The consensus on Divergent, the latest piece of young adult literature to be rendered onto the big screen, is that it’s a watered-down Hunger Games ripoff (often accompanied by an uninspired pun on the title and the film’s lack of originality, and an underlying assumption that art directed at teenage girls is inherently inferior). I’m…
Darren Aronofsky has apparently been obsessed with Noah since he was a teenager. Watching Noah, that makes a lot of sense – this is the sort of movie a teenager concocts in religion class, half-listening to Biblical tales while thumbing a post-apocalyptic fantasy novel. The film has more in common with the film adaptations of…
I liked Tim Winton’s The Turning more than most critics. Looking back at my review now, I don’t think I succeeded in explaining why it appealed to me; it’s an assumption underlying my write-up, but I don’t think I made it clear. In part, it’s based in my fondness for Winton’s original anthology, which I’d…
In an era where blockbuster movies direct their immense budgets towards overcoming the restrictions of cinema, The Lego Movie succeeds by embracing its limitations. Those limitations are found in its animation; computer-generated, sure, but constructed from Lego blocks in their millions. Directors/screenwriters Phil Lord and Christopher Miller get a lot of mileage out of their…
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…
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 –…
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…
In my interview with Tracks director John Curran, he emphasised the importance of the interior journey of Robyn Davidson (Mia Wasikowska), the young Australian girl who completed a solo trek across thousands of miles of Australian desert. That interior journey is a large part of what makes Tracks such an excellent film; the way Robyn…
I’m not really that interested in getting too caught up in the Oscars fol-de-rol that consumes the critical community around this time of year. I read a lot about the Academy Awards because, well, it’s people getting passionate about film! People arguing emphatically about which film is better and the industry, about who will win…
“Airplanes are beautiful dreams. Cursed dreams, waiting for the sky to swallow them up.” It’s hard to separate The Wind Rises from its creator, Hayao Miyazaki, iconic anime director and co-founder of Studio Ghibli. Barring a Jay Z-esque change of heart, The Wind Rises represents his last feature length film, and with this in mind…
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