Alejandro González Iñárritu’s idiosyncratic serio-comic take on the machinations of theatre, the decline of cinema and the fickleness of celebrity, Birdman, has been the toast of international film festivals meaning it has arrived on our shores carrying the weight of enormous expectation. That sort expectation often leads to disappointment and that is to some extent the case here. While this
Read moreThe charming Australian film Paper Planes has many of the ingredients usually found in successful Aussie movies: a story of triumph over adversity, larrikin humour and young romance and like recent hits such as Red Dog it deserves to become a family favourite. Ed Oxenbould, who was so impressive as the conniving younger brother in the excellent TV adaptation of
Read moreThis week on “Built for Speed’ it’s classic album time as we head back to 1996 and re-visit Manic Street Preachers’ masterpiece ‘Everything Must Go’. There’s also plenty of contemporary indie rock from Australia and overseas as well as another sampling of Queen’s sensational Rainbow Theatre concert from 1974. On the movie front we take a look at the Australian family
Read moreLife Itself documents the life and career of possibly the world’s best known film critic, Roger Ebert. This candid documentary explores his early journalistic career, student activism, his film reviewing for the Chicago Sun Times, his ground-breaking film review TV show with Gene Siskell and his battle with cancer. The film is composed of readings from Ebert’s biography – also titled
Read moreAustralian cinema audiences embrace films that explore the Australian identity. This is evident in the success of films such as Picnic at Hanging Rock which examined Australian culture as the 20th century dawned and the nation began to define itself from mother England, The Castle, which affectionately satirised the Australian suburban identity and Peter Weir’s Gallipoli, which both celebrated and
Read moreBefore it descended into torture porn and the mass slaughter of appallingly stereotyped swarthy Eastern Europeans, the first Taken film was a tense and exciting action/drama with convincingly visceral fight scenes, a darkly menacing Paris setting and a memorable lead performance from Liam Neeson who, as former CIA spook Brian Mills, beat up half of Europe to recover his kidnapped daughter
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