tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8220426150305511782024-03-13T15:38:32.885+11:00The LennoX Files"I'm no critic, but I know what I hate."
C. Montgomery BurnsD.R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11517891007414596722noreply@blogger.comBlogger753125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-822042615030551178.post-1930171809515654612019-12-19T18:40:00.000+11:002019-12-19T18:40:11.261+11:00FILM REVIEW: LITTLE WOMENSony PicturesFact: I will never not cry watching Little Women. Whether it’s the treacly sweet 1949 version starring June Allyson and a young Elizabeth Taylor, or Gillian Armstrong’s near-perfect 1994 adaptation with a fierce Winona Ryder, tears will be shed for the trials, triumphs, losses and joys of the March family of Concord, Connecticut.And so it is with the latest screen iteration of the D.R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11517891007414596722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-822042615030551178.post-79528821840410661012019-08-17T09:16:00.002+10:002019-08-17T09:16:35.227+10:00FILM REVIEW: APOLLO 11Madman FilmsThrough a seamless blend of actual audio recordings and in-the-moment footage, Apollo 11 captures history as it happens - that history being the 1969 moon landing.Fifty years later, those images are, for the most part, as pristine as though they were shot on modern-day digital, while the conversations between mission control in Houston and the three astronauts - Neil Armstrong, Buzz D.R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11517891007414596722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-822042615030551178.post-58067397153956566502019-08-07T19:46:00.000+10:002019-08-07T19:46:50.726+10:00FILM REVIEW: PARASITEMadman FilmsThe dark-souled cousin to Hirokazu Kore-eda's Shoplifters (2018), Bong Joon-ho's Cannes-winning Parasite takes the underclass family out of their impoverished hovel and into the home of the one-percenters; rubbing them up against each other to comic and discomfiting effect.In what begins as a light-hearted con by the Kim family, who, one by one, inveigle themselves into the D.R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11517891007414596722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-822042615030551178.post-66522930326146243992019-08-07T19:41:00.000+10:002019-08-07T19:48:28.845+10:00FILM REVIEW: YESTERDAYUniversal PicturesWhat would a world without the music of The Beatles look like? Well, there'd be no Oasis for starters, and for some reason there wouldn't be any Coke or Harry Potter either.That's the state of the world in director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Richard Curtis's Yesterday, in which struggling musician Jack Malik (Himesh Patel) awakens from a cycling accident and realises that no D.R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11517891007414596722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-822042615030551178.post-82622623534580632332018-08-18T12:05:00.000+10:002018-08-18T12:05:04.562+10:00FILM REVIEW: BLACKkKLANSMANUniversal PicturesIt's been 12 years since a Spike Lee joint released in Australian cinemas. Whether that is because of the inconsistency of Lee's output or local distributors' seeming reluctance to release 'black' films is a debate for another time.That last cinema release, however, was the entertaining mainstream thriller Inside Man, starring Denzel Washington, Clive Owen and Jodie Foster. D.R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11517891007414596722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-822042615030551178.post-18393139427162114412018-06-17T20:46:00.001+10:002018-06-18T20:12:59.368+10:00MINI REVIEW: JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOMUniversal PicturesMuch like the ethics surrounding cloning, producers of the Jurassic Park/World franchise don't seem to have ever stopped to question whether their ability to produce film after film of dino misadventures means that they should. But much like the villains in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, sequel to the surprising box office behemoth of 2015, and the fifth Jurassic film overall, D.R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11517891007414596722noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-822042615030551178.post-7584471229057738642018-06-17T20:46:00.000+10:002018-06-18T20:12:06.642+10:00MINI REVIEW: HEREDITARYStudio CanalPerhaps not as scary as the Sundance hype would have us believe, Ari Aster's self-assured feature debut, Hereditary, is still a rather unsettling film experience that means to get under your skin - and does. And that's even before things go bat shit crazy for Annie (Toni Collette) and her family, including husband Steve (Gabriel Byrne) and adolescent son Peter (Alex Wolff); still D.R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11517891007414596722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-822042615030551178.post-52137399768843643932017-08-26T09:50:00.002+10:002017-08-26T09:50:46.640+10:00FILM REVIEW: AMERICAN MADEUniversal PicturesWhen TWA pilot Barry Seal, who's already dealing in contraband Cuban cigars, is recruited by the CIA in 1978 to fly photographic reconnaissance missions over Communist-threatened South America, he discovers a knack for field work.But it's a gateway drug to, well, drugs when he's enlisted by the soon-to-be infamous cartel, operated by Pablo Escobar, to fly plane loads of cocaine D.R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11517891007414596722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-822042615030551178.post-24847221308632986642017-08-26T09:49:00.001+10:002017-08-26T10:01:37.315+10:00FILM REVIEW: MAUDIETransmission FilmsMuch like the artist herself, Aisling Walsh's Maudie, penned by Sherry White, is a modest biopic of the Nova Scotian painter.Born with rheumatoid arthritis, and deemed incapable of looking after herself by her aunt and brother, Maud Dowley leaves the conditional comfort of her aunt's home when she replies to an advert on the general store noticeboard calling for 'a woman to keepD.R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11517891007414596722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-822042615030551178.post-40579166832662511502017-08-09T09:43:00.001+10:002017-08-09T09:43:06.837+10:00FILM REVIEW: AN INCONVENIENT SEQUEL: TRUTH TO POWERParamount PicturesIn 2006, former US Vice President Al Gore won an Oscar for An Inconvenient Truth; his alarming documentary wake up call to the world about the devastating effects of climate change. A decade later, and Gore is still campaigning. But is anyone listening?Yes they are but with this doco, An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth To Power, Al Gore is very much preaching to the converted. In D.R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11517891007414596722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-822042615030551178.post-83428888616785967772017-08-02T12:51:00.000+10:002017-08-02T13:57:23.413+10:00MOVIE TIX GIVEAWAY: VALERIAN AND THE CITY OF A THOUSAND PLANETSBased on the ground-breaking comic book series, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is the visually spectacular new adventure film from Luc Besson, legendary director of The Professional, The Fifth Element and Lucy.In the 28th century, Valerian (Dane DeHaan) and Laureline (Cara Delevingne) are special operatives charged with maintaining order throughout the universe. Under assignment, theD.R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11517891007414596722noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-822042615030551178.post-82596153028072518472017-07-27T11:03:00.001+10:002017-07-31T15:20:09.723+10:00FILM REVIEW: WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES20th Century Fox FilmsWhat is it about ape films and Vietnam? Earlier this year we had Kong: Skull Island, where the titular giant gorilla combatively stomped his way through a south-east Asian jungle pursued by US military helicopters to a pop-rock soundtrack from the '60s and '70s. And now we have War for the Planet of the Apes, Matt Reeves' closing of the Planet of the Apes prequel trilogy, D.R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11517891007414596722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-822042615030551178.post-4055584962986145422017-07-25T14:46:00.000+10:002017-07-25T14:46:29.629+10:00FILM REVIEW: A GHOST STORYMadman FilmsIn his fourth feature, writer-director David Lowery tells a story of grief; one uniquely told (as the title suggests) from the point of view of the deceased. 'Not so unique,' you say. 'Jerry Zucker's 1990 film Ghost did just that.' Well, yes. Kind of.But Lowery's film is no supernatural drama where a dead man is helped pass over to the 'other side' by a streetwise, sassy-mouthed D.R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11517891007414596722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-822042615030551178.post-56569011523290411832017-07-19T12:17:00.000+10:002017-07-19T12:17:59.052+10:00FILM REVIEW: DUNKIRKRoadshow FilmsNot nearly as harrowing as the opening sequence of Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan, Christopher Nolan's lean but unrelenting Dunkirk manages to remind us that war is indeed – as it always has been – hell.With limited dialogue, immersive sound design, an at-times too insistent score (Hans Zimmer), and yes, impressive IMAX cinematography shot on 70mm (courtesy of Hoyte Van D.R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11517891007414596722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-822042615030551178.post-74937158000760835892017-07-12T13:39:00.002+10:002017-07-12T13:39:55.169+10:00FILM REVIEW: BABY DRIVERSony PicturesIn his fifth feature, and only his second for Hollywood, writer-director Edgar Wright attempts to re-imagine the 'car heist' genre by melding it with that of the musical (sort of).And while by no means a car crash, the emphasis on automotive gymnastics and a pumping soundtrack in Baby Driver comes at the expense of human emotion. You might be awed by the technical display but you D.R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11517891007414596722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-822042615030551178.post-61770313602665534032017-06-24T11:44:00.001+10:002017-06-30T13:45:27.017+10:00MY MOST ANTICIPATED FILMS OF THE SECOND HALF OF 2017Earlier this year I posted about my Least Anticipated Films of 2017, so in a bid to counter that negativity -- and as we reach the halfway point of the year -- I thought I'd select some of the films I'm really looking forward to seeing in Australian cinemas between now and New Year's Eve.WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES20th Century FoxJuly 27No reviews as yet but the early word from media D.R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11517891007414596722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-822042615030551178.post-44880398416737606352017-06-03T14:56:00.000+10:002017-06-03T14:56:25.203+10:00FILM REVIEW: 20TH CENTURY WOMENeOne FilmsIt's 1979, and in a post-Vietnam, post-'summer of love', feminist-era Santa Barbara, Dorothea Fields (Annette Bening) is coming to terms with a brave new world.The single mother is also coming to terms with an adolescent son, Jamie (Lucas Jade Zumann), on the cusp of manhood and what exactly that means for the both of them. How does she raise him to be a good man? And how does he assertD.R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11517891007414596722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-822042615030551178.post-24877806402331768142017-06-01T11:33:00.000+10:002017-06-01T11:33:13.153+10:00FILM REVIEW: WONDER WOMANRoadshow Films/Warner Bros.About 14-months ago, I wrote about how awful Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice was. The second of Zack Snyder's DC Extended Universe films, after the disappointing Man of Steel (2014), BVS was a dimly-lit, over-long mess of a film with one saving grace: Wonder Woman.But did Wonder Woman look impressive simply by virtue of being surrounded by shit? And how would Gal D.R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11517891007414596722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-822042615030551178.post-61929709653158636352017-05-31T12:49:00.000+10:002017-05-31T12:49:32.585+10:00FILM REVIEW: HOUNDS OF LOVELabel FilmsThe most discomfiting Australian film since 2011's Snowtown, Hounds of Love doesn't achieve Justin Kurzel's level of excruciating brilliance but Ben Young's directorial debut is, for the most part, an excellent foray into the domestic horror genre.Not based on actual events like Kurzel's debut, Hounds of Love is set during a sweltering December in the lead up to Christmas. It's 1987 D.R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11517891007414596722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-822042615030551178.post-44042312866064325512017-05-03T12:48:00.000+10:002017-05-03T12:48:14.962+10:00FILM REVIEW: THE ZOOKEEPER'S WIFERoadshow FilmsThe Zookeeper's Wife, directed Niki Caro (Whale Rider, 2002), is adapted from the 2007 Diane Ackerman novel by Angela Workman, and it is very much a workman-like effort. Solid and tasteful (and handsomely mounted for just $20 million) it's not the least bit remarkable: the film trades on cute animals and the horrors of the Holocaust to wring tears from the audience.Jessica Chastain,D.R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11517891007414596722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-822042615030551178.post-12031204441798173012017-04-25T13:56:00.003+10:002017-04-25T13:56:34.999+10:00FILM REVIEW: THINGS TO COMEPalace FilmsBesides a complicated mother-daughter relationship and a ubiquitous feline, there is a world of difference between Isabelle Huppert's two critically-acclaimed films of 2016, Elle and Things To Come; Paul Verhoeven's rape-revenge thriller is as in-your-face as Mia Hansen-Love's study of female mid-life crises is meditative. Both films, of course, boast a stellar performance by Ms D.R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11517891007414596722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-822042615030551178.post-40058753856671999402017-03-30T17:38:00.000+11:002017-03-30T17:38:05.160+11:00FILM REVIEW: THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE Roadshow FilmsNot nearly as clever or as much fun as The LEGO Movie, the surprise animation hit of 2014 that boasted both laughs and smarts for all-ages, The LEGO Batman Movie arrives to take some much needed piss out of the super-serious superhero genre. If it's not the LEGO movie we deserve, it's the one need.And even more so than its predecessor, the humour and themes of The LEGO Batman Movie D.R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11517891007414596722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-822042615030551178.post-59815504129854872202017-03-29T08:27:00.000+11:002017-03-29T08:27:21.264+11:00FILM REVIEW: LAND OF MINEPalace FilmsIf victors get to write history, they also get to mete out the punishment. Sometimes that punishment suits the crime committed; other times it may be excessive or especially cruel.At the end of WWII, the Danes decided to have captured German soldiers defuse the 20,000-odd landmines the German forces had buried along the Danish coast. A precarious undertaking for sure, but on the D.R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11517891007414596722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-822042615030551178.post-28209786250388070262017-03-22T08:49:00.000+11:002017-03-22T08:49:17.824+11:00FILM REVIEW: BEAUTY AND THE BEASTWalt Disney Studios FilmsPutting aside the question as to why Disney would choose to remake one of its most acclaimed films -- 1991's Beauty and the Beast was the first animated film to be nominated for the Best Picture Oscar -- there is the question of relevancy: how can the story of a young woman, held captive by and eventually falling in love with a 'beast', be okay in a post-feminist world?D.R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11517891007414596722noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-822042615030551178.post-38014281197204435352017-03-16T10:32:00.000+11:002017-03-16T10:32:35.533+11:00FILM REVIEW: LOVINGeOne FilmsLove is love. It's a simple sentiment, really, yet one that in practice continues to confound and confront the powers-that-be of Church and State. As Australia embarrassingly continues to stumble behind the rest of the Western world in recognising marriage equality, Jeff Nichols' Loving arrives not a moment too soon; reminding us of time when similar battles were being fought and, sadlyD.R.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11517891007414596722noreply@blogger.com0