Category Archives: Film Reviews

District 9

District 9 Review

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‘An extraterrestrial race forced to live in slum-like conditions on Earth suddenly finds a kindred spirit in a government agent who is exposed to their biotechnology.‘

Year: 2009

Director: Neil Blomkamp

Writers: Neil Blomkamp, Teri Tatchell

Starring: Sharlto Copely, Jason Cope, Nathalie Boltt

Transformers and the likes of Skyline or Battle: Los Angeles thunder into cinemas with all the force of…well, an alien invasion. These flicks wage a publicity assault of such magnitude that there’s no chance the movie-going public can avoid the countless posters, billboards and repeated trailers everywhere we go. Obviously this is how movies like this make their money, by over-saturating the mind so much that people can’t stand to let the movie pass them by. I, for one, am very glad of this; I’m glad Independence Day hit it so big in its time; I’m glad Cloverfield and Super 8 pull in the crowds they do; I’m even glad that Michael Bay get’s to keep cranking out Transformers over and over to a public that eats that business right up.

Because that’s how we get gold…like this: Continue reading →

Tintin and Captain Haddock

The Adventures of Tintin Review

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‘Intrepid reporter Tintin and Captain Haddock set off on a treasure hunt for a sunken ship commanded by Haddock’s ancestor.‘

Tintin

The story of The Adventures of Tintin‘s development is long and convoluted, but we finally have a big screen adaptation of the comic that has been a favourite around the world for over 80 years (although I was always more of an Asterix and Obelix fan myself). Tintin has always been a fun character, working his way through adventures that Indiana Jones would be proud of with his trusty sidekick Snowy and it is only fitting that Steven Spielberg be the one to adapt it.

Spielberg first found out about Tintin when Continue reading →

Fright Night Review

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Director: Craig Gillespie

Writers: Martin Noxin, Tom Holland

Starring: Colin Farrell, Anton Yelchin, Imogen Poots, David Tennant

Year: 2011

I sometimes like to claim that I have a bizarre relationship with horror films. When I was a little ‘un, and our family would go to the video store, I would check to make sure no-one was watching, then sneak into the horror section and start checking out the covers. I wouldn’t actually watch one – not in a million years (well…12 to 15) – but the images on those boxes held a dread fascination. One such cover that I have always clearly remembered was the 1985 cult classic Fright Night. Continue reading →

The Captains

The Captains Review

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‘Since first soaring onto television screens in the 1960s, Star Trek has become one of the most beloved franchises of all time. Now, the original Captain Kirk, William Shatner, travels around the globe to interview the elite group of actors (Chris Pine, Patrick Stewart, Avery Brooks, Kate Mulgrew and Scott Bakula) who have portrayed the role of Starship Captain, giving fans an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the pop culture phenomenon as well as the men and women who made it so.‘

The Captains

William Shatner has made a whole comedy act out of poking fun at his most famous role, but you don’t often hear him or any of the other Star Trek actors talk about the impact that it had on their personal lives. There are plenty of documentaries out there that talk about how obsessed the fans are, or what impact the show made on television, but how does it feel to be a part of something so massive?

The Captains is a very honest, if a little Continue reading →

Real Steel Poster

Real Steel Review

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‘Set in the near future, where robot boxing is a top sport, a struggling promoter feels he’s found a champion in a discarded robot. During his hopeful rise to the top, he discovers he has an 11-year-old son who wants to know his father.‘

Real Steel Poster

It seems like an odd premise; take a story by Richard Matheson, strip out everything but the overarching sci-fi concept and shove in a father/son bonding plot together with a classic underdog story. On the surface, it shouldn’t work. But Real Steel is one of the big surprises of the year.

I went into this movie with very low expectations. I was hoping that Continue reading →

Priest Review

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Director: Scott Charles Stewart

Writers: Cory Goodman, Min-Woo Hyung

Starring: Paul Bettany, Cam Gigandet, Maggie Q

Year: 2011

When, exactly, did Paul Bettany become an action star?

He is, on the surface, the least threatening guy I’ve ever seen – he looks like the kind of guy who’d enjoy a good night’s easy listening to Kenny G. But at some point in the past few years he really got into the idea of tackling spiritual issues with extreme prejudice.

Anyhoo, Priest is an apocalyptic-sci-fi-horror-action-comic-book-western (and I’ve probably missed one or two genre mash-ups there). An impressive animated Continue reading →

Red Dog

Red Dog Review

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‘Based on the legendary true story of the Red Dog who united a disparate local community while roaming the Australian outback in search of his long-lost master.‘

Have you ever sat around a campfire swapping stories? Told a few tall tales at the pub? Even as you’re listening you know that the stories have grown with every retelling, but you don’t really care as long as they’re told well. Red Dog is a movie that captures this experience and takes us back to the 70’s to hear about the legend of Red Dog, a clever canine that captured the hearts and minds of the people of the Pilbara.

Thomas (Luke Ford) arrives at the little mining town of Dampier where Continue reading →

Face to Face Review

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‘From Australia’s most acclaimed playwright, David Williamson, a moving and powerful new film about lies, betrayal, sex and bullying in the workplace. A young construction worker rams into the back of his boss’s Jaguar in a fit of anger at being sacked. Rather than fronting court, he’s given the chance to explain his actions in a community conference.‘

I hadn’t really heard anything about Face to Face until this week when I had the pleasure of seeing the film at an advance screening followed by a Q&A with the cast and crew (although David Williamson was unfortunately absent due to health problems). Made on an almost non-existent budget, Face to Face is a character drama that asks some hard questions about workplace bullying, and proves that Australian drama is still a force to be reckoned with.

Face to Face is a slow burning film, when Continue reading →

Cowboys and Aliens Review

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‘A spaceship arrives in Arizona, 1873, to take over the Earth, starting with the Wild West region. A posse of cowboys and natives are all that stand in their way.

The title of this movie alone was enough to make we want to see it, which I suppose is the main reason that the studio chose it. And when you have a cast of actors including Harrison Ford, Daniel Craig, Olivia Wilde, Sam Rockwell, and Clancy Brown then the movie sounds a lot more interesting.

Cowboys and Aliens was a fun movie, but I felt that Continue reading →

Jane Eyre Review

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‘A mousy governess who softens the heart of her employer soon discovers that he’s hiding a terrible secret.’

Jane Eyre is possibly one of the most adapted novels in the English language, it seems that every few years a new movie or TV series is released, allowing us to see many different interpretations of Charlotte Bronte’s classic.

Cary Fukunaga’s Jane Eyre is a welcome Continue reading →