Double Feature: Toy Story 4 and Child’s Play
Toy Story and Child’s Play were both defining films of my childhood. In very different ways, of course.
State of the Action: Mission: Impossible – Fallout, The Spy Who Dumped Me and Action Cinema in 2018
In 2018, action is as strong as ever. But the boundaries of the genre have been redefined in the wake of the superhero genre’s dominance over the box office.
When Good Films Aren’t For You: Borg vs McEnroe and Wonder
I’m not much of a fan of either Borg vs McEnroe or Wonder, but for their target audience – tennis fans and preteens/their parents, respectively – the films should be a hit.
Write Better Movies: Baywatch and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
Either Baywatch or Dead Men Tell No Tales could have been good – well, passable – with screenplays content to be plain ol’ mediocre.
Double Feature: One Wild Moment (2015) and Blame It On Rio (1984)
Two films remaking the same story of an older man sleeping with his friend’s daughter and, weirdly, the 2015 one is less progressive than the 1984 movie.
Kate, Christine and Sonita: Documentary Dilemmas
One of the best things about attending film festivals – such as this year’s Sydney Film Festival – is the opportunity to explore the breadth of documentaries on display. It’s a stark contrast to the genre’s sparse representation in mainstream cinemas. The conventional critical wisdom would be to suggest that multiplex audiences tend to avoid…
Creed, Magic Mike XXL and the Subtle Pleasures of Authentic Dialogue
Read a synopsis of either of Creed or Magic Mike XXL, two of 2015’s best films, and sight unseen it might hard to understand the excellence of either film. The former film, after all, follows a fairly stock Hollywood formula, hitting its Best Picture-winning predecessor’s plot points beat for beat, while Magic Mike XXL is…
