Based on the true story of the murder of a fourteen-year-old black boy named Emmett Louis Till. This case galvanised the civil rights movement of the time and in turn, created one of the era’s strongest proponents of change, Till’s mother Mamie Till-Bradley.

Emmett was raised by his single-parent mother in Chicago and during a visit to relatives in Mississippi fell afoul of the racist customs and was kidnapped and ultimately killed. His mother’s insistence on having an open casket to show the world the extent of his horrific injuries created nationwide attention.

Danielle Deadwyler is amazing as Mamie Till-Mobley and it’s a sign of the continuing lack of recognition of actors of colour that her performance did not garner her an Oscar nomination. Her emotional intensity is spellbinding. The rest of the cast is exemplary as well. This work fills you with outrage at the slow-moving wheels of progress that exists in most modern societies but also provides a glimmer of hope with the display of human resolve.
Rob Hudson
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In Mamie’s poignant journey of grief turned to action, we see the universal power of a mother’s ability to change the world.

Till stars Danielle Deadwyler, Whoopi Goldberg, Jalyn Hall, Frankie Faison, Jayme Lawson, Tosin Cole, Kevin Carroll, Sean Patrick Thomas, John Douglas Thompson, Roger Guenveur Smith, and Haley Bennett, and will be released in cinemas February 9!
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Dinklage’s singing voice while being slight is buttressed by interesting lyrics and a heartfelt delivery. Elsewhere female lead Haley Bennett as Roxanne has a fine singing voice as does Kelvin Harrison Jr. as Christian, who is competing for Roxanne’s heart. Ben Mendelsohn is also interesting as De Guiche, who gets to get his Goth on via a deep resonant voice.

With a backdrop of war and the struggle of the class system breaking into song at any moment is handled well by understating the musical number and featuring mostly voice and not over the top instrumentation, a Broadway play this is not.

Oddly cadenced but beguiling nonetheless, Cyrano retells the classic story with a view to introducing it to a new audience. It’s satisfying in its suspension of reality and the ease of getting lost in the emotion of it all. Even with its less than happy ending, it is still an entertaining feature.

Rob Hudson
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A man ahead of his time, Cyrano de Bergerac (played by Peter Dinklage) dazzles whether with ferocious wordplay at a verbal joust or with brilliant swordplay in a duel.

But, convinced that his appearance renders him unworthy of the love of a devoted friend, the luminous Roxanne (Haley Bennett), Cyrano has yet to declare his feelings for her — and Roxanne has fallen in love, at first sight, with Christian (Kelvin Harrison, Jr.).

Cyrano will be released in Australian cinemas February 24,2022!

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Every film viewing session, while being a great collective experience should be assessed without the bias of others. We’ve all had to endure watching films when those around us are so obviously not enjoying themselves. It enacts a real negative vibe and is as rude as those that chomp and plastic wrap rustle their way through the entire film.

Assessing The Girl On The Train as its own entity is also a bit difficult with so much press comparing it to Gone Girl. This sets up the audience to expect the big twist and this film doesn’t really deliver those kinds of surprises. The good and the bad characters are a little too obvious and the only real shading is provided by the actor’s chops (with unfortunately little help from the script).

Sorry about that, rant now over. With a film like this, it is best to go see it for yourself, get lost in that dark room with everyone else, try to enjoy yourself and then make up your own mind afterwards.

Rob Hudson
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