Sarah is a biochemist who works for a big tech company and is on the run because of becoming aware of a falsified report on an experimental wheat crop and becoming a whistleblower. It turns out the crop can be damaging to humans. Through a contact with a lawyer who can not help her she gets Ash’s contact details and her plight draws him in.

The impact on Sarah’s life is so great, all she wants to do is give back the document she stole and get her life back. This appeals to Ash in a more personal manner and his loneliness and need for female contact leads to him letting his guard down and bridging the gap that he always keeps between himself and his clients.

Dawson (Sam Worthington) runs the crew of company agents that is tasked with retrieving the documents and his reprehensible behaviour is a perfect representation of corporate maleficence. It’s to the credit of director David Mackenzie and writer Justin Piasecki that they have constructed a story that seethes with tension. This feeling of dread never lets up until the final reveal at the very end.
Rob Hudson
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Directed by David Mackenzie, Relay stars Riz Ahmed, Lily James, Sam Worthington, Willa Fitzgerald, Jared Abrahamson, Victor Garber and Matthew Maher.

RELAY is coming to Australian cinemas on August 21st, 2025.
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The Patriarch of the family, Fritz Von Erich was a wrestler with a successful career, but it never reached the heights he thought due. This caused him to over-invest in his children’s lives and forced them to be myopic in seeing their future. This led to self-induced tragedy as well as accidental.

As horrific as the happenings in the film are, they are downplayed and the actual truth is even more sad. This kind of work places large demands on its actors and Jeremy Allen White, Harris Dickinson and Zac Efron are fully invested. Efron is startling in his transformation and the rest of the cast put in exemplary work.

Equal parts powerful and devastating, The Iron Claw shines a light on the dynamics of parental overreach. In this case, the boys didn’t have a chance. The Von Erich family have been described as professional wrestling royalty but their lives still spun out of control and those events form a cautionary tale of incredible tragedy and sadness.
Rob Hudson
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The true story of the inseparable Von Erich brothers, who made history in the intensely competitive world of professional wrestling in the early 1980s.

Through tragedy and triumph, under the shadow of their domineering father and coach, the brothers seek larger-than-life immortality on the biggest stage in sports.

Starring Zac Efron, Jeremy Allen White, Harris Dickinson, Maura Tierney, Stanley Simons, with Holt McCallany and Lily James. Only in cinemas from January 18.
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Wright pulls remarkable performances from his entire cast. Ansel Elgort (The Fault in Our Stars and Divergent) shows a real star turn as the enigmatic title character and both Jon Hamm and Jamie Foxx really sell the menace as they both play great criminal psychos. Headmaster Kevin Spacey keeps them all together with a solid mix of benevolence and belligerence.

Special mention should also be made about the car chase scenes. Without any noticeable computer generated imagery, this overused and tired cinematic device is presented as fresh and unique as it’s been in many years. This is down to the driver’s raw abilities and some amazingly staged choreography of the cars and their surrounds.

It’s fast paced but still slows down long enough for some effective character development. Few films this year will fire on all cylinders with as much assurance and energy as Baby Driver. Don’t miss it.

Rob Hudson
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Yesterday, everyone knew The Beatles. Today, only Jack remembers their songs. He’s about to become a very big deal.

From Academy Award®-winning director Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire, Trainspotting, 28 Days Later) and Richard Curtis, the Oscar-nominated screenwriter of Four Weddings and a Funeral, Love Actually and Notting Hill, comes a rock-n-roll comedy about music, dreams, friendship, and the long and winding road that leads to the love of your life.

Yesterday is currently screening around the country – click here to read our review!
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Struggling musician Jack Malik (Himesh Patel) decides to pack in his musical career after too many disappointments. During a bike ride home, the entire world blacks out for twelve seconds and in the ensuing darkness, Jack is struck by a bus. Afterwards, he comes to in a world where things have changed. One of the biggest changes is that no one has ever heard of The Beatles or their music. He finds this out after performing the song Yesterday for his friends. He decides to call the songs his own.

The film makers cleverly use the perfect Beatle songs to illicit the emotional responses they are after and this creates a number of very memorable moments. Patel also has a solid voice and plays well into the unlikely scenario of becoming a pop sensation. Ed Sheeran, playing himself, does a lot more that just provide his audience as a backdrop for concert scenes in the movie, he generously adds some self-depreciating humour.

Celebrating the music of The Beatles is an easy task as their music is as universal as pop music gets. But crafting a memorable work around this crazy premise was not so easily done. Boyle has succeeded most admirable and even if you are not really a fan of The Beatle’s music, there is much to admire in this, his most nostalgic work yet.

Rob Hudson
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Jack Malik (Himesh Patel, BBC’s Eastenders) is a struggling singer-songwriter in a tiny English seaside town whose dreams of fame are rapidly fading, despite the fierce devotion and support of his childhood best friend, Ellie (Lily James, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again). Then, after a freak bus accident during a mysterious global blackout, Jack wakes up to discover that The Beatles have never existed … and he finds himself with a very complicated problem, indeed.

Performing songs by the greatest band in history to a world that has never heard them, and with a little help from his steel-hearted American agent, Debra (Emmy winner Kate McKinnon), Jack’s fame explodes. But as his star rises, he risks losing Ellie — the one person who always believed in him. With the door between his old life and his new closing, Jack will need to get back to where he once belonged and prove that all you need is love.

Featuring new versions of The Beatles’ most beloved hits, Yesterday is produced by Working Title’s Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner (Love Actually, About A Boy, the Bridget Jonesseries) alongside Matthew James Wilkinson and Bernie Bellew. Curtis and Boyle also produce. Nick Angel and Lee Brazier serve as executive producers.

Yesterday will be in Australian cinemas June 27!
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It tries its best to deliver something new with what is in essence the same set of songs as the first film (and musical on which the movie is based). It dips into flash backs, origin stories and flushes out the characters with extended back stories. They even add Cher to the mix and bring Meryl Streep back from the grave.

It’s unfair to be too critical of all this effort as the end product is rather infectious and more than a little bit charming. The challenge is not to your intellect but to keep from tapping your toes and singing along to the little bits of ear candy.

Even if you’re not a fan of those Swedish superstars, you will know most of the lyrics through osmosis. Their songs have been used is almost every context. See Mama Mia: Here We Go Again with someone you love, especially if they love ABBA.

Rob Hudson
www.mammamiaherewegoagain.com.au

Mamma Mia Here We Go Again is going through Donna’s (played by Meryl Streep and Lily James) young life, experiencing the fun she had with the three possible Dad’s of Sophie (played by Amanda Seyfriend).