Movie Review 853 results

Retro Movie Review – American Made

Tom Cruise in one of his strongest roles in years plays Barry Seal, a pilot, government operative, drug runner and so much more. As the number of government agencies he works with add up, so does the level of insanity. The actual sequence of events in Seal’s real life differ quite a bit from the movie’s timeline but why let the truth get in the way of a good story and what a story it is.   //   As a period piece, the clothes, hair and music reinforce a time that ...

Tenet Movie Review

It has to do with a kind of time travel, the much is clear from the trailers but how it plays out is quite unexpected. It is largely impenetrable at first and much of the dialogue needs to be almost sensed as there are artistic discretions taken with sound production. The screenplay also lacks the character-driven influence of Nolan’s brother, Jonathan.   //   The main protagonist is played by John David Washington, of BlacKkKlansman fame and he has a lot to do. His is ...

Retro Movie Review – Baywatch

Getting the mixture of a cringe comedy just right is not an easy task as one person’s comic meal is another’s awful offal but Baywatch more than tickles the funny bone. It plays out just like bad American television, thin plot, thinner actors and The Rock. Mr Johnson gives good comedy and he and the cast look like they were having a right good time with the material.   //   Fans of bad cinema are out there and when you base a bad film comedy on a bad American ...

Retro Movie Review – T2 Trainspotting

The main players that lived through the first film are all back and Renton, Sick Boy, Spud and Begbie are as dysfunctional as ever. The story set twenty years later borrows heavily from the novels Trainspotting and Porno. Boyle’s technique of injecting scenes from the original work gives T2 a strong and believable link to the past. This continuity does author Irvine Welsh proud.   //   The story revolves around Renton (Ewan McGregor) returning to his old stomping ...

Deerskin Movie Review

It all starts when he pays seven thousand Euros (that's over eleven thousand Australian dollars) to buy a relic from the seventies, a fringed deerskin jacket, that doesn’t fit. The seller gives him a video camera during the transaction and seals Georges’ fate.   //   Through lies and happenstance, he meets and befriends Denise (Adèle Haenel) a barmaid with bigger plans. She helps Georges with his obsession by editing the clips that he has recorded while on his ...

Blood Vessel Movie Review

Their captain (Robert Taylor), even after recognising the ship’s Nazi flag sees little hope without their assistance and orders his men, one woman, and a Russian soldier to board the ship. He does not survive the boarding. When the survivors finally board the ship, they initially discover that there are no occupants on-board, and so begins the glorious schlockfest that is Blood Vessel.   //   Getting the balance between believability and outrageousness right is the key ...

Babyteeth Movie Review

Milla (Eliza Scanlen) is from the first view, an innocent appearing girl going through the usual changes and challenges that face all schoolgirls of her young age. When she meets Moses (Toby Wallace), she is mysteriously seduced by his bad-boy demeanor but obvious intelligence.   //   At first, looking all the world like a crackhead with his shrunken eyes and manic energy, his wisdom and insight as it unfolds are unanticipated. As the story expands, we meet Milla’s ...

The Burnt Orange Heresy Movie Review

Claes Bang (TV’s Dracula) is James Figueras, a failed artist who now earns a crust by lecturing tourists about some of the world’s great art pieces. When he is hired by super art dealer, Joseph Cassidy, played with an elegant level of amorality by Mick Jagger to steal a painting for him, Figueras sees his entry into those rarified waters.   //   Along the way, his path crosses with Berenice Hollis (Elizabeth Debicki), a small-town girl trying to feel alive by a visit ...

The King Of Staten Island Movie Review

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, ...

A White, White Day Movie Review

Ingimundur (Ingvar Sigurdsson) is a police officer who is trying his best to deal with the loss of his life partner and wife. The cracks start to appear early but the film’s unconventional manner takes its time to establish just how unusual life can be in the cold and barren tundra of Iceland. //   It also presents a form of child rearing that puts the overly cautious way of the west in stark contrast. These young ones are not handled with kid gloves on. The film uses very ...