It’s a massive, massive, MASSIVE week of premiere’s in Australian cinemas – so big that I need to whittle down each entry to…CINEMA IN A SENTENCE!
Clayface – A body-horror take on the semi-obsucre, actor turned shapeshifting Batman villain from filmmakers James Watkins and Mike Flanagan starring Tom Rhys Harries, this may be an interesting turn for comic book movies.
The Uprising – Andrew Garfield stars as maybe Robin Hood in this period tale of peasant uprisings in the reign of Richard II, with steady-handed Paul Greengrass in the director’s chair.
Wildwood – The brilliant Laika Studios commands a ridiculously talented ensemble of voices for this stop-motion adaptation of the 2011 children’s fantasy novel about children being swept into a magical forest.
Klara and the Sun – Another adaptation of a dystopian sci-fi novel, Taika Waititi helms this meditation on life, death, humanity, pollution and the world starring Jenna Ortega as a childlike robot.
Ali G: Who Iz I? – Britain’s most notorious provocateur, Sacha Baron Cohen, returns to the character that launched him as the one-time inappropriate talk-show host must face the challenge of being a responsible man.
Possible Love – This Korean Romance explores the lives and relationships of four stranger after a chance encounter brings them together.
Always Your, Never Mine – By contrast, this Filipino Romance explores a relationship marked by years of encounters that never seem to open up into the chance for love.
Fallen Angels – If you’re into theater or just adore Rose Byrne, you may catch this filmed production of the Noel Coward play in a limited release.
Rose of Nevada – A late release from last year, this UK indie mystery stars George MacKay and Callum Turner as fishermen in a remote Cornish village who witness the return of a legendary ship…three decades after she disappeared at sea.
In a recent interview Sir Mick Jagger said that you can’t survive the music business without a massive ego. Oasis obviously got the memo.
Something that Oasis can’t be accused of is lacking confidence and their swagger and new music documentary has to be admired. The music documentary space is filled with great music documentaries (DIG and History of the Eagles to name a few!) Even this year we’ve seen EPIC (Elvis Presley in Concert) and now we have Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger and this is a banger.
The documentary follows their 2025 reunion from Liam Gallagher first showing up in rehearsal space in London to the views and aspects of fans from all over the world. Every person they chose to give their perspective on Oasis is very well chosen. Throughout the movie forgiveness is a theme and it carries well. Noel Gallagher said that forgiveness has never been part of his DNA. “I just can’t do it”.
For a tour that the English press was just sweating on for drama didn’t have any. They grew up. Oasis split up in 2009 and the band states that’s when the entire “world went to $hit”. Here they are 15 years later mounting an epic reunion. The crowds are massive in every city they toured. The camera work and sound capture is so impressive in this movie. Its two hours long and not one second would I leave on the editing room floor. As soon as the band starts playing guitar in that rehearsal space, you acknowledge how good they are and sound. That never goes away. Not after 15 years.
The swagger is back. The forgiveness is back. Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger in cinemas now!!
It is a brand new day for Spider-Man, a day without his friends and his Aunt May. He’s dealing with the usual Spidey problems, not only from a Spider-man point of view, yet a Peter Parker one to and they are both split 50/50 in impact to our friendly neighborhood Spider-man.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day is a more stripped back Spider-Man. Sure there is the custom in built action sequences with the 50 SFX houses credited in the end titles as you await the end of credits scene (don’t bother, get out of the car park early). It’s a New York set movie (probably shot in Canada for a tax credit and to that effect). New York looks great. It’s the most New York movie since The Avengers. I was warmed up appropriately for Spider-man after seeing the Avengers: Doomsday trailer, which I anticipate even more now and I have a feeling this movie is going to blow up.
Now back to Spider-Man: Brand New Day, as I digress.
Excellent performances by the many leads, borrowing casting heavily from The Bear and The Odyssey. There are characters that show up, which straight away made me think if that team up was going to work and it did it. Credit to the Director and Screen Writers for making that happen. I saw it at a packed house, (cinema is not dead) with 90% GEN Zers in attendance. They laughed, the cheered and they yelled “OH NO” in the right places. Good on them. The action scenes are Marvel in its prime worthy. No rubbish CGI shots, no shots that go in circles around the hero with rushed and under budget CGI and Green screens. Spider-Man: Brand New Day looks great.
The “villain” of the piece is so left field I was shocked. Shocked that it hadn’t leaked and shocked who they chose. I didn’t see it coming and even if I had 100 guesses. I still wouldn’t of been able to guess who it was and good on Sony/Marvel for going in such a bold direction. All the cameos work and work into the story well. This is a winter movie and suits the tone of Spider-Man: Brand New Day in a different photographic look for Marvel. The humour works in the right amount and I appreciate that the script attempted zingers every three lines.
A mature Spider-Man: Brand New Day is present here and the quality of the work is appreciated. Spider-Man has been going for over 20 years now from Sony/Marvel start and the series is in good hands. Instead of going bigger they’ve gone to the emotional heart of Spider-man that packs a punch harder than the HULK. Keep up the good work Marvel and now we know the Sony Spider verse spin offs are all dead. This is a good basket to keep those eggs in.
Directed by Matthew Arnold & Freddie Wong, Written by Matthew Arnold, Will Campos & Beth May, starring Ashley Burch & Jordan Rodrigues
With the recent success of the films Obsession and Backrooms some have speculated that a wave of “YouTube Filmmakers” is set to make good in the Hollywood studio system. While it is a net positive that young filmmakers have been able to hone their craft and build an audience on the platform that translates to cinemas, the phenomenon is not entirely new. Freddie Wong built his career demonstrating a deft capacity for visual effects, and while he may not have had a smash hit at the box office, he has built a strong enough reputation to have collaborated with Jordan Peele and Keegan Michael Key as well as Jon Favreau. Since We’re All Gonna Die was released in 2024 it’s a safe bet that many have not even heard of this quaint indie, dark comedy, sci-fi, existential romance, but it stands as early evidence of what the world is now acknowledging: You can learn everything you need to make fine films with a laptop and a willingness to work hard.
In the not-too-distant future (again) an utterly mysterious “thing” has appeared on earth – a mammoth object that looks something like a tentacle falling down to earth from the sky. Periodically it will disappear from its location and reappear elsewhere, causing untold havoc and physics-bending consequences. If that sounds like a hugely intriguing premise then fair warning: it is merely the backdrop against which this relationship dramedy unfolds. Nothing of the nature of this object is ever explored or explained, and apart from serving as the catalyst to the “plot” (which is really just a road trip), this is a story that could have been told without an inexplicable soft sci-fi adjacent hook. The actual story follow Thalia and Kai (played by Ashley Burch & Jordan Rodrigues) as travelers who are forced into each other’s company when the “Spike” spontaneously displaces Kai’s car and Thalia’s livelihood across the country. As they take the journey to retrieve their stuff, they discover that each is grieving a significant loss, and are forced to confront truths about themselves that they’d rather avoid.
The film is about trauma, which is an increasingly popular theme across film and television, which unfortunately takes some of the sting out of the narrative in this case. Stories built around characters who need to makes healthier choices to deal with their unresolved issues have been done well, and created engaging and insightful art – in the case of We’re All Gonna Die, the beats are very obvious from the moment the characters are introduced. Leaning in to the “quirky comedy” aspect means many of the conversations between the characters need to be amusing, which actually robs the audience of the chance to empathise more fully with the tragedy. This is not to say that the film is bad – it’s fine. The comic elements are amusing, if rarely laugh-out-loud funny, and there is a genuine sense of intrigue at exploring this world in a quiet, slow apocalypse, where humanity have simply gotten used to this potentially terrible force. The performances of the lead actors – who really have to shoulder the whole film – are great. Frustrating and sympathetic in exactly the right doses, they are also both funny, though it seems as though the comedy comes through Ashley Burch a little more naturally.
At just over 90 minutes it’s a decent ride, though the climax in the final 10 minutes does get a little lost trying to tie the resolution of the character arcs to the metaphysical Spike. It may not be a film for the ages, but it is exactly the kind of project that should be encouraged and supported, as it largely succeeds as an original story. If you don’t tend to lean towards indie films, this won’t win you over. If you’re the type who likes to sample everything from the buffet, this is worth a look.
99 percent of you are going to see the new Spider-man movie, right? For the other 1 percent, there are a couple of esoteric options
Spider-man: Brand New Day – The Marvel/Sony Spider-man partnership forges stronger ties in the fourth installment of what could be sub-titles “Spidey Team-Up”, as all four have featured a major MCU player in a key supporting role. This time around Mark Ruffalo’s professor turned super-Hyde Bruce Banner/Hulk joins Tom Holland’s Peter Parker/Spider-man as he attempts to protect friends MJ (Zendaya) and Ned (Jacob Batalon) from a new threat that only he can perceive. Expect a lot more MCU cameos, in particular from Jon Bernthal as Frank Castle/The Punisher, tense and well shot action sequences, a plot that won’t hold up under much scrutiny and a long run time. Probably fun as well.
The Blue Trail – A Portuguese dystopian drama, Denise Weinberg stars as a 77 year-old who receives a government order to retire and relocate to a colony as part of an initiative to boost the economy and manage population growth. Defiantly she sets out into the Amazon in pursuit of her dreams and independence. Director Gabriel Mascaro crafts a beautiful and poignant tale about finding fresh starts in life, no matter your age.
WHAM! 10 Days in China – If you’re a fan of 80’s pop icons George Michael and the Other Guy (just kidding Andrew Ridgeley), and you’re lucky enough to find a screening near you, this restored release of a 40 year old project may be of interest. in 1986 WHAM! was the first ever Western pop group to be permitted to perform in China. Hoping to create a tie-in video release Sony Music engaged Lindsay Anderson to film the concert tour. His version of the film was rejected for focusing too much on life in a communist country, and not enough on the band. The project was then handed to Mike Christie, who has now revitalised his cut with new interviews.
Written & Directed by Christopher Nolan, starring Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o, Robert Pattinson, Samantha Morton, Bennie Safdie, John Bernthal, Mia Goth, Elliot Page, James Remar, Charlize Theron…and quite a few more.
I got up at 9am on the day the ticket sales opened up for the IMAX to see The Odyssey. I was shocked when looking at the seating options that so many tickets had already been sold. That’s the type of frantic nature that represents The Odyssey away from the screen and on the screen. While Odysseus has this desire to go home, his desperation also fills a need from the fans of Christopher Nolan to see his latest movie.
As I sat in the corner of the IMAX theatre, J Row, I wanted to be blown away from the start. I wasn’t. It has a soft opening and keeps at a steady pace, then by the last hour you are gripped. You are sweating by the overdone air conditioning and your winter coat and the tension on screen.
A friend assumed this was just epic action and CGI all over the screen. I told her there wasn’t one CGI shot in the whole movie. Knowing that going into The Odyssey blows me away at a whole new level. One of my biggest surprises from The Odyssey is actually how scary it can get and that did that to me twice in the movie and I didn’t see it coming at all.
Samantha Morton shows up from The Walking Dead and her performance got a standing ovation from the crew filming The Odyssey. The only other performer to receive that level of compliment on a Christopher Nolan set was Health Ledger from The Dark Knight.
The movie uses its locations well. Scotland, Greece, Italy, Morocco and Iceland. It wouldn’t be a Christopher Nolan movie without an Iceland shoot. With all the depictions on screen of HELL over the years. It’s great to see some originality back in how that is depicted.
The open sea scenes are the ones that stay with me after witnessing the movie. The non CGI dolphins were such a highlight, almost like the karaoke scene in Project Hail Mary it just gives the audience a lift it needs to keep on going.
The destruction of TROY scene is epic in itself and the fire and fear of being in a sacked city is bought to cinematic perfection. The score, using instruments from that time is at time unsettling yet also brings an originally and vibe. One of my favorite sets is the palace. It just looks so ancient Greece. As a viewer I enjoyed living there.
The Odyssey isn’t my favourite Christopher Nolan movie, yet I feel outside of Oppenheimer it’s his most important. Only one year ago, the internet was full of “Death of Cinema” headlines. This movie gives “cinema” a crucial gear change right when some momentum was coming back, where patrons are coming back. To read 70,000 tickets have been sold for IMAX Melbourne alone is inspiring.
“Much have I suffered, laboured long and hard by now in the waves and wars. Add this to the total – bring the trial on.” – Odysseus.
Directed by Gore Verbinski, written by Matthew Robinson, starring Sam Rockwell, Juno Temple, Haley Lu Richardson, Michael Peña, Zazie Beetz & Asmin Chaudry
According to “those who were there” during the filming of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, Gore Verbinski at one point admonished everyone to cherish the experience “because they won’t let us make movies like this anymore.” His words largely proved true, as the era of mega-budget blockbusters, filmed on location with massive sets, intricate costumes, props and casts of thousands is a thing of the past (Christopher Nolan notwithstanding). Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die suggests the filmmaker has a serious axe to grind against the loss of handcraft in filmmaking, and as a particularly venomous screed against the advent of so-called artificial intelligence. The film is a sermon – but an entertaining one.
A man strides into a late-night diner, announces that he has come from the future to save humanity and that he must recruit a specific combination of those currently in the diner to complete his mission.The problem is that he doesn’t know which specific people he needs – he has attempted this one hundred and sixteen times already to no success. It’s a devilishly enjoyable spin on the “Groundhog Day” conceit: the audience experiences interacting with a man who has lived the same day over and over, and have to work out whether he is simply a crazy homeless guy, or if his impressive knowledge of everyone is convincing. Sci-fi, fantastical premises like this are a dime a dozen, however, and not worth much in any story without a character performance at the centre. Most fortunate then that Sam Rockwell sells the hell out of this role. The whole film, in fact, rises and falls on his performance, and he never fails to be the perfect alchemical mixture of hilarious, sarcastic, manic, obsessive and tortured. The ensemble that surrounds him “this time round” includes troubled couple Michael Peña and Zazie Beetz, a seemingly broken Juno Temple, incredulous Asim Chaudry and a surly Haley Lu Richardson, who stands out as the cast MVP after Rockwell.
The trailer presents the film as being “from a completely unhinged Gore Verbinski” and this claim is a little bit of a stretch. That promise suggests the arthouse like, independent nature of a Jodorowsky film, but it is still very much a film made on the rails of Hollywood storytelling. The bonkers elements in the film’s climax are admittedly bizarre, but have a strong story justification. To speak much about the plot gives away much of what is enjoyable about experiencing the film – suffice to say as the ensemble reveal their own personal stories (largely in flashback sequences) the film has a few things to say about phones, social media, cloning, mental health, gaming and their impact on relationships. Not all of these points land, and the push to include so many ideas in the film can makes the conflict and stakes a little confusing. Verbinski and his team are at pains to point at the spectres of Silicon Valley and say “this is bad!”, but don’t necessarily tie it all together come the end.
The destination, however, is not the point – it is the journey of the film, which is clever, funny, tense and most importantly human enough to sustain two hours and change. It’s too esoteric to enter into The Canon as a classic, and too broad to find a cult following, but it is fun.
Today is New Movie Day, and there are a few more options this week…if you can find a cinema screening them
Anh Hung – You may find this one alternately titled Mr. Hero, if you can find it at all, as this Vietnamese film is set for a fairly limited release this week. The premise has much to recommend: A struggling taxi-driver supporting a chronically ill daughter stumbles into the public eye in the hopes of raising money for a critical surgery by pretending to be part of a charity. While the set-up for a throwback 90’s comedy, the film is being pitched largely as a family drama, albeit with a sense of humour. This is director Vo Thach Thao’s first film, graduating from television.
Penny Lane is Dead – Every child of the 80’s and 90’s has a local legend about a party getting out of control. Ripe for building tension and brewing conflict this is the setting of this slightly delayed Ozploitation dark-comedy/horror flick which was premiered at last years Adelaide Film Festival. The debut of writer/director Mia’kate Russell, the marketing for the film has been boasting that audiences at the Fantasia International Film Festival fainted during the screening. So fair warning, this film is closer to Wolf Creek than The Deb, and you’re going to want to skip the snacks on this one.
Motor City – The action genre still lives, direct to streaming, in this tight crime-thriller from director Potsy Ponciroli, who helmed the quite-good western Old Henry (2021). Current hulking beefcake Alan Ritchson (Reacher…he’s actually pretty good) plays a prison escapee who was framed, and seeks revenge on those who wronged him. Standard stuff, but in the hands of more than competent craftsmen who know their trade.
The Wizard of the Kremlin – A 2025 English-language French release, this is the adaptation of a novel by Giuliano da Empoli. A satirical look at the transition from the Soviet Union to the Russian Federation in the 90’s, the film views the rise of Putin (played by Jude Law) from the persepctive of a young government official (Paul Dano). Though an interesting cast has been pulled together, reviews of the film have been pretty mixed.
Colours of Time – Another French period drama, the plot sees four cousins gather at a family estate and begin to explore their shared ancestral stories. A pretty looking film that takes advantage of beautiful French country-side and heritage locations, this will show up on SBS fairly shortly.
Directed by Phil Lord & Chris Miller, written by Drew Goddard based on the novel by Andy Weir, starring Ryan Gosling, James Ortiz, Sandra Hüller& Lionel Boyce
In previous decades of cinema the release of a film like Project Hail Mary would be a true cultural event: a film on everybody’s mind weeks before the premiere, dominating pop culture conversation for months after leaving theatres, providing high school science teacher a perfect excuse for an class excursion to the movies. A science-fiction drama with a great sense of humour, deftly juggling compelling and richly portrayed characters, a tense, dramatic crisis and an intelligent script. Author Andy Weir has made his mark writing science-fiction that is “fifteen minutes into the future” – so the technology and science is recognisable and almost completely accurate, allowing just enough liberty to be able to engage with the fantastical. This is the kind of film that genre fans would deeply appreciate and be able to talk about it with their more pop-minded friends. It is a true gift, from what can be a cynical industry, that a major studio has put major chips down on a project like this.
Amaze, amaze, amaze!
In the not-too-distant future an inexplicable phenomenon is destroying the sun. The world’s major powers invest authority in Eva Stratt (Sandra Hüller) to coordinate efforts to understand and resolve the crisis. Dr. Ryland Grace (Gosling), a disgraced doctoral candidate turned high school science teacher (the fun type), is recruited by Stratt into an impossible plan…the titular Hail Mary.
Discussion of the film is difficult because while it is structured largely as a disaster film – every answer leads to a new problem, and every solution meets a complication – the plot is unveiled like a mystery. Gosling’s character awakens with no memory – his gradual recovery plays out in the form of flashbacks spliced between his present experience “doing the science stuff.” In a number of cases these flashbacks play out as a major reveal of information that changes the audiences understanding of the situation and characters. Thus any discussion of plot risks “spoiling” some of these moments.The film is not, at heart, a mystery so it does not detract from the viewers experience to be ahead of the reveals in most cases. Does that mean that the flashback structure is actually a complicated and perhaps unnecessary conceit? Possibly. It allows the film to begin on mission, while the exposition is doled out gradually as it makes sense for the characters growth. It can, however, serve as a distraction that pulls the viewer out of the tension of the main mission. Much like 2015’s The Martian (another Weir adaptation) the film chugs along at its best when science is happening – the meticulously crafted sequences where discoveries are made, new particles are discovered and understood, new technologies are employed and creative solution must be found to unexpected problems. It is smart storytelling without being impenetrable to the layperson nor condescending to the science-minded. Gosling’s performance is another confirmation of his status as a star in the vein of Tom Hanks – funny, charming, fallible, pitiable; he plays a highly qualified man with remarkably low-status. Playing against him in flashbacks is a stellar Sandra Hüller, whose deadpan troubleshooter comes across as exactly the kind of person that should be in charge when facing the apocalypse. Gosling shares some brief moments of connection with his handler played by Lionel Boyce (The Bear), and has a single inspiring conversation with a Chinese astronaut played by Ken Leung. Gosling really does shoulder this film, and spends a significant amount of time as the only person on screen, but the lack of depth given to any other human makes the world feel oddly empty.
Gosling’s true co-star, as hinted in the film’s trailers, is the Extra Terrestrial he encounters – one who has been dispatched on the same mission by his own world. Dubbed ‘Rocky’ by Goslings scientist, the companion is a remarkable creation brought to life through the combined efforts of Arslan Elver’s team of animators at Framestore, Neal Scanlon and his creature shop, and on-set puppeteer James Ortiz, who provided a voice so good that filmmakers Lord & Miller decided against stunt casting for the final cut. The fully realised character is a masterwork, and a strong argument for a puppetry performance Oscar category. He is funny and a genuine delight on screen, embodying the movie magic that allows the audience to accept the emotional bond that grows between Rocky and Ryland.
Though consistently engaging, the film is over three hours long, and it may not have hurt the narrative to trim some of the runtime, particularly in the last twenty minutes, which plays like a series of multiple endings. Despite these few hiccups, Project Hail Mary comes pretty close to being a perfect film – in that it succeeds in being the exact film that Lord & Miller set out to make. That, in itself, was always a long shot.
A Hail Mary.
On a personal note…
My son and I discovered and enjoyed the audiobook together, and were both eagerly anticipating this release. Bringing a friend of his with us on opening night, he proceeded to talk non-stop throughout the whole movie, explaining excitedly to his friend everything that was happening, everything that was being left out from the book, everything that was coming up…
Then came a sequence where Gosling’s character, standing on the hull of his ship before an alien world, “has a moment” when his view shifts to a breathtaking display of light and colour that brought tears to my eyes
and after a little moment of silence, I heard my son whisper “Wow…that’s so beautiful…”
It’s New Release Day…and fortunately your trip to the movies this week is made so much easier because there’s one release that no other films wanted to compete with!
The Odyssey – There are so few filmmakers working at blockbuster scale these days, it is a precious treat to receive a genuine historical epic from modern cinemas greatest champion, Christopher Nolan. Drawn directly from the ancient work of the Greek poet Homer, The Odyssey chronicle’s the journey of Odysseus – king of the Greek nation of Ithaca – following the end of the Trojan War. While the last effort at a ancient Greek epic (2004’s Troy) attempted to relay the legendary siege in a completely grounded narrative – free from any interference by gods or monsters – Nolan has fully embraced the ancient traditions that tie history with mythology. Matt Damon stars alongside a jaw-dropping cast including Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o, Robert Pattinson, Samantha Morton, Bennie Safdie, John Bernthal, Mia Goth, Elliot Page, James Remar, Charlize Theron and, look, this could go on for pages. The Odyssey is proof that, in fact, they can and do still “make them like this”, and will undoubtedly highlight what can be achieved when tailoring a film for the BIG screen. If you’ve got the option, catch it in IMAX, but don’t let this one through to your streaming list.
