The story of Danish movie Druk (English title, “Another Round”) is predictable enough, but told so well and with such spirit (pun intended) that it just doesn’t matter. Martin (Mads Mikkelsen) is a middle-aged history teacher numbly watching his world collapse around him. His once-promising academic career
Tanya Dalziell University of Western Australia In a new series, writers pay tribute to fictional detectives on page and on screen. Trixie Belden, girl detective, does not rank in the world’s pantheon of cool sleuths. She’s unlikely to appear in a Coen brothers’ film (à la Marge Gunderson
John Tamny aier.org John Tamny, research fellow of AIER, is editor of RealClearMarkets. His book on current ideological trends is: They Are Both Wrong (AIER, 2019) What better way to begin a review of what is an excellent book than to say that the book’s author always knew.
Maria Flood Keele University The backlash against the backlash has begun. Joker, starring Joaquin Phoenix and directed by Todd Phillips of Hangover trilogy fame, has opened to conflicting reviews and negative press. Having been hailed as a masterpiece when it first screened at the Venice film festival (and drawing an
Sung-ae Lee Macquarie University Parasite, the South Korean film directed by Bong Joon-ho, received four Oscars at this year’s Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best International Feature Film. It was an historic moment. Parasite is the first non-English-language movie to
Ann Vickery Deakin University Growing up in Australia in the 1970s, I much preferred the hijinks of Han Solo and Chewie to Princess Leia’s sexualised damsel in distress. My sister and I spent an entire summer pigging out on Choc Wedges and Barney Bananas so we could collect the
Ari Mattes University of Notre Dame Australia People often roll their eyes when they hear about a major Hollywood studio re-releasing a film from its back catalogue to cinemas. Director’s cuts, “reduxes” and remastered prints can seem like cynical corporate moves, re-commodifying a long dead vision of
Adrian Danks RMIT University It’s hard to imagine that Martin Scorsese’s GoodFellas is 30 years old. A massive influence on contemporary filmmakers ranging from Quentin Tarantino and Fernando Morales to David O. Russell and Paul Thomas Anderson, it remains one of the peaks of Hollywood genre filmmaking. GoodFellas
Daryl Sparkes University of Southern Queensland Ten years on from its release, and hitting cinemas again, Christopher Nolan’s Inception still puzzles and intrigues. It is one of those films in which you discover something new each time you watch it. Or, more likely, it makes you reinterpret what you
Daryl Sparkes University of Southern Queensland It wasn’t the first time I’d crashed a film set. My first was the 1984 film The Coolangatta Gold. You’ll recognise me in one of the shots because I’m the only person wearing jeans on a beach. Many years, and
Phoebe Macrossan Queensland University of Technology Jessica Ford University of Newcastle While many teen films fade away never to be heard of again, Clueless, a loose adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma, has remained in the cultural consciousness since its 1995 release. Maybe it’s the catchy soundtrack, or familiar
Ben McCann November 1959. Film director Alfred Hitchcock is at his commercial and critical peak after the successes of Vertigo (1958) and North by Northwest (1959). So what does he do next? A black-and-white made-for-TV movie hastily shot, with no big-name actors and a leading
Inger S. B. Brodey University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill The latest film adaptation of Jane Austen’s classic “Emma” is a visual feast of color, pattern and texture. It’s also a bit too perfect. The colors are too vibrant, the skin too clear, the homes too opulent,
Roslyn Petelin The University of Queensland When a literary luminary such as Thomas Kenneally declares so early in 2020 that he is certain a “more original” novel “will not be published this year”, the reviewer faces a challenge. The book in question is The Dictionary of Lost Words, the debut
Even so grim a year as 2020 has to have at least one bright spot. That bright spot must surely be Bill and Ted Face the Music. The eponymous pair return after a 25-year hiatus for a most triumphant conclusion to the beloved 80s comedies. The plot is familiar
In a particularly cutting episode of Extras, Kate Winslet’s character wonders about Hollywood’s fixation on Holocaust movies. “I don’t think we really need another film about the Holocaust, do we? It’s like, how many have there been? You know, we get it – it was grim, move
