Here are the top 20 films from 2014! I’ve decided to stick to films that received an Australian theatrical or home entertainment release in the 2014 calendar year or films that screened at an Australian festival but haven’t yet been picked up for 2015 release. This means that 2015 films that I have seen (like,…
Ingmar Bergman’s Oscar-winning Autumn Sonata succeeds on two fronts. At first, it operates as a chamber drama two-hander, with a mother (Ingrid Bergman) and daughter (Liv Ullmann) cracking open deep emotional faultlines and unearthing toxic secrets. The subject matter – neglectful parent, unwanted abortions – is familiar but vital, thanks in large part to the…
A couple weeks ago, The Daily Beast asked the question Why Can’t Movies Capture Genius?, looking at the recent cluster of British biopics Mr Turner, The Imitation Game and The Theory of Everything and considering how difficult it is to convey genius without being burdened by overblown exposition. The chief success of Reaching for the…
The Queensland premiere of The Water Diviner was introduced not by director and star Russell Crowe – Brisbane is no Sydney, after all – but by Des Power, an Order of Australia member peripherally tied to proceedings via his role as creative director of the Gallipoli Chamber Orchestra. In sombre tones, he told the audience…
Musicals and I have never really been on the same wavelength. As a child I can vividly recall watching Disney classics like Sleeping Beauty or Snow White and the Seven Dwarves and sinking in my seat when the inevitable musical numbers began. That antipathy remains, decades later. The first film I was assigned to review…
If you’re looking for some holiday binge-watching to satiate your Game of Thrones addiction, Netflix have their fingers crossed you’ll turn to Marco Polo. The series–originally intended for Starz before Netflix and the Weinstein Company swooped in–uses its thirteenth century setting to present a historical drama that’s been widely compared to Game of Thrones. The…
Ghost in the Shell: Arise is a perfectly good anime series. Its four hour-long episodes – the first two having just been released on Australian Blu-Ray – navigate labyrinthine cyberpunk narratives layered with themes of identity and our perceptions of reality. This philosophical density is leavened by the show’s kinetic, deftly-directed action sequences and sharp…
It’s not hard to notice the similarities between God Help the Girl and We Are the Best! Each centres on a trio of solipsistic if sympathetic youngsters who combine to express their innermost feelings through the medium of music, forming a band together. Each film is essentially plotless, focusing more on mood and character than…
Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) stands amidst the twisted wreckage of girders and the licks of flame wrought by the preceding spectacular action sequence. “Screw it, it’s Christmas,” he shrugs, and his legion of Iron Man suits explode overhead, striking fireworks illuminating the yuletide sky. Those wandering into Iron Man 3 last year – and…
The title of The Imitation Game refers to Alan Turing’s method of determining whether a machine is capable of demonstrating human intelligence – more commonly referred to as “the Turing test.” Turing’s achievements go far beyond a simple artificial intelligence experiment, and those achievements are chronicled in this biopic from Norwegian director Mortem Tyldum. The…
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