We’ve never seen Jessie Buckley, as the Bride, so electric. She fills every scene with a strong sense of danger as her character transforms in a wild arc. Christian Bale, almost unrecognisable at first as Frankenstein’s Monster, fills the screen with an almost overwhelming mix of aggression and sadness. Annette Bening is also fabulous as Dr Euphronius, who is tasked with bringing the dead back to life.

Every scene has a purpose, and this kinetic energy powers the film forward throughout its two-hour running time. It constantly brings in so many other film references; it’s a film aficionado’s dream. The art exists in those moments, being presented as a tribute and not as outright thievery. Gyllenhaal even succeeds in delivering an ending that validates your care for the participants.

In a nod to Bonnie & Clyde, Sid and Nancy and many others, Frankenstein and The Bride embark on a crime-riddled romantic road trip for the ages. And it speaks to Maggie Gyllenhaal’s sure hand at the till and her obvious love of the cinema (past and present) that the final product feels so fresh and holds together so well with so many influences at play. This all equates to a rollicking good time.
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A lonely Frankenstein (Bale) travels to 1930s Chicago to ask groundbreaking scientist Dr. Euphronious (five-time Oscar nominee Annette Bening) to create a companion for him. The two revive a murdered young woman and The Bride (Buckley) is born. What ensues is beyond what either of them imagined: Murder! Possession! A wild and radical cultural movement! And outlaw lovers in a wild and combustible romance!

The film stars Buckley, Bale, Peter Sarsgaard, with Bening, Academy Award nominee Jake Gyllenhaal, and Oscar winner Penélope Cruz. Maggie Gyllenhaal directs from her own screenplay and produces alongside Oscar nominee Emma Tillinger Koskoff, Talia Kleinhendler and Osnat Handelsman Keren. The executive producers are Carla Raij, David Webb and Courtney Kivowitz.

Gyllenhaal is supported behind the camera by a team of award-winning film artisans, including director of photography Lawrence Sher, production designer Karen Murphy, editor Dylan Tichenor, music supervisor Randall Poster, composer Hildur Gudnadóttir and costume designer Sandy Powell.

Warner Bros. Pictures Presents A First Love Films / In The Current Company Production, A Maggie Gyllenhaal Film: THE BRIDE!. The film will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, only in Australian cinemas March 2026.
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From Maggie Gyllenhaal (Academy Award-nominated writer/director of The Lost Daughter) and starring Academy Award nominee Jessie Buckley and Academy Award winner Christian Bale comes THE BRIDE! A bold, iconoclastic take on one of the world’s most compelling stories.

A lonely Frankenstein (Bale) travels to 1930s Chicago to ask groundbreaking scientist Dr. Euphronious (five-time Oscar nominee Annette Bening) to create a companion for him. The two revive a murdered young woman and The Bride (Buckley) is born. What ensues is beyond what either of them imagined: Murder! Possession! A wild and radical cultural movement! And outlaw lovers in a wild and combustible romance!

The film stars Buckley, Bale, Peter Sarsgaard, with Bening, Academy Award nominee Jake Gyllenhaal, and Oscar winner Penélope Cruz. Maggie Gyllenhaal directs from her own screenplay and produces alongside Oscar nominee Emma Tillinger Koskoff, Talia Kleinhendler and Osnat Handelsman Keren. The executive producers are Carla Raij, David Webb and Courtney Kivowitz.

Gyllenhaal is supported behind the camera by a team of award-winning film artisans, including director of photography Lawrence Sher, production designer Karen Murphy, editor Dylan Tichenor, music supervisor Randall Poster, composer Hildur Gudnadóttir and costume designer Sandy Powell.

Warner Bros. Pictures Presents A First Love Films / In The Current Company Production, A Maggie Gyllenhaal Film: THE BRIDE!. The film will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, only in Australian cinemas March 2026.
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Produced by Studio Ghibli co-founder Toshio Suzuki, The Boy and the Heron is written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. The film also features a musical score from Miyazaki’s long-time collaborator Joe Hisaishi, and the theme song for the film “Spinning Globe” was written and performed by global J-pop superstar Kenshi Yonezu. The Japanese cast is led by Soma Santoki as Mahito Maki and Masaki Suda as The Gray Heron. Additional casting includes Ko Shibaski (Kiriko), AIMYON (Lady Himi), Yoshino Kimura (Natsuko), and Takuya Kimura (Shoichi Maki).

The English language dubbed version of the film will feature the voices of Christian Bale (Ford v Ferrari, Amsterdam, The Pale Blue Eye), Dave Bautista (Dune, Guardians of the Galaxy), Gemma Chan (The Creator, Eternals, Crazy Rich Asians), Willem Dafoe (At Eternity’s Gate, The Florida Project), Karen Fukuhara (The Boys, Suicide Squad), Mark Hamill (The Machine, House of Usher), Robert Pattinson (The Batman, Tenet, upcoming Mickey 17), and Florence Pugh (Oppenheimer, Black Widow, Little Women). Luca Padovan joins the cast as Mahito Maki, and Mamoudou Athie, Tony Revolori, and Dan Stevens are featured as the Parakeets. GKIDS handled casting and produced the English version in close consultation with Studio Ghibli, with ADR direction by Michael Sinterniklaas at NYAV Post, and English script adaptation by Stephanie Sheh. The English language dub was produced in accordance with the SAG-AFTRA Foreign Dubbing Agreement.

The Boy and the Heron debuted in Japan on July 14, where it surpassed Spirited Away’s opening four-day box office. The hand-drawn, original story animated feature — director Miyazaki’s first in 10 years — made its international premiere at the Opening Night Gala of the 48th Toronto International Film Festival on September 7. Tickets to all five TIFF screenings sold out in record time, and the film received glowing reviews and placed top three for the TIFF People’s Choice Awards. The film made its U.S. premiere at the New York Film Festival, its European Premiere as the Opening Night of San Sebastian International Film Festival, and made its UK premiere at the BFI London Film Festival. The film was also presented in IMAX at Los Angeles’s TCL Chinese Theatre on October 18 as Opening Night of the Animation is Film Festival.
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This actual event, the Wall Street Putsch of 1933 as it was known was an attempt by a group of rich industrialists to overthrow the then government of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and install a dictator of their choosing. That event informs the events of Amsterdam but in a roundabout way.

The main cast of characters are made up of a trio brought together by World War I. Doctor Burt Berendsen (Christian Bale) the evening’s narrator and the soul of the proceedings, his war mate Harold Woodman (John David Washington) and Valerie Voze (Margot Robbie) as the nurse that took care of them after they were injured.

The story is delivered with a nod and wink at most times and is more amusing that laugh outlaid funny. It also unfortunately mirrors current world events at the moment a little too much, although the world leaders of today are nowhere near as entertaining. Capturing the period with impeccable set designs and costumes, this is another worthy addition to O Russell’s ever-expanding collection of great yearns.
Rob Hudson
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The results are a mixed bunch, to say the least. The breezy Antipodean humour of the previous film is almost entirely missing. The jokes feel formulaic and forced and the hit ratio of laughs to groans is quite low. There are some funny bits like Thor’s naked butt rocking some tramp stamps and Russell Crow’s hammy appearance as Zeus that do help to spice things up.

As oft times in these endeavours, it’s the lack of imagination in the script that keeps things tethered to the ground. It feels like they came up with a need for the film before the need to tell an engaging story. It descends into the trap that some Marvel films fall into of being product first and vehicles for solid storytelling second.

The list of under-utilised characters is long. Tessa Thompson as King Valkyrie and Christian Bale as the baddie Gorr leave little trace as does the almost entire cast of Guardians Of The Galaxy in the first reel. It’s a strange misstep from a brand that usually integrates its franchises so successfully. Unfortunately, lightning hasn’t struck twice this time.

Rob Hudson
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The film finds Thor (Chris Hemsworth) on a journey unlike anything he’s ever faced – a search for self-discovery. But his retirement is interrupted by a galactic killer known as Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale), who seeks the extinction of the gods.

To combat the threat, Thor enlists the help of King Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), Korg (Taika Waititi) and ex-girlfriend Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), who – to Thor’s surprise – inexplicably wields his magical hammer, Mjolnir, as the Mighty Thor. Together, they embark upon a harrowing cosmic adventure to uncover the mystery of the God Butcher’s vengeance and stop him before it’s too late.

Directed by Taika Waititi (“Thor: Ragnarok,” “Jojo Rabbit”) and produced by Kevin Feige and Brad Winderbaum, “Thor: Love and Thunder” opens in Australian cinemas July 6, 2022.
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But his retirement is interrupted by a galactic killer known as Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale), who seeks the extinction of the gods. To combat the threat, Thor enlists the help of King Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), Korg (Taika Waititi) and ex-girlfriend Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), who – to Thor’s surprise – inexplicably wields his magical hammer, Mjolnir, as the Mighty Thor.

Together, they embark upon a harrowing cosmic adventure to uncover the mystery of the God Butcher’s vengeance and stop him before it’s too late. Directed by Waititi (“Thor: Ragnarok,” “Jojo Rabbit”) and produced by Kevin Feige and Brad Winderbaum, “Thor: Love and Thunder” opens in Australian cinemas July 7, 2022.
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The always-outstanding British actor Christian Bale lays to rest the man in black for the new man in fat. His visual transformation is just one element of his transcendent performance. He has to act his butt off just to transcend that hairdo of his. Jennifer Lawrence adds to her building resume of great performances as Bale’s on screen wife who is both hilarious and clueless.
Bradley Cooper’s manic drug fuelled performance is also outstanding. Now no discussion of great roles in this film would be complete without discussing the part the wardrobe plays in this film. The seventies hair and fashion defies gravity and the specter of soft-core porn with some wicked comb overs, hair curlers and well placed double sided adhesive tape.

Thankfully the saying ‘if you remember the seventies, you weren’t actually alive in the seventies’ is proven untrue as both the director and actors get the nuances just right. See this film for the humour and spectacle, remember it for the human pathos and misguided sense of right and wrong.

Rob Hudson
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Its two leads, Matt Damon as the American good old boy, Carroll Shelby and Christian Bale as the prickly Pom, Ken Miles have great chemistry together. Their story is a bittersweet one and weaves a number of interesting elements together to create a multifaceted storyline.

Miles is portrayed as a family man and there are a number of touching scenes with his son Peter played by Noah Jupe and wife Mollie played by Caitriona Balfe, she of Outlander fame. While Shelby fights the good fight against the big soulless corporation and its misguided management.

Looking past the poorly staged and highly inaccurate racing scenes is made easy when you have such a rich story of human accomplishment. The good guys are decidedly easy to cheer for and the bad guys are portrayed more for laughs than any real malice.

Rob Hudson
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