Lawless is based on the true story of the Bondurant brothers – Forest (Tom Hardy), Howard (Jason Clarke) and Jack (Shia Labeouf) – who were hillbilly moonshine peddlers in Virginia during prohibition in the 1930’s. At first they have a cosy arrangement with the local sheriffs flogging rot gut whiskey around the hills and seem to be free from the
Read moreThe dark romantic undertow of Charlotte Bronte’s novel Wuthering Heights and its story of the forbidden relationship between Cathy and wild man Heathcliff on the Yorkshire moors has drawn in many filmmakers over the years with perhaps the most famous interpretation being William Wyler’s 1939 version which starred Larry Olivier and Merle Oberon. The latest adaptation, which comes from director
Read moreThe original Taken stoked the fires of western paranoia toward Middle Eastern people with its depiction of a pretty white American girl being abducted into sex slavery by swarthy fiends. The film then one-upped all those morally dubious revenge films from Dirty Harry to I Spit on Your Grave by having the girl’s retired CIA assassin father (Liam Neeson) go
Read moreKilling Them Softly is the latest film for Chopper and The Assassination of Jesse James by the coward Robert Ford director Andrew Dominik. As in Jesse James, Brad Pitt stars as a charismatic criminal casually disposing of those unfortunates on his hit list. Here, however, the story has moved from the foreboding landscape of the American west to the decaying clutter of
Read morePJ Hogan’s debut film Muriel’s Wedding was a near-perfect combination of energetic kitsch, lovable characters, black humour and Australian social satire. Does Hogan repeat the Muriel magic with his latest film Mental? No, he does not! Despite aping Muriel with its ugly bogan beachside setting, its family (and particularly Mother) neglected and belittled by a philandering politician Father and its
Read moreLooper is a strange, inventive but ultimately underwhelming mix of Terminator, Blade Runner and Die Hard. Looper posits the idea that about 60 years from now we will have discovered time travel but because of its inherent dangers, it will have been banned. The only people who will use it will be criminal organisations who, because of bio tracking techniques,
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