EMILY THE CRIMINAL (full article at The Guardian Australia)

This gripping and nerve-twisting crime thriller from the writer-director John Patton Ford is packed with nervous energy and spiralling misfortune, moving at a relentless pace all the while taking potshots at the gig economy, student debt and the justice system.

Emily (Aubrey Plaza) is struggling under the pressure of unmanageable debt repayments. She works casually for a catering company, delivering and setting up food for corporate events and offices. She has an assault charge in her history, which continually prevents her from securing any permanent employment. 

Read the full article at The Guardian Australia:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/may/31/emily-the-criminal-aubrey-plaza-makes-it-easy-to-root-for-this-credit-card-scammer

IMDB: Emily The Criminal

HELL OR HIGH WATER (full article at The Guardian Australia)

David Mackenzie’s film Hell or High Water is, by turns, exciting, ambiguous and downbeat. Transcending the simplicity of its cops and robbers setup, this tale of last resorts, capitalist injustice and moral grey areas leaves you constantly unsure whom to root for – if you’re even supposed to root for anyone in it at all.

Read the full article at The Guardian Australia:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/feb/21/so-good-its-criminal-the-ambiguous-brilliance-of-hell-or-high-water

IMDB: Hell Or High Water

(alternate poster below, by Ignacio RC)

GOOD TIME (full article at The Guardian Australia)

With Robert Pattinson’s Batman currently impressing on the big screen, what better reason to look back at the role which The Batman director Matt Reeves credits as the catalyst for his casting. The Safdie brothers’ 2017 film Good Time is a tense, nervy, caffeine jolt of a crime thriller, which sees Pattinson in top form as a small-time crook, trying to save his brother over the course of 24 agonising hours.

Connie Nikas (Pattinson) and his developmentally disabled brother Nick (co-director, Benny Safdie) rob a bank in New York but bungle the getaway. Nick is arrested while Connie manages to flee the scene. In a darkly amusing piece of irony, Connie attempts to bail his brother using the very same robbery proceeds they just stole. It’s not enough to spring Nick, so Connie scrambles to find $10,000 in a single night, as events spiral rapidly out of his control.

Read the full article at The Guardian Australia:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/apr/06/youll-have-a-bad-time-watching-good-time-but-youll-never-feel-so-alive

IMDB: Good Time