Elysium (full article at The Guardian Australia)

When director Neill Blomkamp followed up his acclaimed debut feature, District 9, with the cyberpunk dystopia Elysium in 2013, it was met with a resoundingly mediocre reception. It’s a movie that even Blomkamp has disavowed. “I fucked it up,” he said bluntly in a 2015 interview. But I think he’s too hard on himself: a decade on, Elysium might be worthy of reappraisal.

Read the full article at The Guardian Australia:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/jun/10/even-elysiums-director-thinks-his-film-is-a-mess-but-a-decade-on-it-deserves-a-second-chance

IMDB: Elysium

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

FREE FIRE (full review at The Reel Word)

In 1970s Boston, a small IRA group led by Frank (Michael Smiley) and Chris (Cillian Murphy) meet on a dockside to conduct a transaction with South African arms dealer Vernon (Sharlto Copley) and his group of henchmen. Directed by facilitators Ord (Armie Hammer) and Justine (Brie Larson) to a dilapidated former factory, the two groups immediately fail to get along. As everyone begins to needle each other it appears the deal could fall apart at any second. Cooler heads appear to prevail, but an incident sets tempers flaring and the situation inevitably descends into violence.

Read the full review at The Reel Word:
https://www.thereelword.net/free-fire-movie-review/

IMDB: Free Fire