The Australian release of Only God Forgives has been preceded by much hype and vitriol claiming it to be one of the worst and most hideously violent films of recent times. Fortunately, it’s neither of these things. It’s certainly not for all tastes and like many of Danish director Nicholas Winding Refn’s films, seems like an exercise in style over
Read moreWith films like Cabin In the Woods pulling apart horror movie tropes and the Scary Movie series lampooning the genre outright, it’s a much more difficult task for a filmmaker to scare audiences these days than it was in the past. It’s a credit to James Wan, the director of the new supernatural horror movie The Conjuring, that, for at
Read moreScience fiction literature is full of stories about mad professors conducting hideously unethical gene- splicing experiments to create hybrid monsters. A similar process seems to have gone into the making of comedy The Heat where the crazy scientists have spliced Miss Congeniality with Identity Thief. The result is, despite the best efforts of the cast, a fumbling and unfunny variation
Read moreThis week on Built For Speed we are ecstatic to have as our special guest a legend of the Australian music scene Billy Pinnell. We’ll discuss Billy’s long and illustrious radio career, his favourite music and much more. We also take a look at two new release films, giant robot adventure Pacific Rim and buddy cop comedy The Heat starring
Read moreIn the 1990’s, comedy/dramas about the lure of celebrity and the superficiality of reality TV were a potent commentary on society’s spiritual emptiness. Fast forward two decades, however, and reality TV as a source of satire and social comment has become passé. Consequently, Italian Big Brother satire Reality feels, despite the excellent craftsmanship of Gomorrah director Matteo Garrone, strangely outdated.
Read moreEnigmatic director Terence Malick is about to divide audiences once again with his latest perplexing cinematic tone poem To the Wonder. Post-film arguments will rage over whether this movie is a profound statement of existential malaise, decaying faith and suburban alienation or just pretentious drivel? Although Malick has ditched the dinosaurs in To the Wonder, he has managed to create
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