In a year that was ruled by Barbenheimer and mortally wounded the once-unstoppable superhero genre, 2023 definitely saw audiences shift their minds (and money) towards more original content. Perhaps an indication as to where the industry should place its focus, The AU’s best of list similarly echoes the sentiment that bigger doesn’t always mean better,…
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Like his previous works that celebrate their fantastical, absurdist nature with a certain gravitas, Yorgos Lanthimos grounds Poor Things, an undeniably wild, oft-offensive, sexually liberated black comedy, with a stirring sense of emotion and topical commentary. In 19th century London – or what such a time period looks like within Lanthimos’ vivid imagination – the eccentric…
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Like his previous works that celebrate their fantastical, absurdist nature with a certain gravitas, Yorgos Lanthimos grounds Poor Things, an undeniably wild, oft-offensive, sexually liberated black comedy, with a stirring sense of emotion and topical commentary. In 19th century London – or what such a time period looks like within Lanthimos’ vivid imagination – the…
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*This interview took place prior to the current SAG-AFTRA strike* Melbourne-born actor Nikolai Nikolaeff will be the first to tell you he’s aware he gives off “villain” vibes; “It’s got resting “I’m going to kill you” face,” as he states. And it’s because of such that he’s carved an international career for himself in a…
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“I will avenge you, Father; I will save you, Mother; I will kill you, Fjölnir.” These muttered, repeated words by Viking prince Amleth (played by Oscar Novak as a young boy, and a hulking, angry Alexander Skarsgård as an adult) are essentially summarising Robert Eggers‘ narrative intentions in The Northman, an ugly, brutal, at-times Shakespearean drama….
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Thanks to Universal Pictures we have 5 double in-season passes (Admit 2) to give away for the upcoming release of The Northman, starring Alexander Skarsgard and Nicole Kidman, set for release in cinemas from April 21st, 2022. From visionary director Robert Eggers comes THE NORTHMAN, an action-filled epic that follows a young Viking prince on his…
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So intoxicatingly beautiful is Guillermo del Toro‘s haunting Nightmare Alley that its sheer aesthetic pleasures alone are enough to forgive the narrative sins it commits along the way. Far from the unnerving horror film the trailers would have you believe, del Toro’s adaptation of William Lindsay Greshem‘s 1946 novel – first made into a feature…
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Kenny Rogers so famously told us “You gotta know when to fold ’em”, and in The Card Counter writer/director Paul Schrader seems unsure as to which hand he wants to confidently play. It’s not that this film is poorly made, nor is his commitment to the representation of desolation anything other than pure, but it’s…
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Once it was revealed that Spider-Man: No Way Home would be exploring the multiverse and introducing a slew of characters that appeared in previous Spider-Man films separate from the current slate, fans were convinced that both Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield would be making return appearances as the respective web-slinger from their own films; Maguire…
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Kenny Rogers so famously told us “You gotta know when to fold ’em”, and in The Card Counter writer/director Paul Schrader seems unsure as to which hand he wants to confidently play. It’s not that this film is poorly made, nor is his commitment to the representation of desolation anything other than pure, but it’s…
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Kenny Rogers so famously told us “You gotta know when to fold ’em”, and in The Card Counter writer/director Paul Schrader seems unsure as to which hand he wants to confidently play. It’s not that this film is poorly made, nor is his commitment to the representation of desolation anything other than pure, but it’s…
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After what has felt to be an endless journey for Jason Momoa‘s portrayal of the King of Atlantis to grace the screens, Aquaman finally arrives in the hopes of both serving the character justice and steering the DC ship back on course after the underwhelming Justice League. Traditionally a blonde-haired/blue-eyed creation that was often the…
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With its classic style, striking ensemble, and lack of action-heavy set pieces, Murder on the Orient Express may be a little too refined for modern audiences versed in the ways of today’s distraction-centric filmmaking where bigger and louder equals better. Despite the film being void of any staple action moment, Orient Express still delivers on…
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Whitewashing! Americanized! Lack of ethnicity! Yeah, I’m gonna talk about that in great detail, just to make that clear. Anyway, a lot of negative buzz has been going around this project due the things mentioned above and it definitely is a valid argument since the source material is distinctly Japanese. So to retroactively set the…
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The classic Agatha Christie 1934 murder mystery novel has again been given to big-screen treatment, this time with Kenneth Branagh at the helm as both director and playing the famous Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. Set aboard the famous train in pre-World War II Europe, fingers are pointed when an unlikable billionaire is murdered on the carriage. As…
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