Alongside Homer Simpson and SpongeBob SquarePants, electric fluff-ball Pikachu joins the ranks of beloved ‘90s yellow cartoon characters to receive the live action treatment with Pokémon Detective Pikachu.
The manner in which The Curse of the Weeping Woman divulges into cheap horror tropes is a greater curse on the overall film than the problematic curse in its storyline.
Ever since Twilight (2008) made it desirable for teenagers to be in complicated relationships, the teen-films that have followed continue to up the dramatic relationship ante.
The attention of cat lovers has been captured twice this month in films that draw-out the docile and wild nature of the beast.
Before the start of horror-genre film Us, a studio opening credit containing a hypnotic teacup animation that references Jordan Peele’s debut film Get Out (2017) is seen. This referral to previous work recognises Peele’s ability to deliver on iconography and is a testament to the driving power of Peele’s brand, which despite having only directed one film in his career has already garnered him accolades and recognition as an auteur horror director.
Karyn Kusama’s film Destroyer highlights an ongoing trend of Australian actors working in Hollywood that are unable to disguise their accents (see 2018’s Mary Queen of Scots and anything Sam Worthington).
Suppose you had the option in a game of Scrabble to play the word SACCHARINE or ANARCHIC. Saccharine, meaning excessively sweet and sentimental, and anarchic, much to do with lacking control over circumstances, are both worth more than 15 points but also summarise the range of emotions experienced by Bill Nighy and company in the 2019 British drama-comedy, Sometimes Always Never.
From recent releases such as The Rider (2017) and Thoroughbreds (2018), and even as far back as The Godfather (1972), there is an obsession in filmmaking to have horses die to serve metaphoric purposes.
It would be remiss of this reviewer to discuss the psychological drama Vox Lux without commenting on the abhorrent manner which pop-star Celeste is endowed by fame; a by-product of a culture obsessed with celebrity in a system that benefits from the exploitation of trauma.
You’d think it’d be a pie in the face for Sony Pictures Classics to release a film about iconic comedy duo Laurel and Hardy without having their stage name in the title but in the case of Stan & Ollie, it speaks a testament to the genius of the pairing both on and away from the spotlight.
Russell Crowe won an Academy Award for his role in Gladiator (2000); a spectacle film containing chariot races, battles to the death, and scenes involving Crowe stroking wheat in a field. In a film that promises all the joy of caressing plants without any of the Gladiator action, At Eternity’s Gate enters this year’s award season as a little-known film that could potentially garner Willem Dafoe his first (overdue) Oscar.
Despite a catalogue of action films that suffer from sameness, Liam Neeson is an anomaly amongst action greats with his rise to superstardom being celebrated in a way that other legends in the genre (we see you Bruce Willis) are not.
On the Basis of Sex is a legal biopic that does little justice to the work of Ruth Bader Ginsburg; a pioneer in the field of gender-based discrimination law in the United States.
Skipping the cinema experience for documentary films is becoming easier thanks to the allure of a comfortable couch and gripping episodic mini-series being more desirable than an overpriced cinema ticket.
Puberty is an unenjoyable experience for all, and where coming-of-age films have failed to look at teenage-dom through this lens of authenticity, comedian Bo Burnham succeeds in his extremely sincere writing and directorial debut, Eighth Grade.
DreamWorks’ How to Train Your Dragon series, which has spanned not only film but books, video games, and a TV series, has challenged audiences to look at the damage misguided attitudes can have on society, with all films in the franchise unafraid to highlight the consequences that can occur when dangerous beliefs manifest.
