This latest chapter is the fourth Spidey film with Tom Holland in the lead, and he continues to give the character a more human ethos than just about any other superhero of note. He is affected by self-doubts and the sacrifices he had to make to keep his friends safe. This continues to lead him down the road to a fairly lonely existence. Brand New Day ultimately addresses that and gives more than a glimmer of hope.

The isolation he feels because of Dr Stephen Strange’s spell that was enacted in the previous chapter, No Way Home, is in full effect. None of his closest friends or even his lover MJ, played by real-world wife Zendaya, know him at all. His sense of duty is the only thing that keeps him going, as there is little else in his life to bring him joy. The sadness in his lodgings and his lifestyle is palpable.

There are so many moments that lit up the audience on the night; it makes one feel that they need a bit more background detail to engage fully. The cinematography is also a challenge with the almost constant shifts of both perspective and direction in its action scenes. This approach also necessitates a very large amount of CGI-created set design, which tends to distance you from the proceedings. Spider-Man: Brand New Day integrates more characters from the MCU than any chapter before, but it still keeps most of its outsider charm intact.
Rob Hudson
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Most will be familiar with the heroic tale of the king of Ithaca, Odysseus, played by Matt Damon, and his journey home after fighting in the ten-year-long Trojan War; even those who are fuzzy on the fine details will remember the hollow horse. A blend of the harsh realities of the time mixed with a plethora of fantastical monsters and supernatural hazards leaves the film palette wide open for the imagination to run rampant. The current state of industrial technology also helps expand possibilities.

The sound design is also worthy of note, and if the cinema you choose can deliver the SPL needed to reach the intended decibels, you might want to bring earplugs; the volume level is that visceral. The relentless pace allows very little downtime, so make sure to secure plenty of snacks too. The first third of the film’s narrative follows Nolan’s preferred nonlinear timeline before settling into a more conventional arc until the end.

Technical notes aside, this is a work of colossal effort from both cast and crew. Nolan’s insistence on filming entirely with the overly large format IMAX cameras and shunning the use of green screen technology and subjecting the cast to real-world conditions restates the need for the force of will at play. This film asks much of its audience, and not just of their time, but it delivers an unrivalled cinematic experience. It does become a work for the ages.
Rob Hudson
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Dwayne Johnson AKA the Rock, returns as the demigod Maui, and this time he arrives with a head full of luxurious locks! He and Catherine have an easy and very modern rapport, and their riffing off each other provides the film’s backbone of humour. Jemaine Clement continues to inhabit the visage of the giant monster coconut crab, Tamatoa, and the look is bedazzled and spectacularly over-the-top.

Even though this work is considered live action, the majority of the scenery is computer-generated, and it looks spectacular, as do the sea creatures. The Kakamora, those pint-sized, savage pirates, are more cute than threatening and remind one of the Ewoks from the Star Wars world. The monsters of the deep are mostly absent, and the most serious opposition comes from Te Kā, a fiery monster with a softer side.

There is no real departure from the storyline from the first film and fans of that work will feel right at home. The breaking out of the occasional song is less obtrusive than most and does little to dilute the film’s forward momentum. Sitting next to the little one was a lot of fun, and seeing her look of wonderment at the spectacle that was on screen was the highlight of the evening for me.
Rob Hudson
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The Australian connections run deep with this film as both director Craig Gillespie (I, Tonya and Cruella) and Supergirl herself, Milly Alcock (House Of The Dragon), are from the land down under. The Antipodes approach permeates the feel of the film, and this outsider attitude unfortunately misses as much as it hits. There are also some strange thematic choices that bleed some of the interest away.

They introduce Krypto the Superdog early, and his presence in one of the few light moments in what is a very dark film, but then relegate him to a circumstance that keeps him off-screen almost the entire film. Almost all the scenes are also set in a very low-light world, and the film looks quite dull. The innate humour between the loose at the seams Supergirl and her straight-laced cousin Superman (David Corenswet) is also an under-utilised element.

All is not lost, though, for fans of one of DC’s most overlooked characters, Lobo. This bounty hunter from the peaceful planet Czarnia (of whom he killed the entire population) is played with real swagger by Jason Momoa. He’s a bad guy you love to hate, and he chews up every scene he’s in with an exciting amount of ferocity. As an introduction of the Supergirl character to the rebooted universe, it only partially succeeds, but as a first seen film version of Lobo, it gets top marks.
Rob Hudson
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Starting with a wonderful animated homage to the groundbreaking work of Charles Chaplin, this sets things off in a unique way. Old-school fans will pick up on the references to films like Modern Times and The Great Dictator, while the rest of the audience will hopefully react with a smile. There is a purity of intent in giving a nod to the past that runs counter to most American animated output.

There is also risk in having the majority of the language being used sounding almost indecipherable, but as typoglycemia works on the written text, you are soon able to understand way more than you originally thought you could. Being set in the roaring twenties also opens things up as you catch the little yellow orbs through a mythical jaunt that lands them in Hollywood during its transition from the silent era to the town’s Golden Age.

The love and care for the medium shines through, and its wild swings of imagination make one think that there was very little influence of the dreaded test market screenings that often blight originality in this art form. It will be very interesting to see if this unique approach yields rewards in a genre that often rewards conservative filmmaking.
Rob Hudson
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The main theme is a well-used one, that aliens have been visiting Earth for decades, and the truth is being kept from the public by the US government and in a slight departure, aided this time by an evil multinational corporation. Curiously, Spielberg’s approach highlights only modern events and completely ignores those other alien breeding grounds like the Egyptian and both the Mayan and Aztec civilizations. Too much of a good thing, I guess.

The structure of the film is based around a whistleblower arc and plays out in quite a thrilling manner. The alien technology that backs up the main chase is as outrageous as all the other efforts in this genre, but that does little to distract from the fun. Steven even finds a line of biblical scripture that reinforces the belief in life on other planets. It’s all based in a fantasy land and reinforces the truth that we humans will probably never know the accurate details.

Unfortunately, there are times that the director just can’t help himself, and the final few minutes seem completely unnecessary. It once again feels like he lacks complete trust in his audience and has to overstate the main theme to make sure everyone gets it. The almost complete grasp of his craft makes these moments so unnecessary. That distraction aside, Disclosure Day is a lot of fun and raises more questions than it does answers about those little grey men.
Rob Hudson
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It starts with two mysterious people in a car talking about astrology, who soon spot a lone pedestrian walking down the street and run him down. It’s out of character violence is never to return, and the sense of urgent provocation is replaced by a sense of mystery as to what the collective tissue is that binds these divergent people together.

This Spanish film is a co-production between Uruguay, Argentina and Spain and is a work that is sprinkled with elements of those countries’ populist culture. These norms seem foreign to a Western audience and create a desire to look up a number of reverence points at the movie’s end to flesh out the experience. You are also rewarded with an ending that answers a lot while still leaving much to contemplate.

You can catch this wonderful work during the screenings that make up the 2026 HSBC Spanish & Latin American Film Festival.

2026 HSBC Spanish & Latin American Film Festival
Canberra 10 June – 5 July: Palace Electric Cinema
Adelaide 10 June – 5 July: Palace Nova Eastend Cinemas and Palace Nova Prospect Cinemas
Brisbane 11 June – 5 July: Palace James Street and Palace Barracks
Perth 11 June – 1 July: Palace Raine Square, Luna Leederville and Luna on SX
Melbourne 12 June – 5 July: The Astor Theatre, Palace Cinema Como, Palace Brighton Bay, Palace Church St,
Palace Penny Lane, Palace Westgarth, The Kino, Palace Balwyn and Pentridge Cinema
Ballarat 12 June – 5 July: Palace Regent Cinema
Sydney 18 June – 12 July: Palace Norton Street, Palace Moore Park and Palace Central
Byron Bay/Ballina 18 June – 12 July: Palace Byron Bay, Ballina Fair Cinemas
www.spanishfilmfestival.com

We catch Adam Glenn (Artie Wilkinson-Hunt) way before he becomes He-Man or an orphan. His planet, Eternia, is an idyllic place, and he is the son of King Randor (James Purefoy). Into this garden come a marauding pack of miscreants headed by Skeletor. Jared Leto is unrecognisable as the main villain with the heavy makeup and electronically manipulated voice. He also provides the film with its most misguided character.

Through circumstance, Adam (now played by Nicholas Galitzine) is forced to flee his planet and ends up on Earth. He is far from regal, and Galitzine gets his nerdy tone just right. His uneasy interface with our modern world is played for maximum comic effect and sets up the audience for the conflict to come quite nicely. When he ultimately returns to save his home planet, it’s easy to get behind his initially amateurish attempts to be a badass.

Hitting the bullseye for the rowdy and fully engaged audience on opening night was encouraging, and one hopes this work finds its own congregation. It’s difficult gestation and departure from the original live action version released back in 1987 and starring Dolph Lundgren is substantial. It also stands alone from the Kevin Smith animated series Masters of the Universe: Revelation. Its frivolous and fun nature is delivered with a nod and a wink and is more engaging because of it.
Rob Hudson
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The male lead, Owen (Spike Fearn – he of heavy accent and bad Beatles bob), plays a hopeless romantic who comes into contact with Emily Raine (Angourie Rice), a psychology student trying her best to prove her thesis that love makes you crazy. Together, they try to find the mysterious Emily, a girl Owen met at a nightclub who gave him an incomplete phone number.

In their attempts to locate said girl, they shake a hornet’s nest and create an on-campus social media storm that pits student against student, with the faculty staying on the sidelines until things reach a fever pitch. Using the current social media landscape to prop up the story leads to some of the film’s most humorous moments, and these seem targeted to a younger audience.

Even though the final resolution is never in question, the journey is peppered with amusing side steps and even throws in a false finish or two. The rom-com classification is your strongest clue to what the film will deliver. If that sounds appealing, the time spent with this work will not disappoint.
Rob Hudson
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The simplification of the storyline is also reflected in the pace. This new chapter feels more like an action film than anything else. It starts with a set piece that is more John Wick in Outer Space than an exercise in the dynamics of corporate greed. Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni’s original story was intended to be season four of the TV show, but the Hollywood writer’s strike changed the studio’s plans. The end result, however, still feels episodic.

The actual look of the proceedings is different as well. Grogu looks ever inch the puppet that he is, as do several other characters that inhabit this world. The computer generated special effects take a back seat to this old-world charm. His emerging power is also ramping up, albeit slowly, which bodes well for future films. Pedro Pascal as The Mandalorian keeps things simple with a minimum of dialogue and a maximum of physical activity. His task of rescuing Jabba The Hut’s son Rotta (voiced by The Bear’s Jeremy Allen White) is really his main aim.

As is true with so many modern films, this feels a reel too long, but during its 132-minute running time, the onslaught of action gives little respite. One hopes this chapter does well at the Box Office and that the studio shows restraint in the future as they try to re-monetise the Star Wars Universe. The world of giant screen entertainment is a much more interesting place with a good Star Wars film to look forward to.
Rob Hudson
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