Louis (Stephan James) a young man with the mental age of a pre-teen lives with his older sister Delia (Genelle Williams) in the family home. Both parents are deceased and so Louis relies on his sibling heavily. He wakes up one morning and finds her dead in the kitchen. Although innocent he is charged and convicted of manslaughter.

After his release from prison, he returns home and thus starts his search for the truth. Untangling the details proves elusive as these secrets have been held for many years. The perpetrators of these unsavoury actions have felt the weight of their transgressions but as their lives have continued they have proven acidic but not fatal, yet.

This film is a suitable example of having all the pieces in place but the whole not being greater than the sum of the parts. There are strong performances by Stephan James, Paul Walter Hauser and Marisa Tomei but the pacing and fuzzy storyline prove problematic. In an effort to tone down the non-believability of over-stated action, the drama has gotten lost. The ending itself will divide audiences and this duality is reason enough to see it and make your own judgement.

Delia’s Gone is available now on DVD and Digital, including Apple TV, Prime Video and Google Play.
Rob Hudson
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It’s not the easiest film to review because there are so many moments of delightful surprise that to reveal even the slightest tidbit would do viewers a real disservice. Just suffice to say that there is an almost constant flow of elements that fill the theatre with loud and lusty cheers.

Picking up where Spider-Man: Far from Home left off with Quentin Beck (Jake Gyllenhaal) telling the world the true identity of Spider-Man, Peter Parker now has his hands full with the disclosure. From this point on the story spins into some bold and adventurist avenues while the multiverse unfolds to the delight of the audience.

The character of Spider-Man has always had the most elastic connection to the Marvel Universe and this has led to a wonderful degree of freedom, even allowing an outstanding excursion into the animated world with Into the Spider-Verse. In some ways Spider-Man: No Way Home pulls Spidey fully into the MCU but in others that freedom has led to one of the companies’ most entertaining properties.

Rob Hudson
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When he enlists Doctor Strange’s help to restore his secret, the spell tears a hole in their world, releasing the most powerful villains who’ve ever fought a Spider-Man in any universe.

Now, Peter will have to overcome his greatest challenge yet, which will not only forever alter his own future but the future of the Multiverse.

Starring Tom Holland, Zendaya, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jon Favreau, Jacob Batalon with Marisa Tomei, Spider-Man: No Way Home will be released in Australian cinemas December 16!

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So with that in mind, it’s great to see Marvel relax the reins on Spider-man: Homecoming a bit and tell a story more character driven than special effects driven. The film’s lighthearted touch with an emphasis on humour makes it much more accessible than some of the recent overly serious Superhero films. It easily lives in the MU while comfortably standing alone. It even features a crazy credit at the very end of the film that sells laughs instead of product.

Peter Parker in comic book form has always been a geeky kid and the new Spidey, Tom Holland gets those nuances just right. He plays awkward as endearing. The story starts right after the Battle of New York and we get an early view of both Spider-man’s progression (further along than the radiated spider bite) and the political machinations that helped to create his new nemesis.

The thoughts of restarting the franchise again are rapidly lost as the charm and humour of this latest edition sweep you away. It gets the balance of action, storyline and character development just right and as such is a blast from beginning to end.

Rob Hudson
www.facebook.com/SonyPicturesAUS

Throwing down behavioural anomalies thick and fast does little to make you warm to Scott’s plight in life. His charms are not self-evident, but staying the course does pay dividends. Losing his fireman father at a young age and having an overprotective mother played with sass and a bad haircut by the excellent Marisa Tomei has given him a non-reality world to get lost in. And lost he is.

Davidson, who lost his real-life fireman father in the 9/11 attacks, co-wrote the story with Apatow and Dave Sirus and it mines a world that must have felt very raw at times. The Saturday Night Live alumni’s goofy stoner guy persona is in full effect here but it rings true to the story and his unapologetic approach works this time out.

Trying to experience the film as a journey from a man child’s stilted adolescence into the maturity of adulthood gives the work a little too much responsibility to live up to. Stick with it though and it does come around to win you over in the end. A less extreme transformation might have been more believable but it would have been a lot less entertaining.

Rob Hudson
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As his ambitious younger sister (Maude Apatow, HBO’s Euphoria) heads off to college, Scott is still living with his exhausted ER nurse mother (Oscar® winner Marisa Tomei) and spends his days smoking weed, hanging with the guys—Oscar (Ricky Velez, Master of None), Igor (Moises Arias, Five Feet Apart) and Richie (Lou Wilson, TV’s The Guest Book)—and secretly hooking up with his childhood friend Kelsey (Bel Powley, Apple TV+’s The Morning Show).

But when his mother starts dating a loudmouth firefighter named Ray (Bill Burr, Netflix’s F Is for Family), it sets off a chain of events that will force Scott to grapple with his grief and take his first tentative steps toward moving forward in life. The film also stars Steve Buscemi as Papa, a veteran firefighter who takes Scott under his wing, and Pamela Adlon (FX’s Better Things) as Ray’s ex-wife, Gina.

The King of Staten Island will be coming soon to Australian audiences.

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The movie is filled with a plethora of insider jokes for fans of the MCU as well as a level of spectacle that rivals almost any other superhero franchise. Giving the experience even more charm is filtering the characters’s actions through the prism of those awkward early teen years. They really are a likeable lot.

Holland shares strong chemistry with Jake Gyllenhaal as Quentin Beck / Mysterio and Jon Favreau as Tony Starks right hand man, Happy Hogan. The interface with his school friends is also appealing and allows for more humour to be injected into the proceedings.

Spider-Man: Far from Home successfully fills the void in the Marvel Universe left by the end of the Avengers films. It’s bigger, bolder and more fun than any Spider-Man film that has come before. It also steps it up in the crazy credits department, so don’t leave until the end of the credits finish even if the get out room lights are telling you otherwise.

Rob Hudson
www.facebook.com/SonyPicturesAUS

So with that in mind, it’s great to see Marvel relax the reins on Spider-man: Homecoming a bit and tell a story more character driven than special effects driven. The film’s lighthearted touch with an emphasis on humour makes it much more accessible than some of the recent overly serious Superhero films. It easily lives in the MU while comfortably standing alone. It even features a crazy credit at the very end of the film that sells laughs instead of product.

Peter Parker in comic book form has always been a geeky kid and the new Spidey, Tom Holland gets those nuances just right. He plays awkward as endearing. The story starts right after the Battle of New York and we get an early view of both Spider-man’s progression (further along than the radiated spider bite) and the political machinations that helped to create his new nemesis.

The thoughts of restarting the franchise again are rapidly lost as the charm and humour of this latest edition sweep you away. It gets the balance of action, storyline and character development just right and as such is a blast from beginning to end.

Rob Hudson
www.facebook.com/SpiderManMovieAUS

Thrilled by his experience with the Avengers, Peter returns home, where he lives with his Aunt May (Marisa Tomei), under the watchful eye of his new mentor Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.). Peter tries to fall back into his normal daily routine – distracted by thoughts of proving himself to be more than just your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man – but when the Vulture (Michael Keaton) emerges as a new villain, everything that Peter holds most important will be threatened.

Cast includes Tom Holland,  Michael Keaton, Zendaya, Jon Favreau, Donald Glover, Tyne Daily,  Marisa Tomei and Robert Downey Jnr, directed by Jon Watts.RELEASES IN CINEMAS JULY 6 2017.

The holiday season comes but once a year – and that’s more than enough for the Cooper family. In this hilarious and heartwarming comedy, the family brace themselves for their annual Christmas Eve celebration. With her marriage on the rocks, Charlotte Cooper (Diane Keaton) has just one wish – to bring the whole family together for one last perfect Christmas. But with grand plans to rekindle the spark in their relationship, Charlotte’s husband Sam (John Goodman) is determined to use the holiday season to win her back. They aren’t the only ones trying to conceal the less than perfect aspects of their lives. Their perennially single daughter Eleanor (Olivia Wilde) persuades a charming soldier (Jake Lacy) she meets at the airport to pose as her boyfriend, and their son Hank (Ed Helms) is struggling with single parenthood. Meanwhile, Charlotte’s sister Emma (Marisa Tomei) has a run-in with the law on the day of the gathering. From the producers of The Family Stone, and boasting an all-star cast, Love the Coopers is a fun, riotous ride through the joy and chaos of Christmas… and nobody does chaos quite like the Coopers.

www.lovethecoopers.com

Competition will be drawn 25 November 2015, winners will be notified by mail.