A few minutes into Stories We Tell, Sarah Polley’s documentary about her family history, I decided I wasn’t going to like the movie. I have a natural disinclination towards documentaries built on recollections. Stylistically they’re built on talking heads, recreations and snippets of stock footage – a far cry from the cinematic creativity behind most…
In my review of 2011’s The Raid: Redemption, I discussed its opening shot, a close-up on a gun and watch, heralded the film’s violence and clockwork tautness. Gareth Evans’ sequel to his modern action classic opens on a long shot of a field of crops, grey-tinged by a sullen sky and lacerated by paths twisting…
It’s impossible to deny the iconic importance of James Whale’s Frankenstein. Its appearance is marked by the ornate artificiality, hand-built sets and classical special effects. The oft-parodied restoration of The Monster (Boris Karloff) has lost no potency, channelling the vitality of a theme park ride with its flashing lights, towering set and rickety rollercoaster cart…
Me, Myself and Mum is a remarkable, touching, one-of-a-kind picture. Based on director/writer/star Guillaume Gallienne’s stage show, it’s like a long-winded yet enthralling party anecdote, where the storyteller’s first priority is entertaining his audience with ribald jokes and quirky asides. This is a riotously funny film, and therein lies much of its appeal. Gallienne plays…
With the Captain America sequel not far away, I decide to catch up on the only Marvel release I’ve yet to see, Joe Johnston’s Captain America: The First Avenger. Announcing this on Twitter, a friend commented that “the first half is great and then it sucks have fun” A succinct summary, but – sadly –…
They Live is a hodge-podge of sci-fi satire, B-movie maximalism and cheesy humour that spends half its time succeeding on its own merits, and the other half venturing into so-bad-it’s-good territory. The film’s highlights are of a piece with director John Carpenter’s great horror films (Halloween, The Thing), as Nada (Roddy Piper) stumbles onto the…
Yet again, here’s some write-ups to spruik! Rise of the Eco-Warriors is an Australian documentary about deforestation. I had the chance to interview its director Cathy Henkel for the 500 Club, and also wrote a review of the film. Another film being released today is Need for Speed, which is about as disappointing as you…
“Why do people watch films about Nazis? To see power and sadism! We can do that! We can make something even more sadistic.” – Anwar Congo The Act of Killing, one of the best films of 2013 – and certainly its most confronting – has been the target of significant criticism recently (A.J. Schnack’s article…
A Girl Cut in Two is my first film from French New Wave director Claude Chabrol, and I certainly hope it’s not a representative first impression as it puts me in no hurry to investigate his other films. This romance-drama-thriller ambles through its pedestrian plotline without any sense of purpose; we cross-fade from scene to…
Non-Stop brackets a thrilling middle sequence between two disappointing – but thankfully brief – acts. Your enjoyment of the film will depend pretty much entirely if you can forgive the silliness of the final act. But make no mistake, this whole film is remarkably silly – that’s the point! It’s simply that the second act’s…
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