Oliver is the odd man out. A student at Oxford that can claim neither money nor position. When he comes into contact with fellow student Felix Catto (Jacob Elordi) he sees him as possessing everything he fancies. Rich and from a family of privilege, he is great with the ladies and comfortable in his own skin. It is everything Oliver is not.

When he is invited to vacation at the Catton residence, a huge estate called Saltburn, he gets a glimpse of a way of life he’s always coveted. The social commentary on the vapid and disconnected reality of the super-rich is played out in bold and often hilariously broad strokes. Especially the lady of the manor Elspeth Catton (Rosamund Pike).

Just like trying to hold sand in a clenched fist, the tighter you try to hold the reality of Satltburn in your mind, the more it slips away. It is filled with so many odd and confronting moments, it keeps you guessing until the very end. Even when things happen that you see coming, the filmmakers have put a unique slant on them. See this as it’s unlike anything else out there at the moment.
Rob Hudson
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Academy Award winning filmmaker Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman) brings us a beautifully wicked tale of privilege and desire.

Struggling to find his place at Oxford University, student Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan) finds himself drawn into the world of the charming and aristocratic Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi), who invites him to Saltburn, his eccentric family’s sprawling estate, for a summer never to be forgotten.

Starring Barry Keoghan, Jacob Elordi, Rosamund Pike, Richard E. Grant, Archie Madekwe and Carey Mulligan, Saltburn will be released in Aussie cinemas November 16!
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Struggling to find his place at Oxford University, student Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan) finds himself drawn into the world of the charming and aristocratic Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi), who invites him to Saltburn, his eccentric family’s sprawling estate, for a summer never to be forgotten.

Starring Barry Keoghan, Jacob Elordi, Rosamund Pike, Richard E. Grant, Archie Madekwe and Carey Mulligan, Saltburn will be released in Aussie cinemas November 16!
www.facebook.com/WarnerBrosAU

Change the gender and almost all of the victims in She Said could have been soldiers returning from war. They have been so traumatised by the harm done to them that just the mention of the name Weinstein brings a visceral reaction. Their PTSD is overtly visible.

Equal parts enthralling and appalling, The film illustrates the abuses of power that were protected by faceless people on high that have left all of its victims scarred for life. The evil spectre of Harvey Weinstein permeates every scene. Thankfully there are no reenactments of the actual crimes but this does little to lessen the impact of how egregious his transgressions were.

There is one scene in particular where it’s only Weinstein’s recorded voice haranguing a victim that tells you all you need to know about how much of a liar and sexual criminal he was. One had hoped that the downfall of such a high-profile bully would have heralded a seismic change in social values but unfortunately one still waits.
Rob Hudson

www.facebook.com/UniversalPicturesAU/

From the Academy Award® winning producers of 12 Years a Slave, Moonlight, Minari, Selma and The Big Short and the Oscar®-nominated producer of Zero Dark Thirty and American Hustle, the film is based on the New York Times bestseller, She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement.

She Said is directed by Emmy winner Maria Schrader (Unorthodox limited series) from a screenplay by Oscar® winner Rebecca Lenkiewicz (Ida).

The film is produced by Academy Award® winners Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner for Plan B Entertainment and is executive produced by Oscar® nominee Megan Ellison and Sue Naegle for Annapurna Pictures.
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The sex addiction angle is given main focus and this has led to the film being in the crosshairs of both film censors and the more conservative reviewers. The press generated about its raunchy nature is well founded but the end result of so much disconnect sex is just tedium. The more sexual contact Brandon has, the less he feels and the harder it is for the viewer to feel engaged.

The acting is of a high calibre and seeing Carey Mulligan step outside her usual coming of age antics is eye opening. Her take on Brandon’s damaged sister; Sissy Sullivan is consistently engaging if not slightly predictable. In the third act Brandon also seems on the cusp of a personal revelation, even with the cliché scene of self-loathing (the almost obligatory bar fight) but the change is so subtle as to be almost nonexistent.

Even with the excellent acting, it’s a story that has been told many times before and the challenge of trying to relate to the actions on screen becomes less satisfying as the film progresses. It’s a good conversation starter but the conversation soon turns to other things.

Rob Hudson
www.facebook.com/transmissionfilms

Carey Mulligan is amazing as Cassandra, a young woman who has yet to recover from a devastating tragedy, an event that has altered the direction of her life forever. The mastery of understated nuance and comic timing is impeccable. You feel for her and mid-film when you experience the easing of her darkness, you rejoice.

This only adds to your horror are the vehicle of her release proves to be complicit in the event that set the misery into motion. It is a truly awful moment. Writer/director Emerald Fennell never lets up and soon delivers an even more appalling moment before the final resolution that will surely split vast members of the audience.

There is an overabundance of films that entertain but then they fade from memory at a rapid pace, Promising Young Woman is not one of those. By not overwhelming your reception of the film with off-putting and graphic violence, it reduces the distance from your life to Cassandra’s. It is this well-earned connection that makes the work so memorable.

Rob Hudson
www.facebook.com/roadshow

Jenny is being raised by the archetype pushy Father and understanding Mother as an only child in a typical English row house. She is intelligent and studious and gets good grades in school. She is also intelligent enough to be bored with what her current situation has to offer. This is the sixties and extraordinary things are happening all over the world except in her hometown. Along comes the older man David and sweeps her off her feet.

In one of those cases of the audience always being one-step ahead of what progresses on-screen, the story offers few surprises. The transition of Jenny’s parents from overprotective guardians to co-conspirators while even if accurate to Barber’s true story feels false. There is enough authenticity to carry some elements of the story but overall it’s less than totally convincing.

You tend to ignore some elements of the story and just enjoy the performances but then a strange thing happens. The film with a running time of only 95 minutes has one of the most rushed feeling final acts on record. It’s a strange way to end a film and feels like the product of too many test screenings. It’s still worth seeing if for nothing else but the actor’s fine work but the believability and pacing of the story are a bit of a letdown.

Rob Hudson
www.facebook.com/transmissionfilms

Everyone said Cassie (Carey Mulligan) was a promising young woman… until a mysterious event abruptly derailed her future. But nothing in Cassie’s life is what it appears to be: she’s wickedly smart, tantalizingly cunning, and she’s living a secret double life by night.

Now, an unexpected encounter is about to give Cassie a chance to right the wrongs of the past in this thrilling and wildly entertaining story.

Promising Young Woman will be released in Australian cinemas New Years Day!
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Everyone said Cassie was a promising young woman… until a mysterious event abruptly derailed her future.

But nothing in Cassie’s life is what it appears to be: she’s wickedly smart, tantalizingly cunning, and she’s living a secret double life by night. Now, an unexpected encounter is about to give Cassie a chance to right the wrongs of the past in this thrilling and wildly entertaining story.

Promising Young Woman stars Carey Mulligan, Laverne Cox, Bo Burnham, Alison Brie, Connie Britton and will be released in Australian cinemas April 16, 2020!
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