Sicario
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Length: 121 mins
This mainstream American film really stands out from the pack. A by-the-rules hostage response team leader Kate (Emily Blunt) gets co-opted to work with a crack team going in to Mexico to wage war against the drug cartels. Team leader Matt (Josh Brolin) and mysterious Colombian hitman Alejandro (Benicio del Toro) soon show Kate that in Mexico one must fight fire with fire, and rules don't necessarily apply. Seething with nail-biting tension, and several gruesome scenes of carnage, this is not only a terrific thriller, but a story raising plenty of moral dilemmas. (BTW, Benicio's performance is one of his best yet.)
Really good!!
For a full review from Bernard Hemingway:
http://www.cinephilia.net.au/show_review.php?movieid=5868This mainstream American film really stands out from the pack. A by-the-rules hostage response team leader Kate (Emily Blunt) gets co-opted to work with a crack team going in to Mexico to wage war against the drug cartels. Team leader Matt (Josh Brolin) and mysterious Colombian hitman Alejandro (Benicio del Toro) soon show Kate that in Mexico one must fight fire with fire, and rules don't necessarily apply. Seething with nail-biting tension, and several gruesome scenes of carnage, this is not only a terrific thriller, but a story raising plenty of moral dilemmas. (BTW, Benicio's performance is one of his best yet.)
Really good!!
For a full review from Bernard Hemingway:
Cut Snake
Director: Tony Ayres
Length: 94 mins
Another movie about a crim trying to go straight, this time young Sparra (Alex Russell), who now hold a steady job and is engaged to the lovely Paula (Jessica de Gouw). Life is disrupted when ex-cellmate Pommie (Sullivan Stapleton) turns up, which threatens to reveal things about Sparra's past which he never wants Paula to know. The high point of the film is Stapleton's menacing edgy performance. There is some pretty nasty and explosive violence, but the tension stays strong almost until the end, when some formulaic and dubious plot points emerge. Overall it's a reasonable addition to the Aussie crime genre.
Worth a look
For a full review from Chris Thompson:
http://www.cinephilia.net.au/show_review.php?movieid=5872Another movie about a crim trying to go straight, this time young Sparra (Alex Russell), who now hold a steady job and is engaged to the lovely Paula (Jessica de Gouw). Life is disrupted when ex-cellmate Pommie (Sullivan Stapleton) turns up, which threatens to reveal things about Sparra's past which he never wants Paula to know. The high point of the film is Stapleton's menacing edgy performance. There is some pretty nasty and explosive violence, but the tension stays strong almost until the end, when some formulaic and dubious plot points emerge. Overall it's a reasonable addition to the Aussie crime genre.
Worth a look
For a full review from Chris Thompson:
The Visit
Director: M Night Shyamalan
Length: 94 mins
After The Sixth Sense we all expected great things from Shyamalan. This is not great, but oddly interesting, with impressive perfs from two young Aussie actors, Ed Oxenbould and Olivia De Jong. They play siblings Tyler and Becca who go to stay with grandparents they have never met, due to issues between their mother and her parents. All goes well until the kids start to notice strange things happening in the night. Perhaps these grandp's are not the nice old folks they seem.
I'm not sure what age group this is pitched at. Could be quite scary for little ones, and not scary enough for teens. One thing that works well is that the whole things purports to be made as a video by Becca, so we have a lot of interesting camera POVs, and a very modern feel. There are also a few good laughs.
Maybe worth a look
For a full review from Chris Thompson:
http://www.cinephilia.net.au/show_review.php?movieid=5871After The Sixth Sense we all expected great things from Shyamalan. This is not great, but oddly interesting, with impressive perfs from two young Aussie actors, Ed Oxenbould and Olivia De Jong. They play siblings Tyler and Becca who go to stay with grandparents they have never met, due to issues between their mother and her parents. All goes well until the kids start to notice strange things happening in the night. Perhaps these grandp's are not the nice old folks they seem.
I'm not sure what age group this is pitched at. Could be quite scary for little ones, and not scary enough for teens. One thing that works well is that the whole things purports to be made as a video by Becca, so we have a lot of interesting camera POVs, and a very modern feel. There are also a few good laughs.
Maybe worth a look
For a full review from Chris Thompson:
London Road
Director: Rufus Norris
Length: 91mins
Think theatre meets film meets musical, and you have a sense of this unique and impressive film which takes a true story of the serial murder of five prostitutes in Ipswich, and the reactions of the residents of London Road, who never really knew each other until the crimes occurred in their street. Residents, lawyers, prostitutes and police were interviewed at the time, and the verbatim words of the interviews are cleverly crafted into a semi-musical format, in which individuals and ensembles speak and sing. If this sounds weird, rest assured it works brilliantly! It's performed by London's National Theatre, with two important roles filled by headliners Tom Hardy and Olivia Colman. It's one of the more unusual and impressive films you will see this year.
Really good!
For a full review from Chris Thompson:
http://www.cinephilia.net.au/show_review.php?movieid=5845Think theatre meets film meets musical, and you have a sense of this unique and impressive film which takes a true story of the serial murder of five prostitutes in Ipswich, and the reactions of the residents of London Road, who never really knew each other until the crimes occurred in their street. Residents, lawyers, prostitutes and police were interviewed at the time, and the verbatim words of the interviews are cleverly crafted into a semi-musical format, in which individuals and ensembles speak and sing. If this sounds weird, rest assured it works brilliantly! It's performed by London's National Theatre, with two important roles filled by headliners Tom Hardy and Olivia Colman. It's one of the more unusual and impressive films you will see this year.
Really good!
For a full review from Chris Thompson:
