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

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

ARENA (full article at The Guardian Australia)

There are two questions you need to ask before deciding to watch the 1989 sci-fi action film Arena. One: did you enjoy Rocky? And two: what if Rocky fought a giant space armadillo? Because Arena is for those of us who saw Sylvester Stallone’s tale of a pugilist underdog and liked it well enough – but felt it needed more monsters.

Two people who definitely thought this were the director, Peter Manoogian, and the B-movie impresario Charles Band, whose Empire International Pictures made a raft of other terrific horror and sci-fi throughout the 80s including Re-Animator, From Beyond and the underrated Trancers.

Read the full article at The Guardian Australia:

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2025/may/21/arena-if-you-liked-rocky-youll-love-rocky-with-monsters

IMDB: Arena

SUPER (full article at The Guardian Australia)

With James Gunn directing the new Superman flick, perhaps now is a good time to revisit Super, his dark take on the crime-fighting genre. Released in 2010 – four years before Gunn made Guardians of the Galaxy for Marvel – Super is gritty, weird and considerably less wholesome.

Frank (Rainn Wilson) is a diner chef who, by his own estimation, has very little going for him except his marriage to Sarah (Liv Tyler). So
when Sarah, a recovering addict, relapses and leaves him for local drug kingpin Jacques (Kevin Bacon), Frank’s life completely falls apart.

Read the full article at The Guardian Australia:

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2025/feb/12/super-is-this-the-anti-marvel-comic-book-film

IMDB: Super

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 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

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

DARK ANGEL aka I COME IN PEACE (full article at The Guardian Australia)

There’s always a lot of conversation at this time of year surrounding what does and does not constitute a Christmas movie. For some folks, only James Stewart appreciating the joy of existence in It’s a Wonderful Life will do. Others want to watch the Peanuts gang in A Charlie Brown Christmas. Personally, I want to watch Dolph Lundgren fight an alien drug dealer and kick people in the face in Dark Angel.

This 1990 action film is an underrated piece of festive lunacy with an extremely fun if slightly overcomplicated plot, but there are a lot of stunts and explosions to smooth things over. If you doubt its festive credentials, the opening scene involves a guy crashing his car into a Christmas tree lot. You can’t get more Christmassy than that.

Read the full article at The Guardian Australia:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/dec/27/dolph-lundgren-alien-heroin-and-evil-yuppies-dark-angel-is-fun-festive-lunacy

IMDB: Dark Angel aka I Come In Peace

WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING (full article at The Guardian Australia)

While You Were Sleeping is the feelgood movie I always find myself revisiting at this time of year. It is kind of ridiculous – but it is also funny, charming and utterly determined to lift your spirits.

Lucy Moderatz (Sandra Bullock) works as a token collector for the Chicago L train. Having lost her father the previous year, and with no family to speak of, she agrees to work over Christmas. Lucy has a crush on Peter (Peter Gallagher), a handsome commuter, who passes her kiosk every day in a whirlwind of perfect hair and 90s post-yuppie business attire.

Read the full article at The Guardian Australia:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/dec/20/best-christmas-movies-2023-while-you-were-sleeping-die-hard-alternatives

IMDB: While You Were Sleeping

FACE/OFF (full article at The Guardian Australia)

It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas: legendary Hong Kong director John Woo has a new film coming out in December – Silent Night – and any movie from the GOAT of action flicks is a real gift. So why not revisit the movie that is arguably the most popular, and inarguably the most bonkers, of his career?

Face/Off sees John Travolta as FBI agent Sean Archer, who is tracking the notorious terrorist Castor Troy, played by Nicolas Cage. But when Troy tries to kill him and kills Archer’s son instead, Archer becomes consumed by revenge. Six years later, he catches up to Castor and in the ensuing chaos puts him in a coma. But Castor has planted a huge bomb in downtown LA and the only possible way for Archer to discover the location … is, of course, face transplant surgery.

Read the full article at The Guardian Australia:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/nov/29/faceoff-1997-movie-john-woo-nicolas-cage-john-travolta-silent-night-2023

IMDB: Face/Off

FROM BEYOND (full article at The Guardian Australia)

When HP Lovecraft sat down at his desk to write his short story From Beyond, did he picture, in his mind’s eye, Ken Foree in his underpants battling a giant worm, Barbara Crampton being attacked by a swarm of carnivorous flies, or Jeffrey Combs ravenously munching on a human brain? It’s fair to assume he probably didn’t, but director Stuart Gordon did and that’s precisely why the 1986 film From Beyond is a deranged, no-holds-barred body horror masterpiece.

Read the full article at The Guardian Australia:

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2023/nov/08/from-beyond-is-deranged-obscene-and-encapsulates-everything-thats-great-about-horror-movies

IMDB: From Beyond

PRIMAL (full article at The Guardian Australia)

Primal is a dark, sinewy animated series that pairs a knuckle-dragging Neanderthal named Spear with an orthodontically challenged T rex called Fang. Violent and bloody, Primal is probably not for kids – but there is far more depth and intelligence to the deceptively simple concept of a caveman and a dinosaur teaming up to fight the world.

Read the full article at The Guardian Australia:

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2023/sep/26/neanderthal-thrills-and-dinosaur-kills-a-caveman-and-a-t-rex-take-on-the-world-in-primal

IMDB: Primal