Directed by Troll Hunter’s André Øvredal and based on the book series by Alvin Schwartz, teen horror film Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is a stylishly made but familiar horror flick that turns spooky ‘torch under the face’ campfire tales into an It-style battle between teen nerds and a malevolent supernatural force. The ersatz Losers Club here are
Read moreThis week on ‘Built For Speed’ we take a look at two films that (not always for good reasons) are some of the more confronting recent cinema releases: ‘Rambo: Last Blood’ and Irish/ Australia drama ‘Animals’. We’ll also have a feast of fine music for you with more tracks from all-time favourites albums, overlooked tracks of the 2000’s, new Australian
Read moreAustralia: Wild Top End 3D is a typically brief but superb IMAX documentary celebrating the stunning environment and remarkable wild life of Northern Australia. Written and directed by Emmy-nominated (for Life on the Reef) cinematographer Nicholas Robinson and narrated by the sadly departed indigenous elder and actor, Balang T.E. Lewis (The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith), the film follows the life
Read moreThe TV series Downtown Abbey, which ran from 2010 to 2015, was a sumptuous soap opera that celebrated and gently critiqued the English aristocracy in its depiction of the well-to-do Crawley family, inhabitants of the titular estate, as they dealt with interpersonal dramas and confronted the tumultuous events and social changes of the early 20th century. Four years after the
Read moreChinese-American film The Farewell tells what initially seems like a predictable story of a family trying to cope with a loved-one’s terminal illness but infuses this with refreshing and often very moving honesty. In a wonderfully unaffected performance, Awkwafina, stars as Billi, a 30-year-old Chinese-American woman struggling to survive financially and succeed professionally in New York. Frequent phone chats with
Read moreChapter 1 of the big screen adaptation of Stephen King’s It – the story of a gang of bullied teen nerds who battle the evil clown Pennywise in the town of Derry – was hailed by fan’s of King’s novel and was universally seen as a vast improvement on the clunky 1990 mini-series. While not terrifying, it had some effective
Read more