On paper Triple 9 looked a winner. A rugged story of police corruption and organised crime helmed by a premier exponent of visceral action films, The Proposition and Lawless director John Hillcoat. The film also boasts a stellar cast including Kate Winslet, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Casey Affleck and Woody Harrelson. Despite its seemingly impeccable credentials, though, Triple 9 fails to fire.
Read moreAlthough directed by Jocelyn Moorehouse, The Dressmaker has the stamp of its writer and producer P.J. Hogan all over it. Like Hogan’s classic Muriel’s Wedding, The Dressmaker is a quirky Australian comedy that pits a sophisticated outsider against prejudiced Aussie bogans, celebrates femininity and glamorous reinvention while satirising both, has a wedding scene but also makes frequent turns into darker
Read moreInsurgent is the second instalment in that other dystopian, post-apocalyptic young adult series, Divergent. For those unfamiliar with the saga, it follows the standard template for the young adult adventure genre: sensitive but feisty teen girl Triss (Shailene Woodley) becomes a freedom fighter battling an oppressive government and it’s smug leader, the ice cold Jeanine (Kate Winslet) and hooks up
Read moreBased on the novel by Joyce Maynard, Labor Day may be a clichéd story of a prisoner on the run finding love with the woman he has taken hostage but a quality cast featuring Josh Brolin, Kate Winslet and young Gattlin Griffith transform this familiar tale into an affecting human drama. Set in 1987, the film is largely seen through
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