13 ASSASSINS (full article at The Guardian Australia)

Within the first 20 minutes of Takashi Miike’s 13 Assassins, there is brutal murder, ritual suicide and political corruption, all taking place in Edo period Japan.

The film’s central villain, Lord Naritsugu – the Shogun’s half-brother, played with an almost ethereal detachment by Gorô Inagaki – has a taste for depravity that knows no bounds. At the beginning of the film, he slaughters the family of a local lord with such sadistic cruelty it pushes the justice minister, Sir Doi (Mikijirô Hira), into enlisting a samurai, Shinzaemon Shimada (Kōji Yakusho), to assassinate Naritsugu.

Read the full article at The Guardian Australia:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/nov/11/japan-takashi-miikes-13-assasins-samurai-remake-review

IMDB: 13 Assassins

WHALEFALL (full review at Screen Realm)

Based on the book by Daniel Krauss, Whalefall takes a delightfully silly idea but, instead of having fun with it, decides to get profound instead.

Jay Gardiner (Austin Abrams) returns to his hometown following the death of his father Mitt (Josh Brolin), with whom he had a fractious relationship. But despite their fraught dynamic, Jay is determined to find his father’s body and give his family closure. Under Mitt’s overbearing tutelage, Jay is a competent diver. But his diving ability often lit the fuse for explosive arguments with his dad, so Jay’s return to the ocean is not just a search for answers, but also a test of his mettle.

Read the full review at Screen Realm:

https://screenrealm.com/whalefall-review-austin-abrams-josh-brolin/

IMDB: Whalefall

THE KILLER (full article at The Guardian Australia)

The 1989 Hong Kong thriller established Woo as one of the greats, with its explosive gun fights, high-speed car chases and an incorruptible hero

All of your favourite action movies from the last 30 years would look very different without the impact of John Woo. They’d be far more dull for a start.

The film-maker’s style of explosive, highly choreographed gunfights in films such as The Killer and his 1992 film Hard Boiled coined the term “gun fu” and, combined with his ethically incorruptible protagonists, set the template for the heroic bloodshed subgenre, influencing everything from John Wick to The Matrix to Kill Bill.

In the 1989 film The Killer, Chow Yun-fat plays Ah Jong (or Jeffrey, if you prefer the English dub), a contract killer with a conscience who accidentally blinds a young singer, Jennie (Sally Yeh), while on assignment. Stricken with remorse, Ah Jong decides to retire after one last job, pledging to use the proceeds to help her.

Read the full article at The Guardian Australia:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/jul/29/the-killer-john-woo-gun-fu-classic

IMDB: The Killer

MIRACLE MILE (full article at The Guardian Australia)

Miracle Mile is the result of an 80s romcom getting a severe bout of nuclear fear. It’s a uniquely chilling thriller, combining the disparate elements of screwball romance with a paranoid conspiracy to create a beat-the-clock urgency that defies categorisation and expectations.

Jazz musician Harry (Anthony Edwards) meets and falls in love with Julie (Mare Winningham) while visiting Los Angeles, having spent an idyllic afternoon together. Julie rushes off to work and Harry returns to his hotel, with the pair arranging to meet that night.

But thanks to a bizarre proto-Final Destination cause-and-effect, Harry blows out the building’s electricity while napping, causing him to be hours late for their rendezvous. He leaves an answering machine message for Julie, before picking up a ringing call from a nearby phone booth. On the other end is an agitated man who warns of impending nuclear war scheduled in 50 minutes.

Read the full article at The Guardian Australia:

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2026/apr/14/miracle-mile-romcom-meets-nuclear-war

IMDB: Miracle Mile

COBRA (full article at The Guardian Australia)

Crime is a disease. Meet the cure.” With one of the funniest taglines in cinema history, how can you possibly resist revisiting Sylvester Stallone’s violent, ultra-earnest cult action movie Cobra, which turns 40 this year?

Marion “Cobra” Cobretti (Stallone) is a tough LA cop who plays by his own rules. Sporting aviator shades, a matchstick in the corner of his mouth and a gun emblazoned with a cobra, he takes on criminals with a steely dedication to violence and wisecracks, and an aversion to due process that would make Charles Bronson blush.

Read the full article at The Guardian Australia:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/feb/04/sylvester-stallone-cop-movie-cobra

IMDB: Cobra

HORROR EXPRESS (full article at The Guardian Australia)

Every day is a good day to reacquaint ourselves with Horror Express, the 1972 Spanish-British co-production that sees scream kings Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing battling an ancient evil on board a choo-choo train. Need I say more?

Prof Saxton (Christopher Lee) unearths a 2 million-year-old iceman while on an expedition to the Manchurian wilderness. It’s a nightmare trying to transport it back to the UK: his reservation on the Trans-Siberian Express gets messed up and he has to suffer the indignity of sharing a cabin with his professional rival Dr Wells (Peter Cushing). And to top it off, the iceman thaws out and starts melting passengers’ eyeballs.

Read the full article at The Guardian Australia:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/oct/29/celebrate-halloween-watching-1972-film-horror-express-christopher-lee-peter-cushing

IMDB: Horror Express

SOCIETY (full article at The Guardian Australia)

The Substance, Together, Titane, Sick of Myself: body horror is having a bit of a resurgence lately. So what better time to revisit Brian Yuzna’s slimy obscenity Society? It’s a movie that definitely thinks we should be taxing billionaires, and to make its point, Society throws an ending at you that you will never – ever – forget.

Society’s entire reputation rests upon this finale and there is no discussion to be had without addressing the queasy and lurid final act. So please take this as both spoiler and content warning, and don’t blame me if you feel like your eyeballs need cleaning after seeing it.

Read the full article at The Guardian Australia:

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2025/sep/24/eat-the-rich-before-they-eat-you-in-praise-of-body-horror-classic-society

IMDB: Society