From acclaimed director Brad Anderson, known for his work on The Machinist and The Call, THE SILENT HOUR features powerhouse performances from Joel Kinnaman (known for Apple TVs For All Mankind, RoboCop, Sympathy for the Devil, and The Suicide Squad) and Mark Strong (1917, Kingsman: The Secret Service, Zero Dark Thirty).

Kinnaman stars as Detective Frank Shaw, who is forced to return to duty after a career-altering injury leaves him with permanent hearing loss. When Shaw is assigned to interpret for a deaf witness to a brutal gang murder, the stakes quickly escalate. As Shaw and the witness find themselves trapped in a soon-to-be-condemned apartment building, they must outsmart the killers who have returned to eliminate her. With no ability to hear the danger approaching, they must rely on wit, strength, and strategy to survive.

Rounding out the cast are Mekhi Phifer (Lights Out, Divergent, 8 Mile) and Sandra Mae Frank (TV’s New Amsterdam, Soul to Keep).

The Silent Hour has been praised by critics for its expertly crafted tension. The Guardian calls it an “intriguing cat-and-mouse thriller,” while MovieWeb hails it as “a taut and lean thriller with a fantastic plot hook that’s cleverly executed throughout,” and NYC Movie Guru describes it as “a lean, gritty and riveting blend of action and thrills.”

The Silent Hour launches on Digital and DVD April 23!
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Cate Blanchett is outstanding as the flawed Lydia Tár. She is a world-class composer-conductor as well as a celebrated author, but her life is one filled with pretension and manipulation. It’s fascinating to watch her hubris bring about her eventual downfall.

Field peppers the film with unusual artistic choices like running the closing credits first, having no music present during the first two reels and leaving out large chunks of exposition. This reductionism forces you to fill in more than a few blanks and makes you realise how many superfluous plot devices exist in most films of this nature. It’s daring and daunting often times simultaneously.

Predator or artist or maybe a bit of both? Cate Blanchett infuses Tár with the duality that blurs the line between manipulation and artistic bravado. This is mirrored by many of the director’s constructional and storytelling choices. By reducing some of the visual and expositional excesses it makes crystalline the artist’s vision.
Rob Hudson
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Starring Cate Blanchett, Noémie Merlant, Nina Hoss, Sophie Kauer, Julian Glover, Allan Corduner, and Mark Strong, TÁR will be released in Aussie cinemas January 26 2023!
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TÁR examines the changing nature of power, its impact and durability in our modern world.

TÁR stars Cate Blanchett, Noémie Merlant, Nina Hoss, Sophie Kauer, Julian Glover, Allan Corduner, and Mark Strong, and will be relased in Australian cinema this coming January!
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Academy Award® winner Emma Stone (“La La Land”) stars in Disney’s “Cruella”, an all-new live-action feature film about the rebellious early days of one of cinemas most notorious – and notoriously fashionable – villains, the legendary Cruella de Vil. “Cruella”, which is set in 1970s London amidst the punk rock revolution, follows a young grifter named Estella, a clever and creative girl determined to make a name for herself with her designs.

She befriends a pair of young thieves who appreciate her appetite for mischief, and together they are able to build a life for themselves on the London streets. One day, Estella’s flair for fashion catches the eye of the Baroness von Hellman, a fashion legend who is devastatingly chic and terrifyingly haute, played by two-time Oscar® winner Emma Thompson (“Howards End,” “Sense & Sensibility”).

But their relationship sets in motion a course of events and revelations that will cause Estella to embrace her wicked side and become the raucous, fashionable and revenge-bent Cruella.

Cruella will be released in Australian cinemas May 28!
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“Cruella,” which is set in 1970s London amidst the punk rock revolution, follows a young grifter named Estella, a clever and creative girl determined to make a name for herself with her designs.

She befriends a pair of young thieves who appreciate her appetite for mischief, and together they are able to build a life for themselves on the London streets. One day, Estella’s flair for fashion catches the eye of the Baroness von Hellman, a fashion legend who is devastatingly chic and terrifyingly haute, played by two-time Oscar® winner Emma Thompson (“Howards End,” “Sense & Sensibility”).

But their relationship sets in motion a course of events and revelations that will cause Estella to embrace her wicked side and become the raucous, fashionable and revenge-bent Cruella.

Disney’s “Cruella” is directed by Craig Gillespie (“I Tonya”) and produced by Andrew Gunn (“Freaky Friday”), Marc Platt (“Mary Poppins Returns”) and Kristin Burr (“Christopher Robin”), with Emma Stone and Michelle Wright (“Baby Driver”) serving as executive producers. Two-time Oscar®- winning costume designer Jenny Beavan (“Mad Max: Fury Road,” “A Room with a View”) creates the dazzling and imaginative costumes, which take on a life of their own.

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Robin Longstride (Russell Crowe) is an expert archer in King Richard The Lionheart’s army who becomes disillusioned with some of the things he was forced to do while in battle and when the King is killed, he and his cohorts escape France and return to England. The boys soon arrive in Nottingham, where Robin meets Lady Marian (Cate Blanchett) and joins the town’s battles.

The tale of Robin Hood is one of cinema’s most well used story lines and many films and even a few comedies have been made featuring these characters. In Scott’s version he ramps things up as only he can. The visuals are impressive, the green fields are impossibly vibrant and the battles are suitably intense, it’s with the films pacing that things get a little wobbly.

The first half of the film is quite engaging and when Lady Marian enters the scene, Blanchett fills the screen with her spunky portrayal. Her performance is the film’s saving grace. The romance between her and Robin feels rather quickly resolved and the film ends so abruptly that there is the feeling that a reel might have been missing. Weather this unsatisfying end was the results of test market driven cuts or time frame considerations, it robs the film of its chance to be much more entertaining.

Rob Hudson
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“Cruella,” which is set in 1970s London amidst the punk rock revolution, follows a young grifter named Estella, a clever and creative girl determined to make a name for herself with her designs. She befriends a pair of young thieves who appreciate her appetite for mischief, and together they are able to build a life for themselves on the London streets.

One day, Estella’s flair for fashion catches the eye of the Baroness von Hellman, a fashion legend who is devastatingly chic and terrifyingly haute, played by two-time Oscar® winner Emma Thompson (“Howards End,” “Sense & Sensibility”). But their relationship sets in motion a course of events and revelations that will cause Estella to embrace her wicked side and become the raucous, fashionable and revenge-bent Cruella.

Disney’s “Cruella” is directed by Craig Gillespie (“I Tonya”) from a screenplay by Dana Fox and Tony McNamara, story by Aline Brosh McKenna and Kelly Marcel & Steve Zissis. It was produced by Andrew Gunn (“Freaky Friday”), Marc Platt (“Mary Poppins Returns”) and Kristin Burr (“Christopher Robin”), with Emma Stone, Michelle Wright, Jared LeBoff and Glenn Close serving as executive producers. Two-time Oscar®- winning costume designer Jenny Beavan (“Mad Max: Fury Road,” “A Room with a View”) creates the dazzling and imaginative costumes, which take on a life of their own.

Cruella will be released in Australian cinemas May 27!
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It’s an odd universe that super spy and everyday pom Eggsy (Taron Egerton) had returned to. He’s made good as a Kingsman and has a successful relationship with Princess Tilde (Hanna Alström) even though it’s against company policy. His world is turned upside down when super baddie Poppy (Julianne Moore) reeks havoc on the secret affiliation.

All of the over the top tendencies are not only keep intact from the first film but with a bigger budget and more ambition, they are ramped up considerably. Even suspected dead are revived. Oh and for those wondering, the extremely juvenile bouts of humour and comic book special effects are revisited extensively.

If you loved the first Kingsman, you will have no issues with the second but for the newbies, this is a world where anything goes. It stays true to the level of unsophisticated comic book humour with its sense of grandiosity. It fires fun square into the heart of the young and young at heat.

Rob Hudson
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The set design feels absolutely authentic, as does the costume design and make-up artistry. The film score also hits just the right notes. It is never cloy or overly intrusive and succeeds at keeping you on edge the entire time. Cinematographer Roger Deakins also continues his amazing run with Mendes with some of his most nuanced work to date.

The story was inspired by a tale told to Mendes by his paternal grandfather, Alfred Mendes. It involves the almost impossible journey by two young British soldiers, Blake (Dean-Charles Chapman) and Schofield (George MacKay) through enemy territory to the front lines. This was done to warn of an impending military action that would have ended in disaster.

Taking full advantage of what is offered by the modern cinema experience, with its big sound and big screen, 1917 is the art of film at its highest level. Many have stated that all war films are anti-war films and this work provides a strong statement to that axiom. So many died horribly in those sodden trenches during World War One for what ultimately amounted to just lines drawn in the sand.

Rob Hudson
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