FRESH (full article at The Guardian Australia)

With Sebastian Stan attracting awards buzz for The Apprentice and A Different Man, it feels like an appropriate time to revisit Fresh, which for my money is one of the most warped and interesting horror comedies of recent years. However, this is a movie that’s hard to discuss without giving something crucial away, so before reading any further – and if you’ll pardon the pun – you may first prefer to go and experience it fresh.

Read the full article at The Guardian Australia:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/dec/11/boy-eats-girl-horror-comedy-fresh-really-is-worth-a-second-helping

IMDB: Fresh

PIRANHA 3D (full article at The Guardian Australia)

Piranha (AKA Piranha 3D) has to be one of the trashiest, sleaziest and unashamedly fun creature features of the last 20 years. It is lewd, bloody, proudly lowbrow and long overdue some appreciation.

Lake Victoria is prepping for spring break, the annual influx of boisterous young people who hit the water to drink, party and cause a general nuisance. Local sheriff Julie Forester (Elisabeth Shue) and Deputy Fallon (Ving Rhames) are run ragged by the huge crowds, but Forester has to escort a team of seismologists, led by Adam Scott, to a remote part of the lake.

Meanwhile, Forester’s son Jake (Steven R McQueen) is shirking his babysitter responsibilities in favour of an incredibly fortunate, fantasy summer job: location scouting for seedy, gonzo pornographer Derrick (Jerry O’Connell). Jake befriends models Danni (Kelly Brook) and Crystal (Riley Steele), and invites his best friend Kelly (Jessica Szohr) along for a spot of day drinking.

This is when those seismologists discover that an earthquake has opened up an ancient, hidden lake, and within it a brood of unevolved, hungry piranhas who do not need an invitation to make fish food out of the townsfolk.

Read the full article at The Guardian Australia:

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/article/2024/sep/03/piranha-3d-where-to-watch-australia-netflix-stan

IMDB: Piranha 3D

THE G (full review at Screen Realm)

The G (for Grandmother) is a hard nosed crime story from writer / director Karl R. Hearne, that sees an elderly couple placed into a court ordered guardianship against their will. But the perpetrators soon discover dark secrets in their past that mean this was not the easy job they first thought.

Ann (Dale Dickey) is the primary carer for her bed-bound husband, looking after him at home with the weekly support of visits from her granddaughter (by marriage), Emma (Romane Denis). After a visit to the doctor, where Ann is admonished for some minor neglect of her husband’s hygiene, they are forcibly removed from their home in the middle of the night by a court-appointed guardian, Rivera (Bruce Ramsay). They are taken to a care facility, where Rivera and his assistant Ralph (Jonathan Koensgen), believing they have inheritance money squirrelled away, violently interrogate the couple.

Read the full review at Screen Realm:

https://screenrealm.com/the-g-movie-review-dale-dickey/

IMDB: The G

THE RAID (full article at The Guardian Australia)

In a little over a decade, The Raid has established itself as an action movie classic. The fierce Indonesian film raised eyebrows upon its release in 2011, thanks to its high levels of violence and the mind-boggling martial arts skill of its cast. Gaining fans far outside the reach of a cult movie, many of the stars of The Raid have gone on to appear in everything from Star Wars to Mortal Kombat to John Wick.

Read the full article at The Guardian Australia:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/article/2024/jun/26/a-stone-cold-masterpiece-the-raid-is-one-of-the-best-action-flicks-ever-made

IMDB: The Raid

ROAD HOUSE (full article at The Guardian Australia)

The best thing about the 2024 Road House remake is that the original movie has also returned to streaming services, and the best thing about the original is, well, everything. It has never been easier to reacquaint yourself with – in my opinion – one of the greatest movies of all time.

Patrick Swayze plays Dalton, a calm and spiritually collected bouncer hired to help turn around the fortunes of a dive bar: the Double Deuce, a joint full of violence, corruption and “the kinda place where they sweep up the eyeballs after closing”.

Read the full article at The Guardian Australia:

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/article/2024/may/29/so-80s-it-hurts-punch-ups-pro-wrestlers-and-patrick-swayze-mix-in-the-delightfully-absurd-road-house

IMDB: Road House

ON THE COUNT OF THREE (full article at The Guardian Australia)

On the Count of Three is a bleakly comedic drama crafted out of a morbid and not outwardly humorous situation – which makes for a unique movie that will not easily be pigeonholed.

Val (Jerrod Charmichael) and Kevin (Christopher Abbott) are childhood friends who are struggling with their mental health. Each has a suicide attempt behind them and Val springs Kevin from a hospital stay with the idea that the two best friends can do one final thing for each other: take part in a suicide pact.

Read the full article at The Guardian Australia:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/apr/17/on-the-count-of-three-a-suicide-pact-comedy-thats-not-as-depressing-as-it-sounds

IMDB: On The Count of Three

MONKEY MAN (full review at Screen Realm)

With Monkey Man, his feature directorial debut, Dev Patel takes a classic revenge tale to the streets of Mumbai and reinvents himself as an action hero in the process.

Patel’s unnamed lead, referred to in the credits as Kid, but also under the pseudonym of Bobby, has been honing his skills and earning money in underground prize fights run by a man named Tiger (Sharlto Copley). The fighters take on animal personas and The Kid scraps under a monkey mask in deference to his favourite story from childhood – that of the Hindu monkey deity, Hanuman.

Read the full review at Screen Realm:

https://screenrealm.com/monkey-man-movie-review-dev-patel/

IMDB: Monkey Man

HOW TO BLOW UP A PIPELINE (full article at The Guardian Australia)

How to Blow Up a Pipeline is a twitchy, tension-racked thriller and an incendiary statement about global inaction on the climate crisis. Released in 2023 but with an almost nonexistent theatrical presence in Australia apart from festivals, this film – loosely based on Andreas Malm’s book of the same name – is angry, overlooked and provocative.

College student Xochitl (Ariela Barer) is compelled to drop out and pursue a life as an environmental activist following the death of her mother and the diagnosis of her best friend, Theo (Sasha Lane), with terminal leukaemia. Xochitl and Theo form a group with six others, among them Michael (Forrest Goodluck), a self-taught Native American explosives expert who’s furious at the destruction of North Dakota land. There is also Texan family man Dwayne (Jake Weary), who has been driven to extreme measures by the government’s forced acquisition of his home, through which the recently constructed titular pipeline runs.

Read the full article at The Guardian Australia:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/mar/13/how-to-blow-up-a-pipeline-an-eco-thriller-australia-urgently-needs

IMDB: How To Blow Up A Pipeline

LAPSIS (full article at The Guardian Australia)

Armed with a unique premise and some thoughtful ideas, Noah Hutton’s 2020 film Lapsis is a sharp piece of job-hell science fiction that takes a shot at exploitative casual labour and the gig economy. The world of Lapsis is almost identical to ours but with one significant difference: the advancement of quantum computing, which has revolutionised society.

Quantum trading is a huge business and, to support it, an equally huge infrastructure must be set up. Enter the cablers: a casually employed workforce who trek through the forests of upstate New York, armed with only a GPS device and a spool of cable, to connect quantum trading nodes situated throughout the countryside.

Read the full article at The Guardian Australia:

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2024/jan/31/lapsis-film-2020-noah-hutton-best-thriller-movies-sci-fi

IMDB: Lapsis

2023 REVIEW

Welcome once again to my annual run down of my favourite movies of the year and my favourite first time watches. These are the movies (and episodes) I enjoyed most in 2023.

Best Movies of 2023

1. How To Blow Up A Pipeline

In the year when the United Nations met to tackle the climate crisis and achieved precisely fuck all, How to Blow Up A Pipeline suggests a simpler, more direct approach is needed. This is protest filmmaking - like The Battle Of Algiers for climate action. It barely registered a theatrical release in Australia and it’s not hard to see why one of the world’s biggest climate criminals would be terrified of a movie like this. How To Blow Up A Pipeline is fierce, pissed off and righteous filmmaking - a raised fist salute, a brick through the window and a middle finger to useless politicians everywhere. This is essential viewing and my clear and easy favourite movie of the year

2. Talk To Me

I’m always wary of hype surrounding Australian horror as it’s rarely, if ever deserved, but Talk To Me bucks the trend. There are no cheap scares, Sophie Wilde is terrific (as are the rest of the cast) and it’s creepy, nervy and visceral. The best ‘Evil Dead’ movie since Army of Darkness 

3. The Creator

Stunning visuals, big imagination and a juicy, existential story about sentient A.I. and it's right to exist. There’s a lot to take in and although The Creator loses its way a touch toward the end, it’s easy to get lost in this phenomenal looking world. Would pair well with Neil Blomkamp’s underrated Elysium  

4. Asteroid City / The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar

A delightful return to form for Wes Anderson, Asteroid City is wonderfully told, heavily stylised and incredible to look at; with the usual cast of oddballs, tasty dialogue and oscillating aspect ratios that make his movies so much fun to watch. He followed it up with a Netflix short, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, which is equally as enjoyable, perfectly cast and impeccably told.

5. Triangle of Sadness

Ruben Östlund takes class war to the high seas with this darkly hilarious tale of a luxury yacht and its unpleasant occupants. It’s got drunken ideological conflict, elderly arms dealers and more projectile vomiting than a theme park rollercoaster. Triangle of Sadness hit Australian cinemas at the tail end of 2022 but it’s too good to exclude. 

6. Thanksgiving

Eli Roth’s seasonal slice ‘n’ dice transcends its gimmicky origin (as a fake trailer in Grindhouse) and delivers some gory, darkly humorous, unpretentious fun in a genre that too often forgets to enjoy itself.

7. The Killer

David Fincher’s stoic take on the assassin movie sees Michael Fassbender’s methodical contract killer take revenge on his double crossing employers. Shares a title with a John Woo classic and a plot with Grosse Point Blank, but this Killer is dark and interesting and has more than enough of its own ideas to be worth your time.

8. Plane

Plane sits somewhere in between Rambo and Airport ‘77 as Gerard Butler crash lands a passenger jet in miscellaneous hostile territory and then sets about rescuing his passengers from a warlord. Its as solidly entertaining as we’ve come to expect from Butler of late, an actor who’s transformed himself from an ‘also ran’ into a reliably good value action star. Between Den of Thieves, Greenland and now Plane, I’ll automatically check out whatever he’s up to next, including any transport based sequel they dish up after this - Train? Car? Hovercraft?

9. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3

I haven’t really enjoyed anything Marvel has done for quite some time - with the exception of She Hulk which was a riot -  so I’m happy to report that GotG 3 is really quite a lot of fun. Every character gets something to do and it’s vibrant, imaginative science fiction with an unsubtle, but well intentioned, anti-vivisection message. I liked this quite a bit. But I still cannot stand Chris Pratt.

10. Knock at the Cabin

Full disclosure, in a stronger year this might not make the Best Of list. Nevertheless, A Knock at the Cabin is a return to form for M. Night Shyamalan too, as a group of strangers take a family hostage and demand they make a sacrifice to avert the apocalypse. It’s nicely worked out, enjoyably tense and I’ll pretty much watch Dave Bautista in anything.

Favourite First Time Watches 2023

Bones and All (2022)

I enjoyed the heck out of Luca Guadagnino’s languid cannibal love story. Taylor Russell and Timothée Chalamet (sporting a Fugazi t-shirt) were excellent, while Mark Rylance was nightmarishly creepy as a mysterious weirdo loner. The cannibal genre is mostly only ever concerned with exploitation, but Bones and All is interested in much more and is really quite something. One of the best horror movies of the decade.

The Night Stalker (1972)

The Night Stalker is a supernatural detective yarn that has Daryl McGavin as world-weary news hound Carl Kolchack, going up against a creepy looking vampire who guzzles blood, strangles cops and chucks hospital orderlies out of fifth floor windows. Hard boiled detective work collides with classic vampire lore and City Hall bureaucracy, meaning The Night Stalker totally delivers! 

Rabid (1977)

Early Cronenberg is a bit of an embarrassing blind spot for me, so Rabid was long overdue a viewing, and I absolutely loved it. There's a genuine feeling of nausea to Rabid that's quite unsettling. Not in the sense of it being particularly scary or terrifying, but in a permeating, queasy vibe that churns your stomach. It's a massive drag that Rabid did not bring Marilyn Chambers more crossover work because she's fantastic here and you can see both her influence and the movie itself in everything from Re-Animator to Species to 28 Days Later. Highly recommended.

Conan The Barbarian (1982)

Classic Arnold sword and sorcery business that needs no introduction. Somehow I’d never seen it but it’s an absolute riot. It’s got everything - from James Earl Jones leading a snake cult, to Arnold punching a camel. Magnificent stuff.

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022)

I did not expect much from this, since I thought the first Knives Out movie was overrated and I find director Rian Johnson to be completely insufferable. So Glass Onion came right out of left field. A seemingly predictable whodunit hiding multiple layers like an… onion. It’s genuinely funny and has a great ensemble cast with Kate Hudson and Jessica Henwick as my MVPs. Glass Onion is a perfect Sunday afternoon movie.

Boiling Point (2021)

Boiling Point is a stressed out, high anxiety endurance test that gives you the sweats and sets your pulse racing, as head chef Stephen Graham tries to negotiate a disastrous dinner service at a high end restaurant. Uncomfortable yet riveting viewing. Fot fans of the Safdie Brothers or Emily The Criminal. 

The Autopsy / The Viewing (2022)

A slight cheat because these are my two favourite episodes from Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities series on Netflix. Nevertheless they remain two of the best horror films I’ve seen in quite some time. The Autopsy is an absolutely top drawer horror short, in which F. Murray Abraham is a coroner examining a mysterious corpse, before unexpected events take off in a dark and nasty direction. While The Viewing is Panos Cosmatos’ follow up to Mandy and sees a bunch of eggheads invited to millionaire Peter Weller’s mansion to examine a rare meteorite. Needless to say, there are plenty of weird trippy visuals as it goes right off the deep end.