Drama 1177 results

Retro Movie Review – Django Unchained

When the rumours of Tarantino tackling the Western genre first surfaced, what a hundred years ago, it provided a number of great movie conservationist’s topics. Could his make cowboys look and sound cool? Could he recharge careers and get superlative performances from his regulars? Could he make an increasingly jaded audience stand up and cheer? In almost all categories the answer is a resounding yes.   //   Few are unaware of the film’s basic synopsis after another ...

Retro Movie Review – Guardians of the Galaxy

And all this for a superhero team that not many people know, and the first Marvel film not to feature one of the Silver Age group of characters created by Stan Lee. The Guardians are a bunch of undesirables who find themselves fighting together to prevent one of the Infinity Stones from reaching Thanos. If that all sounds a little crazy, then welcome to the Marvel Universe (not just Earth, or Asgard, or wherever it is that Agent Coulson buys his suits) where universe destroying gems and ...

Retro Movie Review – American Hustle

The always-outstanding British actor Christian Bale lays to rest the man in black for the new man in fat. His visual transformation is just one element of his transcendent performance. He has to act his butt off just to transcend that hairdo of his. Jennifer Lawrence adds to her building resume of great performances as Bale’s on screen wife who is both hilarious and clueless. Bradley Cooper’s manic drug fuelled performance is also outstanding. Now no discussion of great roles in this ...

Retro Movie Review – Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

Mexican writer and director Alejandro González Iñárritu has delivered a story inside a story about a past his use by date movie star, Keaton, who previously reaped the riches and empty adulation that went with his role of playing the big screen superhero Birdman. He is seeking redemption (artistically and humanly) by writing, directing and starring in his own Broadway play.   //   Alejandro uses music masterfully as the first three quarters of the film is set to a ...

Watch the trailer for The Informer

He’s given a chance for early release by becoming an informant for the FBI (Academy Award nominees Rosamund Pike and Clive Owen) and using his covert skills in an operation to take down The General, the most powerful crime boss in New York. But when the FBI sting meant to finally earn Koslow his freedom results in the death of an undercover NYPD cop, Koslow finds himself caught in the crossfire between the mob and the FBI.   //   The General insists Koslow takes the ...

Retro Movie Review – Whiplash

The story of a young prodigy musician joining a demanding music school and running headlong into its most obsessive teacher becomes the canvas on which actors J.K. Simmons and Miles Teller paint one of the most vibrant images in recent memory. Teller is the obsessive drummer with a fixation on jazz icon Buddy Rich and Simmons, the teacher with an eye on transcendence and the demands to accomplish it.   //   Compliments also go out to writer – director Damien Chazelle ...

Watch the trailer for I Am Woman!

Within weeks she was broke. Within months she was in love. Within five years she was one of the biggest superstars of her time, and an icon of the 1970s feminist movement, who wrote a song which galvanised a generation of women to fight for change.   //   I Am Woman will be released in Australia later this year. www.facebook.com/transmissionfilms

Retro Movie Review – Snowpiercer

In 1982 a French graphic novel (that’s the adult term for a comic) postulated a world thrown into an ice age where the remnants of humanity are trapped on a train that never stops. Thirty years later we have an international film (Korean director Bong Joon Ho and ensemble cast) to take us on that ride. If you thought peak hour trains were bad, wait until you see Snowpiercer. At the back of the train (1001 cars long according to the comic) are the underclass, given barely enough food to ...

The Jesus Rolls Movie Review

For fans of The Dude, this has to be one of the biggest disappointments ever as The Jesus Rolls fails on so many levels. It’s stilted, uncool and worst of all, just not funny. It flaunts a very uncomfortable anti-feminist approach and completely wastes the considerable charms of its female lead, Audrey Tautou, she of Amélie and The Da Vinci Code.   //   In the film, Jesus gets out of jail and embarks on a road trip that goes nowhere with his old running buddy, Petey ...

Watch the trailer for Promising Young Woman – in cinemas April 16!

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 ...