Author: Doug Jamieson

November 2021 Australian cinema releases: Five films you need to see

After months of theatres sitting dark in NSW, Victoria, and the ACT, cinemas are now open again in every corner of Australia. As expected, the lockdowns brought those painful release date delays most thought we’d left behind in 2020. That means November is stacked with several big releases to encourage Aussie audiences back to the…

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Film Review: The Father is a staggeringly authentic portrayal of the heartbreaking journey through dementia

When an esteemed actor’s five-decade-long career includes one Academy Award from five nominations, three BAFTA Awards from eight nominations, and two Emmys from five nominations, you hardly expect to see them deliver their finest performance in the twilight of their career. But Anthony Hopkins‘ astonishing performance in The Father may just be the greatest he’s…

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NSW Dine & Discover Vouchers: Here’s How To Redeem For Free Movies

The NSW Government has launched Dine & Discover NSW to encourage the community to get out and about and support dining, arts and tourism businesses. NSW residents aged 18 and over can apply for 4 x $25 vouchers, worth $100 in total: – 2 x $25 Dine NSW Vouchers to be used for dining at…

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Hamilton Review: Why you’ve got to be in the room where it happens (Sydney’s Lyric Theatre)

Staging an Australian production of a Tony Award-winning Broadway musical is always a daunting task, particularly when that show is one of the most acclaimed and successful musicals in Broadway history. The one benefit for local productions is knowing the audience likely have little first-hand experience with the version seen on The Great White Way….

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Film Review: Zack Snyder’s Justice League is a vast improvement in every conceivable way

Let’s be honest; the 2017 version of Justice League was one of the biggest cinematic disappointments of the last decade. What should have been the glorious peak of the DC Extended Universe was ultimately a sloppy, disjointed mess that was the inevitable result of switching directors at the eleventh hour. After the tragic death of…

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Theatre Review: Frozen – The Musical is worth melting for at Sydney’s Capitol Theatre

Love it or loath it, you cannot deny Disney’s 2013 animated musical Frozen is one of the biggest pop culture phenomenons of our time. With box office figures, soundtrack sales, and merchandise revenue not seen since the Disney Renaissance of the early 1990s, Frozen was the cultural sensation the House of Mouse had been chasing…

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Sydney Underground Film Festival unveils first-ever online program

Sydney’s leading festival for cult and underground film, the Sydney Underground Film Festival (SUFF), is back for its 14th year from Thursday 10th September – Sunday 20th September.  In 2020 the Festival will take place entirely online, offering a new opportunity for audiences all over the country to experience the glory of some of the world’s…

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Sydney Film Festival joins major film festivals across the world for We Are One: A Global Film Festival

Tribeca Enterprises and YouTube jointly announced today We Are One: A Global Film Festival, an unprecedented 10-day digital film festival exclusively on YouTube, bringing together an international community of storytellers to present festival programming for free to audiences around the world. Set to begin on May 29 on YouTube.com/WeAreOne, the festival will feature programming curated by…

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Onward

Film Review: Onward can’t quite meet the dazzling pedigree of its Pixar contemporaries

By virtue of unfortunate comparison to Pixar’s impeccable back catalogue of masterpieces, every new film from the studio faces a dauntingly high bar to clear. Last year, Toy Story 4 somehow managed to defy all expectations and walk off with the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in the process. Sadly, Pixar’s first of two…

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Film Review: The Current War lacks the true spark to create any real power

One of the biggest film casualties of the Harvey Weinstein sexual assault scandal has been Alfonso Gomez-Rejon‘s The Current War; a lavish period biopic which was surely due to be Weinstein’s great big Oscar hope of the 2017 season. After premiering at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival to a tepid response, Gomez-Rejon was furiously…

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Films 2020

March 2020 Australian cinema releases: Five films you need to see

2020 is primed to be a big year for cinema, both in the realm of big-budget blockbusters and under-radar indies. Each month we’re going to be taking a look at five upcoming films that you need to see in cinemas, encouraging Aussies to get out and experience these stories on the big screen. Whether you’re…

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Film Review: The Irishman is the type of masterful mobster film only Scorsese could pull together

After his recent comments on Marvel movies sent Film Twitter into a misguided and absurd frenzy, Martin Scorsese is back to grabbing headlines for all the right reasons. With a reported budget of $160 million, a production time of over two years, and a three-and-a-half-hour runtime, The Irishman is one of Scorsese’s (and Netflix’s) biggest gambles…

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Film Review: Charlie’s Angels offers just enough to prove its necessity in a year of pointless revivals

Ready to feel old? The big-screen adaptation of Charlie’s Angels was released almost 20 years ago. Yes, it’s been nearly two decades since Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, and Lucy Liu lit up the screen with McG’s (remember him?) glitzy relaunch that was all sorts of campy fun. Alright, it wasn’t exactly a masterful film. And it certainly…

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Film Review: Hustlers serves up more than just a good time

On its surface, Hustlers appears like something more at home in a summer blockbuster run than amongst a litany of awards season hopefuls. With its ensemble female cast stacked with big names, of both the film and music world, and a narrative centred on the exploits of a group of strippers, you may be expecting…

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Film Review: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood plays like a glorious love letter to the Tinseltown of old

With only eight films in his illustrious career, writer/director Quentin Tarantino has left an indelible mark on cinema in the last few decades. Love him or hate him, you cannot deny the filmmaker’s unique style and vision. With Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, his ninth (and potentially penultimate) film, Tarantino offers a deeply personal piece…

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Film Review: Men in Black: International is underwhelming, unimpressive, and instantly forgettable

Tentpole sequels, reboots, and remakes have been dropping like flies in 2019. Godzilla: King of the Monsters has underperformed. The Secret Life of Pets 2 fell flat. The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part earned less than half what its predecessor did. Hellboy was an unmitigated disaster. And X-Men: Dark Phoenix is already dead on arrival. Next up on…

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Sydney Film Festival Review: Her Smell is an exhausting endurance test, saved by Elisabeth Moss’ electric performance

Another day, another music biopic. Well, almost. Continuing the resurgence of cinematic fare concerned with the chaos that is the life of the musician, Her Smell takes inspiration from the 90s rock scene where female singers like Courtney Love, PJ Harvey, and Shirley Manson gave their male counterparts plenty of competition. With a bleached-blonde lead…

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Sydney Film Festival Review: Blinded by the Light is a lively crowd-pleaser and a loving tribute to The Boss

Great Britain in the late 1980s. A country in the grip of economic chaos, racial tensions, and political unrest. And a time fashion clearly forgot. It’s a setting and era cinema has covered extensively over the years. With an inviting narrative and a soundtrack filled with 80s pop and rock wonders, Blinded by the Light…

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Film Review: The Hustle (US, 2019) is a swindle with very little payoff

After several release date pushbacks and a title change (its working title was Nasty Women, a now outdated reference to one of Donald Trump’s many insults thrown at Hillary Clinton), The Hustle finally plods into cinemas this week. A female-centric remake of 1988’s Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (which was itself a remake of 1964’s Bedtime Story), the film attempts…

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Film Review: Long Shot (US, 2019) could be the year’s biggest surprise package

All romantic comedies require some suspension of disbelief from an audience. These films often exist in a world of hyper-reality where two polar opposite characters somehow fall madly in love with each other. When a studio offers up something like Long Shot, a romantic comedy starring Charlize Theron and Seth Rogen, it’s hard not to raise…

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Film Review: Top End Wedding (Australia, 2019) is exactly what Australian cinema is aching for

It’s been twenty-five years since Australian cinema produced a top quality romantic comedy. Over two decades after Muriel’s Wedding, our local film industry has barely touched the genre, let alone delivered a film worthy of rivalling anything America or the UK can dish up. How wonderfully refreshing it is to see something like Top End Wedding…

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Film Review: Little (US, 2019) is a big disappointment

Just one week after the superhero genre gave us a Big-style blockbuster with Shazam!, we’re being offered up a by-the-numbers reverse version. Taking inspiration from the Tom Hanks classic, Little flips the age transformation and genre of its protagonist, which, for better or worse, is mildly refreshing.  By all accounts, this was the brainchild of young…

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Film Review: Shazam! (US, 2019) is pure cinematic bliss from start to finish

It’s been a rocky road for the DC Extended Universe. From the dizzying delights of Wonder Woman to the hyper-colour mess of Suicide Squad. From the delicious ridiculousness of Aquaman to the dark and sloppy disaster of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. And it’s hard to forget what should have been their crowning glory…

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Blu-Ray Review: Widows (UK, 2018) was the best film you missed last year

The year in cinema has already yielded one female-led heist film. However, the stylish ladies of Ocean’s 8 are about to be blown out of the water by the sensational ensemble cast (headed by three terrific actresses) of Widows. The latest film from Steve McQueen, slyly presents itself as your everyday popcorn thriller, but ultimately flips the well-worn crime…

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Film Review: The Front Runner (US, 2018) is a bland and forgettable mess

Male politicians have been succumbing to their libidos for decades now, so the portrait of a political sex scandal is hardly groundbreaking fodder for a piece of cinema. But the intriguing story of 1988 U.S. presidential candidate Gary Hart and the affair that destroyed his campaign stands apart by way of being one of the…

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Film Review: Mary Queen of Scots (UK, 2018) is a revisionist feminist tale fraught with issues

In an awards season dominated by powerful female performances, the chance to see two fierce Queens go head-to-head sounds like a tantalising opportunity. In director Josie Rourke‘s debut film Mary Queen of Scots, the epic showdown promised within the film’s somewhat misleading advertising never quite materialises. In its place is a revisionist feminist tale fraught…

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Film Review: Storm Boy (Australia, 2019) is a rather dour and pointless experience

Australian cinema has somewhat of an obsession with crafting adorable animal characters audiences instantly fall in love with. From the gutsy little pig in Babe to the tough cattle dog in Red Dog to those toe-tapping penguins in Happy Feet, it’s a long-running subgenre we Aussies do particularly well. A pelican hardly seems the next likely evolutionary step…

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Film Review: The Favourite (UK, 2018) is a raucously glorious and wickedly delicious good time

Absurdist cinema is not for everyone. The directorial work of master of the bizarre Yorgos Lanthimos likely hasn’t sat well with most audiences. By the same token, period films aren’t exactly most people’s cup of tea either. When presented with an absurdist period piece directed by Lanthimos, one may have some trepidation. Leave your apprehension…

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Film Review: Once Upon a Deadpool (USA, 2018) proves to be a rather bizarre and unnecessary re-release

There are times when a film critic is asked to review some strange pieces of cinema, but none are perhaps stranger this year than Once Upon a Deadpool, a rather bizarre holiday re-release of Deadpool 2 bereft of the swearing, sexual content, blood, and gore that’s become this anti-Marvel franchise’s calling card. “Why?” you may…

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Film Review: Can You Ever Forgive Me? (USA, 2018) is one of the year’s biggest surprise packages

They say truth is stranger than fiction, and that’s especially evident in Can You Ever Forgive Me?, the delightfully absurd and deliciously bizarre true story of a washed-up writer who discovers a knack for forgery and a strangely fulfilling career change she never saw coming. Mining the as-yet untapped but mightily impressive dramatic talents of comedic…

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