The surreal, dreamlike Polish animal adventure EO, which comes from veteran director Jerzy Skolimoski, is one of the most intriguing and affecting films of the year. While a donkey played a small supporting role in Banshees Of Inisherin, in this film, our four-legged friend takes his rightful place as the lead. Here, former circus performer Eo escapes the farm to
Read moreI avoided the first three instalments in the ultra-violent hitman saga, John Wick as a cursory glance suggested they were ludicrous, mind-numbingly repetitive action films with about as much depth and credibility as a Fast and Furious flick. I haven’t completely abandoned that view but on the basis of latest film, John Wick: Chapter 4, there sems to be a
Read moreMacedonian Australian director Goran Stolevski leapt to the cinema world’s attention with his remarkable, feminist-themed, 2022 supernatural horror film You Won’t Be Alone. With his latest film, Of an Age, he returns to Melbourne and more contemporary issues as he explores same-sex relationships and the attitudes of Anglo and Eastern European Australians through the burgeoning but awkward romance between two
Read moreMy experience of the fantasy game Dungeons and Dragons is limited to playing it for about 20 minutes 40 years ago. Suffice to say I’m not an expert on its intricacies and can only vaguely suggest how much has been woven into the new cinema adaptation, Dungeons And Dragons: Honour Among Thieves. Whether or not the film has obsessive fidelity
Read moreThis week on ‘Built For Speed’ we take a look at two intriguing films, the vivid and disturbing thriller, ‘Pearl’ and the Australian romantic drama, ‘Of An Age’. We’ll also play a feast of fine tunes with new Aussie material, post-punk favourites, classic rock and some of the artists featured in the recent SBS doco ‘Women Who Rock’. Don’t forget
Read moreThe first Shazam film, which provided the origin story for teen nerd Billy Batson’s magical transformation into the eponymous, red-suited superhero, surprised many viewers by turning one of the sillier DC stories into a mostly fun, amusing, energetic if juvenile action fantasy. Lead Zachari Levi, who looks oddly like Boz Scaggs, did about as good a job as we could
Read more