The Duke of Burgundy is an intriguing and obtuse film which, from its title, sounds as if it should be some sort of historical costume drama but it’s actually a kind of lesbian 50 Shades of Grey. The slender plot examines the strange sado-masochistic relationship between two women, the young sexually rapacious and obsessive Evelyn (Chiara D’Anna) and her older
Read moreWith The Hunger Games, Divergent and now The Maze Runner series, the dystopian post-apocalyptic teen drama is becoming as much of a fixture in our cinemas as overblown superhero films. This could start to wear thin on audiences particularly those not wedded to the novels on which these films are based but the Maze Runner movies, which have been adapted
Read moreLast Cab to Darwin was originally a stage play by author Reg Cribb who also wrote The Return which became the film Last Train to Freo. Freo was adapted to the big screen by Jeremy Sims in 2006 and stands as one of those infuriating films that is terrific most of the way through then loses it horribly in the
Read moreWith its dangerous mountain climbing scenario and all-star cast, that includes Sam Worthington, Jake Gyllenhaal and Keira Knightley, Everest looked certain to be an old school, over-the-top disaster movie. Impressively, though, Everest side-steps the typical disaster movie clichés by adopting a low-key, matter-of-fact approach that provides a less sensational but more intense drama. The film is based on actual events
Read moreMany films have explored the idea of a person’s dark past coming back to haunt them like some monster from the Id; Sexy Beast and Cape Fear being two thrilling examples. New Australian crime drama Cut Snake, which is set in 1970’s Brisbane, revisits this theme with impressively tense and disturbing results. Alex Russell plays young factory worker Merv or
Read moreTelevision’s top-five greatest situation comedies. Author: Nick Gardener. The sit-com is not exactly a revered art form with so many of them just imported American schedule –fillers that indulge the obsessions of painfully chirpy, unrealistically attractive twenty-somethings. A precious few sit-coms, however, have rightfully established themselves as comedy masterpieces, television pinnacles and provocative representations of contemporary life, culture and human
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