Cate Shortland’s latest film, Berlin Syndrome may have young travellers reconsidering that planned European backpacking holiday. Here, Teresa Palmer plays Clare, a troubled and reserved young Australian woman backpacking in Berlin. After spending a night with a seemingly nice young German teacher, Andi (Max Riemelt) at his isolated apartment, she awakes the next morning to find he has locked her
Read moreDenial begins with a familiar caption ‘based on a true story’ but it’s more pertinent here than in most other films as Denial recounts a legal case in which truth and historical fact were out on trial. The film concerns the liable case brought against American history professor Deborah Lipstadt (Rachel Weisz) and her publishers Penguin Books by British author
Read moreIt’ll be a massive ‘Built For Speed’ this Friday as we review the two big science fiction film releases of recent weeks Guardians of the Galaxy, Volume 2 and Alien: Covenant. We’ll also tell you all about last Friday’s Green Day show at Rod Laver Arena. There’ll be some classic Green Day tracks, Aussie favourites and new music from the
Read moreThe first Guardians of the Galaxy film caused a minor sensation as it broke from the Marvel formula for a wildly different superhero experience. That film unusually but successfully combined elaborate often spectacular special effects, thrilling action sequences, vivid art direction, piss-taking humour and Gen X pop-cultural references including classic 1970’s power pop hits. With the sequel, writer/ director James
Read moreColossal from writer director Nacho Vigalondo is a strange beast mixing downbeat personal drama with quirky comedy and a Kaiju monster movie; it’s an odd but mostly successful combination. Recalling Charlie’s Theron’s character from Young Adult, Anne Hathaway plays Gloria a once successful writer whose life has spiralled into drunken chaos. When her prat of a boyfriend Tim (Dan Stevens)
Read moreMining Gen X nostalgia for those plentiful middle-aged cinemagoer bucks has become increasingly common but now filmmakers are getting desperate with the uncalled-for cinema re-imagining of late 70’s motorcycle cop show CHIPS. The original CHIPS was stock-standard TV cop fare notable only for the amusingly showy performance and gleaming white teeth of star Erik Estrada. There was nothing particularly memorable
Read more