Tag Archives: Movie review

A surprising number of films depict characters on the autism spectrum but few accurately illustrate how the neurodevelopmental disorder impacts family like Jack of the Red Hearts (2015). From the classic Rain Man (1988) to the recent The Story of Luke (2012), many filmmakers have grappled with autism as a central plot device but few can claim an intimacy to ...

I didn’t think I’d have to write this review because I was so sure everybody else would. But with an extremely generous Rotten Tomatoes score of 73 per cent and Mediacritic rating of 60 per cent, it is clear many Ghostbusters (2016) reviewers have assessed this film purely on its political merit and without regard for its forgettable narrative, tacky ...

Chasing Asylum exposes the barbarity and secrecy surrounding the Australian Government’s asylum seeker policies, Sue Hutchinson gives her take on the controversial documentary which is destined to become one of the year’s most talked about films. The federal government has demanded absolute secrecy around the offshore detention of so-called boat people, so Australians have had very little idea of what really ...

The Hateful Eight may be an R-rated, hard-to-stomach watch for some Christians, but Dr Janice McRandal offers an alternative perspective on Tarantino’s violence and the film’s defiantly religious framing device. The Hateful Eight is a characteristically antagonizing film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino: intense violence, extreme profanity and uncomfortable truths around race and misogyny assault the viewer for almost ...

Noted for his austere formal style and unique approach to performance, French filmmaker Robert Bresson is globally celebrated as a master of the cinematic arts. He has inspired generations of filmmakers including Martin Scorsese, Andrei Tarkovsky, the Dardenne brothers and Lars von Trier, and renowned screenwriter Paul Schrader (Taxi Driver) stated he was the “most important spiritual artist living—a spiritual ...

Sometimes it takes an outsider to notice something everyone else doesn’t want to see. It’s one of the curiosities of human behaviour; different people, given the same information, in the same context, will interpret that information completely differently. Setting aside one’s preconceptions and reporting a story with fairness and accuracy is the core challenge of journalism. Done right, it’s a ...

The Star Wars juggernaut is back, crushing all other box office contenders in its path, and much to the relief of fans, this one is pretty good. From the very beginning The Force Awakens echoes the original trilogy in tone, theme, and even plot. That’s not a bad thing; as one generation of devotees overdoses on nostalgia, another discovers the ...

SPOILER ALERT: The following article contains spoilers for the Disney Pixar animation Inside Out. Disney Pixar’s latest animation feature Inside Out offers purpose to all personified emotions, addressing the guilt and shame of Sadness. Ashley Thompson writes. Critically acclaimed for offering a “strikingly intricate and satisfying conceptualisation of a pre-teen’s psyche”, Director Pete Docter’s candy-coloured visual bonanza Inside Out explores ...

Scornfully reviewed as royal watcher sugar akin to William and Kate: The Movie, the recently released Mother’s Day drawcard A Royal Night Out is fictitious fun with subtle observations on the social phenomenon of birth order, Ashley Thompson writes. “I’m P2, no one cares what I do!” exclaims the younger and only sibling of Queen Elizabeth II, Margaret Windsor. Elizabeth ...

Reminiscent of critically acclaimed classic Remember the Titans (2000), From the Rough joins a long list of self-acclaimed inspirational sports films which see underdog sports teams triumph against racial, economic and gender disadvantage to hope’s end. Based on a true story, Catana Starks (Taraji P Henson) is a former women’s swim coach and the first woman ever to coach an ...