Visually there are a large number of arresting moments where the spectacle lives up to the modern standard of sensory overload. The human (and fish) element however struggles slightly to keep pace. It was always going to be a big ask to add anything new to a story so well-known.

The musical numbers do help at times to lift things and it’s great to have movie songs with real live memorable choruses and not just verse after verse after verse. This is aided by the strong singing voice of Halle Bailey who plays the titular character Ariel.

The mesmerising amount of visual information in the underwater scenes makes those moments the film’s most vibrant element. Save some money on an aquarium and just loop those scenes on the telly. The film is fairly family friendly but the main conflagration at the conclusion is intense and puts an entertaining coda on the spectacle that is The Little Mermaid.
Rob Hudson
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The youngest of King Triton’s daughters and the most defiant, Ariel longs to find out more about the world beyond the sea and, while visiting the surface, falls for the dashing Prince Eric.

While mermaids are forbidden from interacting with humans, Ariel must follow her heart. She makes a deal with the evil sea witch, Ursula, which gives her a chance to experience life on land but ultimately places her life – and her father’s crown – in jeopardy.

The film stars singer and actress Halle Bailey (“grown-ish”) as Ariel; Jonah Hauer-King (“A Dog’s Way Home”) as Eric; Tony Award® winner Daveed Diggs (“Hamilton”) as the voice of Sebastian; Awkwafina (“Raya and the Last Dragon”) as the voice of Scuttle; Jacob Tremblay (“Luca”) as the voice of Flounder; Noma Dumezweni (“Mary Poppins Returns”) as The Queen; Art Malik (“Homeland”) as Sir Grimsby; with Oscar® winner Javier Bardem (“No Country for Old Men”) as King Triton; and two-time Academy Award® nominee Melissa McCarthy (“Can You Ever Forgive Me?” “Bridesmaids”) as Ursula.

The Little Mermaid will be released in Aussie cinemas May 25!
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Two of the film’s stars, Halle Bailey and Melissa McCarthy, debuted the trailer today during the 95th Annual Academy Awards®. “The Little Mermaid,” helmed by visionary filmmaker Rob Marshall, opens exclusively in Australian cinemas May 25, 2023.

“The Little Mermaid” is the beloved story of Ariel, a beautiful and spirited young mermaid with a thirst for adventure. The youngest of King Triton’s daughters and the most defiant, Ariel longs to find out more about the world beyond the sea and, while visiting the surface, falls for the dashing Prince Eric.

While mermaids are forbidden to interact with humans, Ariel must follow her heart. She makes a deal with the evil sea witch, Ursula, which gives her a chance to experience life on land but ultimately places her life – and her father’s crown – in jeopardy.

The film stars singer and actress Halle Bailey (“grown-ish”) as Ariel; Jonah Hauer-King (“A Dog’s Way Home”) as Prince Eric; Tony Award® winner Daveed Diggs (“Hamilton”) as the voice of Sebastian; Awkwafina (“Raya and the Last Dragon”) as the voice of Scuttle; Jacob Tremblay (“Luca”) as the voice of Flounder; Noma Dumezweni (“Mary Poppins Returns”) as Queen Selina; Art Malik (“Homeland”) as Sir Grimsby; with Oscar® winner Javier Bardem (“No Country for Old Men”) as King Triton; and two-time Academy Award® nominee Melissa McCarthy (“Can You Ever Forgive Me?” “Bridesmaids”) as Ursula.
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Luca shares these adventures with his newfound best friend, but all the fun is threatened by a deeply-held secret: they are sea monsters from another world just below the water’s surface.

Directed by Academy Award® nominee Enrico Casarosa (“La Luna”) and produced by Andrea Warren (“Lava,” “Cars 3”), “Luca” releases June 17, 2021.

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Given the expanded canvas of the R rated film, Good Boys takes full advantage and its jokes are rude, crude and consistently funny. And in a pleasant departure from most films of this ilk, the jokes are mostly cruelty free. This allows the laughs to flow more freely.

Max (Jacob Tremblay), Lucas (Keith L. Williams) and Thor (Brady Noon) are three young friends just trying to fit in. None fit in with the cool kids but they are not complete outcasts either. The class system at their school isn’t a particularly harsh one and they are allowed to express some individuality without severe repercussions.

This gives their characters diversity and opens up more avenues to explore. Good Boys is a growing up story that succeeds with a lot of humour and more than a little warmth. It’s kind hearted, very funny and prodigiously naughty.

Rob Hudson
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Still irrevocably scarred by the trauma he endured as a child at the Overlook, Dan Torrance has fought to find some semblance of peace. But that peace is shattered when he encounters Abra, a courageous teenager with her own powerful extrasensory gift, known as the “shine.” Instinctively recognizing that Dan shares her power, Abra has sought him out, desperate for his help against the merciless Rose the Hat and her followers, The True Knot, who feed off the shine of innocents in their quest for immortality.

Forming an unlikely alliance, Dan and Abra engage in a brutal life-or-death battle with Rose. Abra’s innocence and fearless embrace of her shine compel Dan to call upon his own powers as never before—at once facing his fears and reawakening the ghosts of the past.

DOCTOR SLEEP stars Ewan McGregor as Dan Torrance, Rebecca Ferguson as Rose the Hat, and Kyliegh Curran, in her major feature film debut, as Abra. The main ensemble cast also includes Carl Lumbly, Zahn McClarnon, Emily Alyn Lind, Bruce Greenwood, Jocelin Donahue, Alex Essoe and Cliff Curtis.

DOCTOR SLEEP releases in Australia in theatres on November 7, 2019.
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After being invited to his first kissing party, 12-year-old Max (Room’s Jacob Tremblay) is panicking because he doesn’t know how to kiss. Eager for some pointers, Max and his best friends Thor (Brady Noon, HBO’s Boardwalk Empire) and Lucas (Keith L. Williams, Fox’s The Last Man On Earth) decide to use Max’s dad’s drone – which Max is forbidden to touch – to spy (they think) on a teenage couple making out next door.

But when things go ridiculously wrong, the drone is destroyed. Desperate to replace it before Max’s dad (Will Forte, The Last Man on Earth) gets home, the boys skip school and set off on an odyssey of epically bad decisions involving some accidentally stolen drugs, frat-house paintball, and running from both the cops and terrifying teenage girls (Life of the Party’s Molly Gordon and Ocean’s Eight’s Midori Francis).

From Point Grey producers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, the writers of Superbad, Pineapple Express and Sausage Party, and James Weaver (Neighbors), Good Boys, from Universal Pictures and Good Universe, is written by the team of Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky (NBC’s The Office, Bad Teacher). Eisenberg also produces and Stupnitsky directs.

Good Boys in in Australian Cinemas August 15!
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He has created a Predator movie for current audience members with a voracious appetite for action. He turns everything up to eleven, more carnage, more guns, more explosions and more stupidity. He gleefully disregards the laws of physics and sensibility and tries his best to overwhelm.

With this level of overload, you can’t help but have a rollicking good time. The film takes full advantage of giants screens, giant sound systems and giant cravings for pure action. He starts off with a big bang and ramps things up substantially from there.

Also to Black’s credit, he adds a strong female character to balance out all the testosterone and alien DNA with Olivia Munn’s role as Casey Bracket, a scientist who is both super smart and a total badass. If action is your forte, add this to your list of must see films.

Rob Hudson
www.facebook.com/PredatorFilmsAU

Based on the New York Times bestseller, Wonder tells the incredibly inspiring and heartwarming story of August Pullman. Born with facial differences that, up until now, have prevented him from going to a mainstream school, Auggie becomes the most unlikely of heroes when he enters the local fifth grade.

As his family, his new classmates, and the larger community all struggle to discover their compassion and acceptance, Auggie’s extraordinary journey will unite them all and prove you can’t blend in when you were born to stand out.

Spotlight
More of a detective drama than a sole examination of the deeply entrenched evil that the Catholic Church posses in regards to paedophilia, Spotlight is still difficult to watch. See more in Stuart Jamieson’s review here.

The Big Short
In retelling a moment in time that had a dramatic effect on the entire world, The Big Short succeeds in taking a somewhat complicated story and reducing it to its primary human trait, greed. It also uses hilarious cameos by a surprising group of celebs to help reduce financial shenanigans to more understandably human terms.

Room
Featuring two of the year’s most arresting performances by Brie Larson (United States of Tara, Remember the Daze) and ten-year-old Jacob Tremblay, Room tells the amazing story of how much strength there is in human nature and how the power of the love a mother feels towards her child can overcome almost any adversity. The film also has a wonderful duality in the harshness of the situation and the wonderful flights of imagination shown by the young son played by Tremblay. It’s a shame that the academy is also quite ageist.

Carol
Another acting tour-de-force, this tale of forbidden love between two women show the amazing amount of craft that Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara possess as they say so much with just the simplest gesture and longing glance. The film creates a level of intimacy between audience and film that is mesmerizing.

Steve Job
Michael Fassbender does the almost impossible by making a man so ruthless as to disown almost every person in his life that cares about him seem absolutely real and human, almost likeable. As towering as Fassbender’s performance is, it’s matched scene by scene by the transcendent skill of Kate Winslet as his long-suffering co-worker Joanna Hoffman. This film will also make you think quite differently about all those tiny white boxes we love so much. See more in Rob Hudson’s review here.

Rob Hudosn
www.oscar.go.com