EX MACHINA (full article at The Guardian Australia)

Alex Garland’s new movie, Men, is due for release in June and if you’re intrigued by the mysterious
trailer, or you enjoyed either his acclaimed TV series Devs, or the sci-fi horror of Annihilation, then Garland’s directorial debut Ex Machina is well worth investigating. 

Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson) wins a competition at his workplace to visit the home of the company’s reclusive CEO, Nathan (Oscar Isaac). Caleb travels to his vast and remote Norwegian estate and upon arrival discovers the contest was a smokescreen.

Identified as a gifted employee, Caleb has been summoned to work on Nathan’s latest project: an artificial intelligence named Ava (Alicia Vikander). It is Caleb’s job to administer the Turing Test (named after its creator, mathematician Alan Turing), to determine whether Ava has consciousness. If the tester cannot determine if the subject is machine or human, then the test is passed. 

Read the full article at The Guardian Australia:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/may/03/ex-machina-when-you-see-this-sci-fi-thriller-youll-never-stop-thinking-about-it

IMDB: Ex Machina

THE WITCH (full article at The Guardian Australia)

Robert Eggers’ new movie, The Northman, arrives in Australian cinemas this week. In order to get prepped for this bloody tale of Viking vengeance, check out his unsettling horror debut The Witch: a folk horror movie that does not rely on gore to terrify the audience, but instead gradually worms its way under your skin to slowly unnerve you. It’s not the plunge from the top of the rollercoaster but a slow drive down a dark, country lane.

Set in 1630, a Puritan settler family are banished from their New England village after a heated religious argument in the colony. Isolated theologically and physically, patriarch William (Ralph Ineson) moves to the edge of a vast, dense forest with his family: wife Katherine (Kate Dickie) and their children Thomasin (Anya Taylor-Joy), Caleb (Harvey Scrimshaw), twins Mercy and Jonas (Ellie Grainger and Lucas Dawson), and infant Samuel. But nature is unforgiving and the family’s crops fail. Suddenly, while under Thomasin’s care, baby Samuel disappears, stolen by a witch who dwells within the forest.

Read the full article at The Guardian Australia:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/apr/20/the-witch-robert-eggers-folk-horror-debut-worms-its-way-under-your-skin

IMDB: The Witch

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

PALM SPRINGS (full article at The Guardian Australia)

Palm Springs, in the words of Andy Samberg’s character, Nyles, is “one of those infinite time loop situations you might’ve heard about”. Which serves as the baseline for a hugely enjoyable, feel-good romantic comedy that incorporates a compelling science fiction element and a nice bit of existential dread to stop things getting too sentimental.

Nyles and Sarah (Cristin Milioti) meet at a wedding in Palm Springs. After an eventful reception, Sarah follows Nyles into a cave in the desert where she steps into a glowing red light, only to awake once again, on the morning of the ceremony. It becomes clear that an earthquake opened up a fissure in space/time, and in entering the cave the pair became caught in time loop, doomed to repeat the day of the wedding forever.

Read the full article at The Guardian Australia:

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2022/feb/04/palm-springs-feel-good-infinite-time-loop-romcom-serves-side-order-of-existential-dread

IMDB:
Palm Springs

NINJA SHADOW OF A TEAR aka NINJA 2 (full article at The Guardian Australia)

If you’ve blitzed through Cobra Kai and it’s left you hankering for yet more fight-based, 80s throwback drama, consider checking out the work of prolific action movie star Scott Adkins in the truly excellent Ninja Shadow of a Tear (AKA Ninja 2).

Ninja Shadow of a Tear is the weirdly titled sequel to 2009’s rather more simplistic Ninja. But it works well as a self-contained entity, ditching any remaining story threads from the first film within the first 10 minutes so you can comfortably watch them in reverse order and kick your evening off with the better one.

Casey Bowman (Adkins) returns home one night to find his wife Namiko (Mika Hijii) has been brutally slain by an unknown assailant with a unique but deadly weapon. Casey accepts an offer from his friend Nakabara (Kane Kosugi) to stay at his dojo in Bangkok in an attempt to find peace. But Casey’s grief continues to manifest in self-destructive behaviour, losing his temper in a sparring session and drunkenly starting a massive bar fight.

Read the full article at The Guardian Australia:

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2022/jan/31/ninja-shadow-of-a-tear-scott-adkins-kicks-butt-in-enjoyably-knuckleheaded-revenge-rampage

IMDB: Ninja Shadow Of A Tear

THE PROPOSITION (full article at The Guardian Australia)

The second feature film written by the musician Nick Cave is a grisly, sweat-stained tale of outback violence and colonial oppression that has lost none of its power in the 16 years since its release. Directed by John Hillcoat, The Proposition is awash with striking scenery and ugly truths about Australia.

After a fierce gunfight, outlaw Charlie Burns (Guy Pearce) and his brother Mike (Richard Wilson) are captured by Captain Stanley (Ray Winstone). Although both brothers are former members of the notorious Burns gang, Stanley’s real target is their sadistic older sibling Arthur (Danny Huston), who is wanted for the brutal murder of a local family.

With no lead on Arthur, Stanley turns to more “inventive” methods, offering Charlie a proposition. He will release Charlie, while Mike will hang in nine days for the crimes of the Burns gang. But both will be pardoned if Charlie can locate and kill Arthur. Mike is naive and not able to mentally comprehend their situation, so Charlie feels he has no choice but to protect his younger brother and accept Stanley’s deal.

Read the full article at The Guardian Australia:

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/dec/08/the-proposition-nick-caves-savage-outback-western-reveals-ugly-truths-about-australia

IMDB: The Proposition

FROM OZPLOITATION TO ICE-T, SQUID GAME IS JUST THE LATEST SPLATTER OF CLASS WARFARE ON SCREEN (full article at The Guardian Australia)

South Korean horror drama Squid Game has quickly become Netflix’s most watched show. For the few who haven’t seen it, the premise is simple: a group of contestants on the poverty line are pitted against each other in a series of deadly games, all for the entertainment of the super-rich.  At its core - and part of why it’s so compelling - is the class struggle. We’re living in a time where the gap between extreme wealth and extreme poverty has never been wider, so the concept of the rich exploiting the poor for sport, or simply to alleviate boredom, feels particularly deranged.

But this concept isn’t a new one, and there are a couple of stand-outs – an underrated action film and a cult Australian horror movie – waiting patiently for rediscovery. 

Read the full review at The Guardian Australia:

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/nov/10/from-ozploitation-to-ice-t-squid-game-is-just-the-latest-splatter-of-class-warfare-on-screen

HALT AND CATCH FIRE (full article at The Guardian Australia)

Halt and Catch Fire was a series that went majorly unnoticed. It flew well under the radar and this is a pity, because its decades-spanning story about technological innovators, their successes, failures, and the friendships that pin it all together, is as compelling and addictive as any of the better known ‘prestige’ shows that captured awards and imaginations at the time.  

Created by Christopher Cantwell and Christopher C Rogers, Halt and Catch Fire begins in Texas in the 1980s at small electronics company, Cardiff Electric. Under the guidance of ex-IBM whizkid Joe MacMillan (Lee Pace), and company exec John ‘Bos’ Bosworth (Toby Huss), a group of engineers led by Gordon Clarke (Scoot McNairy) attempt to create a home computer to compete with the industry giants.

Read the full review at The Guardian Australia:

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/aug/30/halt-and-catch-fire-hugely-underrated-tech-drama-about-dreaming-big-and-failing-bigger

IMDB: Halt And Catch Fire

THOROUGHBREDS (full article at The Guardian Australia)

You might be forgiven for skipping past Thoroughbreds in your Netflix recommendations. With a fairly nondescript title and an anodyne poster image, it appears to be about something dull like horse racing. But give it a chance and you’ll discover a dark and nihilistic capitalist nightmare, inviting us to the heart-warming conclusion that casual psychopathy is as prevalent among the wealthy as hedge funds and country clubs.

Read the full review at The Guardian Australia:
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/jun/02/thoroughbreds-a-murderous-upper-class-gambit-from-anya-taylor-joy

IMDB: Thoroughbreds

I DON'T FEEL AT HOME IN THIS WORLD ANYMORE (full article at The Guardian Australia)

Ruth (Melanie Lynskey) is frustrated by the selfish and inconsiderate actions of other people. From exhaust-belching SUVs, to rude supermarket patrons, to the generally ill-mannered. She is bothered by things that in isolation might seem slight, perhaps even inconsequential, but they slowly congeal, amassing into a huge, morale-sapping void. With no single point of focus at which to direct her anger, the only possible route for Ruth’s frustration is for it to sit and simmer, until such a point as something causes it to boil over.

That boiling point comes when Ruth’s house is robbed. Her laptop and grandmother’s silverware is stolen and the police action on the matter is limited to the creation of a case number and the suggestion Ruth herself is at fault. Even when presented with an avenue for investigation, the law is hamstrung by its own listless investigative process. Ruth is made acutely aware she is the only one who cares.

Read the full review at The Guardian Australia:
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/mar/04/i-dont-feel-at-home-in-this-world-anymore-not-the-indie-drama-youre-expecting

IMDB: I Don't Feel At Home In This World Anymore

 

 

 

THE DETECTORISTS (full article at The Guardian Australia)

Who would have thought a sitcom about a metal detecting club would be one of the most heart-warming shows on TV? On paper it does, admittedly, sound like a bit of a hard sell. But scratch the surface of idiosyncratically framed comedy The Detectorists and you’ll find warmth and a wonderful cast of characters that elevate it to something quite special.

Written and directed by Mackenzie Crook, probably best known as the gormless Gareth in the UK Office or as wooden eyed cutthroat, Ragetti, in Pirates of the Caribbean, The Detectorists ran on BBC 4 from 2014 to 2017. It won a BAFTA and is certainly popular, but it didn’t really catch on outside the UK and it truly deserves to. Each short season, and indeed each episode, is an utterly joyful, perfectly calibrated good mood.

Read the full review at The Guardian Australia:
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/jan/28/detectorists-a-sitcom-about-amateur-archaeologists-thats-a-bonafide-heartwarming-joy

IMDB: The Detectorists

UTOPIA (full article at The Guardian Australia)

This is my first time writing for The Guardian Australia website, which is very exciting. I have a piece on Dennis Kelly's brilliant UK conspiracy thriller, Utopia, at the link below.

I was first introduced to Utopia on a visit home to the UK in 2013. Not to be confused with Working Dog’s well-loved, deadpan infrastructure sitcom, this Utopia is Dennis Kelly’s weird, dark and idiosyncratic conspiracy thriller. I was hooked from the opening sequence. Over the course of three days, I binged the entire first season and was blown away.

Utopia is one of the most powerful and electrifying pieces of television I’ve seen. At the time of that first watch, I duly expected it to feature on “best of TV” lists for years to come, alongside the likes of The Wire, Breaking Bad or The Sopranos, of which Utopia is more than an equal. It was quite a surprise then to learn that Utopia existed only as a cult hit (albeit one with fervent fans), was dismissed from its home on the UK’s Channel 4 after only two seasons, and remains criminally under-seen almost everywhere else, including in Australia.

Read the full review at The Guardian Australia:
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2020/oct/07/utopia-one-of-the-decades-most-electrifying-and-criminally-under-seen-thrillers

IMDB: Utopia