month : 06/2020 29 results

Watch the trailer for The Booksellers, in Australian cinemas 2 July!

Dreamers, intellectuals, eccentrics, these antiquarians play an essential role in preserving the history and future of the printed word. A loving celebration of book culture, the documentary offers a rare glimpse of many unique objects and the obsessive hunt for the next great find; from Da Vinci’s The Codex Leicester (the most expensive book ever sold) to essential early hip-hop documents.   //   Featuring interviews with such luminaries as Fran Lebowitz, Susan ...

Retro Movie Review – American Sniper

Clint Eastwood’s take on Navy Seal Chris Kyle’s (Bradley Cooper) autobiography certainly sets a scene of dread and foreboding as we follow Kyle and his descent into the war in Iraq. Kyle is a good old boy from Texas, a former competitive cowboy and a very proficient marksman. His entry into the service is spurred on by the events of 9/11 and his upbringing with a very strong and opinionated father. This background is revealed is very broad strokes and lacks the nuance to really allow ...

Retro Movie Review – Jasper Jones

The story is set in a small town in Western Australia and it mirrors small town life with a loving feel. The surrounds are idyllic and its inhabitants are not portrayed as yokels but as a community with compassion but one coloured by conservatism and some degree of racism. Into this mix we focus on Charlie Bucktin (Levi Miller), a soft spoken and sensitive 14 year-old boy who is about to get pulled into a world previously unknown to him.   //   The cast is peppered with ...

Watch the trailer for Love Sarah – in Australian cinemas 2 July!

Love Sarah is an uplifting drama about a young woman who enlists the help of her mother’s best friend and her eccentric estranged grandmother to fulfil her late mother’s dream of opening a bakery in Notting Hill. Love Sarah will be released in Australian cinemas 2 July 2020! www.facebook.com/RialtoDistributionAU

Retro Movie Review – Boyhood

When the film starts, we catch up with six year-old Mason (Ellar Coltrane) and his family, sister Samantha (Linklater’s real-life daughter Lorelei Linklater) and mom and pop (Patricia Arquette and Ethan Hawke). What follows is a coming of age tale that touches on many elements of the modern day life, single parenthood, sibling rivalry and just trying to figure out this crazy thing called life.   //   The concept is interesting but it’s the performances that make this ...

Watch the trailer for A White, White Day – in Aussie cinemas 9 July 2020!

Former police chief Ingimundur (Ingvar E. Sigurdsson) has struggled ever since he lost his wife to a tragic accident two years earlier. Busying himself with the task of renovating a homestead in the remote Icelandic wilderness, he finds solace in time spent with his spirited young granddaughter, Salka (Ída Mekkín Hlynsdóttir).   //   But when Ingimundur begins to suspect a local man may have had an affair with his late wife, his detective instincts kick in, fuelling ...

Retro Movie Review – Split

McAvoy is in top form and uses all the means in his substantial bag of thespian tricks. He commandingly inhabits the central character of Dennis, who suffers from multiple personality disorder. It’s a twitchy and mesmerising performance that keeps the audience in an almost constant state of unease. He accomplishes this almost entirely with physical acting that uses a minimal amount of make up and costume support.   //   The movie dips into the horror film approach ...

Retro Movie Review – The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

It’s set in India and uses that colourful and frenetic local as an integral part of the storyline. It’s a tale of redemption amongst an older generation of Brits that are bucking against feeling like they have reached their used by dates. They end up at a hotel in India under false pretences and find that the luxury hotel the ads spoke about has been replaced by a run down complex run by Sonny (played with good humour by Dev Patel of Slumdog Millionaire).   //   The ...

Retro Movie Review – Bridge Of Spies

Based in the murky waters of the shadowy world of espionage back in the late fifties, the film does an admirable job of keeping the audience in the know. There was such a litany of enemies (both real and perceived) of the American way of life presented back then that the story could have easily diffused into myopic rubbish. It steers mostly clear of easy slogans.   //   Hanks plays super hostage negotiator James B. Donovan as he tries to trade a Russia spy to secure the ...