As a piece of unforgettable modern art, Nicolas Winding Refn’s Only God Forgives is without peer. Visually striking, it is a starkly lit, arresting mix of midnight blacks, overcast grays and lurid neon-hued red, oranges, yellows and purples, communicating with one glance themes of murder, violence and betrayal. The only Continue Reading
Movies
CHOMP! Silliest movie of the year award goes to “Sharknado”
SNAPSHOT When a freak hurricane swamps Los Angeles, thousands of sharks terrorize the waterlogged populace. And when the high-speed winds form tornadoes in the desert, nature’s deadliest killer rules water, land, and air. Right, so you’re probably thinking it’s waaaay too early to be awarding the title of Continue Reading
“Boxtrolls” new teaser trailer: families come in all shapes and sizes … even rectangles
The Boxtrolls, based on the fantasy novel by Alan Snow, is due onto cinema screens till sometime late next year but it’s already generating lots of buzz for the amazingly creative people behind it – Portland-based Laika Studios, headed by respected stop-motion animation wunderkind Travis Knight. Travis and his talented team Continue Reading
Sandra Bullock feels “The Heat” in her new role
With the Australian release of The Heat, her new cop buddy movie with Melissa McCarthy just days away (releases 11 July), it seems a good time to feature this wonderful interview between Sandra Bullock and Giles Hardie, Entertainment Editor at smh.com.au. Recorded while she was in Sydney on Tuesday Continue Reading
Movie review: “The Look of Love”
Much like Paul Raymond (Steve Coogan), the man it profiles in a strikingly unimaginative linear fashion, Michael Winterbottom’s The Look of Love is curiously devoid of any real emotional centre, and thus any meaningful connection with its audience. It makes sense I suppose if you acknowledge one of the central Continue Reading
Can’t wait to see: “The To Do List”
SNAPSHOT Brandy Klark (Aubrey Plaza) spent her entire high school career as an overachiever. While this has left her set for college intellectually, it means that she missed out on a lot of important “experiences” along the way. As a solution, she comes up with a “to-do list” of Continue Reading
Movie review: “Dans la Maison (In the House)”
There are no real winners in François Ozon’s adaptation Juan Mayorga’s play The Boy in the Last Row, In the House (Dans la Maison). Neither the student Claude Garcia (Ernst Umhauer), a 16 year old boy from the “wrong side of the tracks” desperately trying to acquire the family he doesn’t Continue Reading
How deep (throated) is your love? The trailer for “Lovelace” debuts
SNAPSHOT The life of one of the most infamous women in early ’70s America gets a dramatization in this offbeat period biopic from co-directors Jeffrey Friedman and Robert Epstein. In the Florida suburbs, circa 1970, Linda Boreman (Amanda Seyfried) is an ordinary and unremarkable young woman who moved back Continue Reading
The science of being a Muppet
Have you ever wondered what The Muppets would look like as a periodic table that groups all manner of Jim Henson’s much loved creations together? No? Well neither had I. But thank the gods of insanely original imagination that artist Mike Boon (aka Mike BaBoon) had, and did something Continue Reading
3 amazing books coming to a cinema near you* (*popcorn not included) #1
* This post first appeared on writingbar.com.au * It’s the age-old question. Well, a hundred years old at least. Which is better – the book or the movie? (You may take the lid off the can of worms now!) Much like the chicken vs. egg conundrum, this is a Continue Reading