Posts by admin 5013 results

Zootopia Movie Review

The film follows Judy, a carrot farmer's daughter who bucks social norms to engage in a career usually reserved for more robust species such as oxen, rhinos and tigers. When her abilities are underestimated by her chief of police, she teams up with city slicker con-fox, Nick, who is similarly socially pigeon-holed in accordance with his species as a sly character who is always up to no good. The film is a little heavy handed with its anti-bullying, anti-discrimination, social inclusion, ...

The Lady in the Van Movie Review

Well it was also the first time I had ever laid eyes on Maggie Smith, who played the sea goddess, Thetis. And to my 12-year-old eyes, Maggie looked positively ancient. Of course, she was a spritely 47-year-old then (I say ‘spritely’ because that's how old I am now) but she has grown older as I have grown older and, as a result, she has always looked ‘old’ to me. At 81, it's fair to say she has earned that mantle now but one thing that has not faded with her age is her performance ...

Grimsby Movie Review

The very British story revolves around spies, long lost brothers, council flats, soccer, drinking with your mates and saving the world. It also features movie star types like Mark Strong, Penélope Cruz, Mrs. Sacha Baron Cohen, Isla Fisher and that worldwide embarrassment Donald Trump. One of the best ways to put the proceedings in perspective is to make a list of some of the props needed to bring Cohen’s ideas to fruition. Half metre long fake phallus, check. 100 litres of ejaculate, ...

Allegiant Competition

The action-packed third instalment of the blockbuster Divergent Series, Allegiant takes Tris (Shailene Woodley) and Four (Theo James) into a new world, far more dangerous than ever before. After the earth-shattering revelations of Insurgent, Tris must escape with Four and go beyond the wall enclosing Chicago. For the first time, they will leave the only city and family they have ever known. Once outside, old discoveries are quickly rendered meaningless with the revelation of shocking new ...

Eye in the Sky Competition

From a script by BAFTA winner Guy Hibbert and the director of Ender’s Game, Eye in the Sky follows Colonel Michelle Madden, a military intelligence officer in command of a top secret drone operation to capture a group of dangerous terrorists from their safe-house in Nairobi, Kenya. The mission escalates from a "capture" to a "kill” operation when Madden realises the terrorists are about to embark on a deadly suicide mission. However, a nine-year-old girl enters the kill zone just as the ...

Hail, Caesar! Movie Review

Viewers with a basic knowledge of cinema history will be paid dividends as the references to a glorious past arrive with regularity. From references like the dance extravaganzas of Busby Berkeley to the screwball comedy of Cary Grant, the love and respect is up on the silver screen for all to see. A familiar cast of characters is evident and Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Frances McDormand and Scarlett Johansson are just a few regulars that do justice to the always-impressive words of the ...

Trumbo Movie Review

Following the Second World War many in democratic countries around the world (including Australia) became members of the Communist Party, then the party of social and economic justice. But when the former ally in the Communist regime of the USSR became the enemy of the West during the Cold War, the ground figuratively shifted beneath western Communists' feet and they became targets of suspicion within their own countries. This is not unique to this time and place, of course; German ...

The Decemberists 2016 Aussie Tour

Since their earliest recordings more than a decade ago, The Decemberists have been known for their sense of scope and daring. Drawing on influences such as REM, The Shins and Death Cab for Cutie, they sway through upbeat pop to lush ballads to sea shanties, and employ a plethora of instruments including accordion, organ, and upright bass to orchestrate exciting, theatrical performances that have charmed audiences the world over. After the success of the 2011 Number 1 album The King is ...

St Germain Australian Tour

Currently on tour in Europe, St Germain will headline two shows, playing The Forum, Melbourne on March 14 and Enmore Theatre, Sydney on March 15. He’s back. Twenty years after Boulevard, fifteen years after the multi-platinum album Tourist (which sold more than three million copies worldwide) and a world tour spanning several continents, St Germain (Ludovic Navarre) has finally found his way back into the studio. An uncontested and respected figure in the world of electronic music ...

Risen Movie Review

Naturally, given the story, the torture porn of The Passion is mostly absent here and in its place is a fictionalised account of a Roman Tribune, Clavius (Joseph Fiennes), and his efforts to locate Jesus' (Cliff Curtis - makes sense) resurrected personage before he once again inspires Judaeans to reject the good, wholesome Roman way of life endorsed by Prefect Pontius Pilate (Peter Firth). On the strength of the trailer, Risen looked to be an interesting study on the juxtaposition of ...