Todd Phillips’ Joker (2019) reimagined the supervillain origin story as a study of a fracturing mind with the beaten down incel Arthur Fleck transforming into the weirdly charismatic murdering psychopath clown of the title. In this age of superhero/ villain obsession it was an ambitious and subversive take on an iconic character but not always a riveting one. For those
Read moreWhile its plot and thickly layered Australiana are a little clichéd, Runt, from director John Sheedy, is still a very sweet, charming family film that represents another instalment in the ‘amazing animal’ film sub-genre. The title character (played by a dog named Squid) is a stray terrier who lives in the fictitious remote Australian town of Upson Downs. Having just
Read moreThe thinly plotted but generally fun and family friendly fantasy Harold and the Purple Crayon is based on the 1955 children’s book by Crockett Johnson. The slightly meta story has the character Harold (Zachary Levi) living in the two-dimensional book world created by Crockett Johnson. There, Harold can use a magical purple crayon to create any object he needs including
Read moreTim Burton has forged a unique sub-genre in Hollywood, comical goth horror with films often celebrating mercurial outsiders such as Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood, Willy Wonka and of course the title character from the film that arguably put him on the map, the 1988 horror/comedy hit Beetlejuice. That anarchic, inventively odd, if occasionally irritating film introduced us to the mischievous
Read moreSometimes a film misfires so inexplicably badly that we start to suspect it must be some sort of elaborate practical joke. Jocelyn Moorhouse’s latest film, The Fabulous Four creates that suspicion but sadly this is no joke, it was apparently meant to turn out the way it did. Despite a cast that features one of the best in the business,
Read moreBefore the Ninja Turtles and The Simpsons, Garfield the cat became an unlikely cultural icon. The droll, gluttonous, lasagna gobbling, pathologically lazy feline who hates Mondays, first appeared in the late 70’s and has been a beloved character for both children and adults ever since. Garfield’s misadventures have been adapted for various animated films, most notably in 2004’s Garfield: The
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