Shakespeare on Screen
Commemorating the 400th anniversary of the Bard's death, this program is a taste of the breadth and dynamism with which filmmakers have transmuted his plays from stage to screen. It brings together a mixture of traditional adaptations and creative reinventions, along with films that look at both the performance and the performers of the texts themselves. From The Tempest in outer space (Forbidden Planet 1956) to Othello in a London jazz club (All Night Long 1962), Shakespeare's work ...
Marguerite Competition
Inspired by the life of Florence Foster Jenkins. 1921, the beginning of the Golden Twenties. Not far from Paris it is party day at Marguerite Dumont’s castle. Like every year, an array of music lovers gathers around a great cause at the owner’s place. Nobody knows much about this woman except that she is rich and that her whole life is devoted to her passion: music. Marguerite sings. She sings wholeheartedly, but she sings terribly out of tune.
When a young, provocative journalist ...
Mother’s Day Competition
Following the success of NEW YEAR’S EVE and VALENTINE’S DAY director Garry Marshall promises to again deliver big things for MOTHER’S DAY with his winning storytelling style and an all-star cast.
This heart-warming film follows the very different relationships between mothers and their children. MOTHER’S DAY intertwines poignant tales of parenthood which include a mother’s attempts to share parenting roles with her ex-husband (and his much younger partner), a daughter who is ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
Sherpa Competition
In 2013, the world's media reported on a shocking mountain-high brawl as European climbers fled a mob of angry Sherpas. Director Jennifer Peedom and her team set out to uncover the cause of this altercation, intending to film the 2014 climbing season from the Sherpas' point of view. Instead, they captured Everest's greatest tragedy, when a huge block of ice crashed down onto the climbing route, killing 16 Sherpas. For the Himalayan workers repeatedly traversing the mountain carrying ...
Deadpool Movie Review
Ryan Reynolds is the perfect man for the job and his ability to act the class clown and emote even with his face covered in a silly red and black mask is outstanding. He has finally found a role that utilizes all of his talents. Animator Tim Miller makes his directing debut with Deadpool and his sense of pace is spot on. He throws so many jokes and unique ideas your way that the fun doesn’t stop from the hilarious opening credits to the very end crazy credit (don’t miss it).
By now ...
