposed to be joyous, but it’s also stressful when one has to work harder at a holiday than at a regular job. Hence the popularity of the Boxing Day test […]
Top Secret UFO Projects Declassified
Thursday, August 19th, 2021 Film Reviews,On 6 April, 1966, a UFO appeared in the Melbourne suburb of Clayton South. The saucer-shaped craft caused a stir among students of Westall High School who watched it fly overhead then land behind a nearby clump of trees. Shortly afterwards it ascended again at high speed and disappeared. Channel Nine sent a team to […]
The Trouble with Being Born
Friday, December 11th, 2020 Film Reviews,For a small, relatively low-key science fiction movie, The Trouble with Being Born by Austrian director Sandra Wollner has generated a lot of controversy. The feature was removed from the program of this year’s Melbourne Film Festival on the advice of two forensic psychologists who allegedly did not watch it in its entirety. There’s so much […]
Tenet
Friday, August 28th, 2020 Film Reviews,Christopher Nolan enjoys a charmed life among the ranks of Hollywood directors. He may have a reputation for bringing in projects on-time and on-budget, but few of his peers could hope to get away with such complex plots and abstruse ideas. If you thought Interstellar (2014) was incomprehensible, brace yourself for Tenet, a sci fi, […]