Australian cinema audiences embrace films that explore the Australian identity. This is evident in the success of films such as Picnic at Hanging Rock which examined Australian culture as the 20th century dawned and the nation began to define itself from mother England, The Castle, which affectionately satirised the Australian suburban identity and Peter Weir’s Gallipoli, which both celebrated and
Read moreBefore it descended into torture porn and the mass slaughter of appallingly stereotyped swarthy Eastern Europeans, the first Taken film was a tense and exciting action/drama with convincingly visceral fight scenes, a darkly menacing Paris setting and a memorable lead performance from Liam Neeson who, as former CIA spook Brian Mills, beat up half of Europe to recover his kidnapped daughter
Read moreThe first two Night At The Museum films were noisy, juvenile but generally fun attempts at Spielberg-style special effects adventure comedies. There was little to distinguish the first instalment from the second and with number three, subtitled Secret of the Tomb, director Shawn Levey, who has helmed every film in the franchise, has stuck to the formula. Ben Stiller returns
Read moreThe Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies is the final instalment in the ludicrously inflated Hobbit trilogy, a series that has vividly exposed many of director Peter Jackson’s filmmaking flaws particularly his long-winded story-telling and poor character development. The first Hobbit film, An Unexpected Journey was noisy, silly, featured too many embarrassing attempts at comedy and even had a
Read moreJason Reitman seems fascinated with the spiritual emptiness of contemporary America. With Up In The Air he captured the soullessness of corporate America through George Clooney’s Ryan Bingham a man who sacked people for a living and spent his life in the limbo of airports and hotels. With his latest film Men, Women and Children Reitman attempts to articulate the
Read moreExodus: Gods and Kings sounds disturbingly like the title of a violent video game and some people may feel this is what they have experienced after seeing Ridley Scott’s cgi-heavy take on the story of Moses. The obvious point of comparison for this film is Cecil De Mille’s 1956 biblical epic The Ten Commandments and like that film Exodus: Gods
Read more