Amongst the Island’s iconic statues, and as the longtime partners wrestle with their dark pasts and present conspiracies, Chris’s newfound bond with a pair of rebellious students (Mariana di Girolamo and Ailín Salas) threatens to send everyone’s trip to this remote paradise sideways.

Directed by Academy Award® winner Martin McDonagh (In Bruges, Seven Psychopaths, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, The Banshees of Inisherin), WILD HORSE NINE stars two-time Academy Award® nominee John Malkovich (Places in the Heart, In the Line of Fire), Academy Award® winner Sam Rockwell (‘Fosse/Verdon,’ Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Vice), Steve Buscemi (Fargo, Ghost World), Mariana Di Girólamo (Ema, Kill the Jockey), Ailín Salas (El Secreto, ‘Monzón’), with Tom Waits (Seven Psychopaths), and Parker Posey (‘The White Lotus’). With a screenplay by McDonagh, the film reunites the writer-director with Searchlight Pictures, Blueprint Pictures and Film4, following their collaboration on 9-time Academy Award®-nominated The Banshees of Inisherin, with Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, McDonagh, and Anita Overland producing.

The film will be in Australian cinemas on November 5, 2026.
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The story arc revolves around the foursome’s reverent acceptance into the current society at large that is almost complete. This general consensus is, however, challenged when the Earth comes under attack from an alien presence and they make a personal decision that defies the common good. In a nod to the geniality of this fantasy land, they are not openly attacked; however, the press still has a field day.

Having the story so character-driven only works because the main cast of Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm are so well written. Their relationships and personal foibles are pleasantly believable and not completely angst-driven. They seem like they could actually be friends.

There is a world treating peril and heroic action on behalf of the four that saves our fragile blue and green marble (for the time being). It’s easily within comic book parameters. But by film’s end, when the words appear on the screen that state that the Fantastic Four will return in Avengers: Doomsday, it leaves you slightly disappointed that the next time out, this lovely little world will get folded into the Avengers ideology so soon.
Rob Hudson
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Set against the vibrant backdrop of a 1960s-inspired, retrofuturistic world, Marvel Studios’ “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” introduces Marvel’s First Family — Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic (Pedro Pascal), Sue Storm/Invisible Woman (Vanessa Kirby), Ben Grimm/The Thing (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) and Johnny Storm/Human Torch (Joseph Quinn) as they face their most daunting challenge yet.

Forced to balance their roles as heroes with the strength of their family bond, they must defend Earth from a ravenous space god called Galactus (Ralph Ineson) and his enigmatic Herald, Silver Surfer (Julia Garner). And if Galactus’ plan to devour the entire planet and everyone on it weren’t bad enough, it suddenly gets very personal.

The action adventure also stars Paul Walter Hauser, Natasha Lyonne and Sarah Niles. “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” is directed by Matt Shakman, produced by Kevin Feige and executive produced by Louis D’Esposito, Grant Curtis and Tim Lewis.
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Mark Wahlberg and Kurt Russell are the heroes of the piece as their salt of the earth characters rise to the occasion and help to prevent a more serious loss of life through selfless heroism. The action is suitably claustrophobic as the isolation of the out-to-sea oil platform plays into the disaster.

Berg’s decision to focus on the accident on the oil rig and reduce the ecological disaster that was cased by the oil leak to a small footnote at the end of the film robs the experience of some of its intensity. It was the worst oil spill in US history and the 4.9 million barrels of crude oil that leaked caused irreparable damage that is still felt to this day.

As an action film, Deepwater Horizon succeeds as Berg and his cast are very adept at this style of film. The experience could have been heightened though by the inclusion of the some of the real world aftermath of this huge disaster.

Rob Hudson
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MILE 22 is directed by Peter Berg and stars Mark Wahlberg, Lauren Cohan, Iko Uwais, Ronda Rousey and John Malkovich.

MILE 22 releases in Australian cinemas on August 30, 2018!
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MILE 22 is directed by Peter Berg and stars Mark Wahlberg, Lauren Cohan, Iko Uwais, Ronda Rousey and John Malkovich.

MILE 22 releases in Australian cinemas on August 23, 2018!
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Mark Wahlberg and Kurt Russell are the heroes of the piece as their salt of the earth characters rise to the occasion and help to prevent a more serious loss of life through selfless heroism. The action is suitably claustrophobic as the isolation of the out-to-sea oil platform plays into the disaster.

Berg’s decision to focus on the accident on the oil rig and reduce the ecological disaster that was cased by the oil leak to a small footnote at the end of the film robs the experience of some of its intensity. It was the worst oil spill in US history and the 4.9 million barrels of crude oil that leaked caused irreparable damage that is still felt to this day.

As an action film, Deepwater Horizon succeeds as Berg and his cast are very adept at this style of film. The experience could have been heightened though by the inclusion of the some of the real world aftermath of this huge disaster.

Rob Hudson
www.deepwaterhorizon.movie

Helen Mirren, John Malkovich, Brian Cox, Mary-Louise Parker and Bruce Willis reprise their roles from the previous film and this time they’re joined by Anthony Hopkins, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Asian action star, Byung-hun Lee. As the central and most-grounded character, Willis is almost boring; instead the flash and colour is supplied by the peripheral characters and, as before, Mary-Louise Parker remains the heart and soul of the film

The plot? It has something to do with a weapon of mass destruction but really who cares about the plot! We just want to see Ms Mirren with a sniper rifle and a sly smile, a crazy-eyed Malkovich wielding explosives and unique hats and Parker’s crooked smile. On this score, Galaxy Quest director, Dean Parisot, delivers just about what is expected.

If you’ve seen and enjoyed the original Red then strap in as you’ll have fun with this one as well. It does follow the same tried and true formula as before and while there’s few surprises, it is still is a big bag of rollicking fun.

Stuart Jamieson
www.hopscotchfilms.com.au