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

INFINITY POOL (full review at Screen Realm)

Infinity Pool is the third feature from writer / director Brandon Cronenberg, and as you might expect if you’re a fan of either Cronenberg Jr or Snr, it is an imaginative science fiction / horror hybrid that asks some interesting questions around the nature of wealth, privilege and accountability.

Struggling author James (Alexander Skarsgård) and his wife Em (Cleopatra Coleman) are holidaying in the fictional country of Li Tolqa. Staying in a high end resort, shielded and fenced off from the local populace, they befriend another couple, Gabi (Mia Goth) and Alban (Jalil Lester’s) and sneak out of the resort to enjoy a drunken day at the beach. On their way home, a local man is struck and killed by their car. Panicking, they flee the scene.

Read the full review at Screen Realm:

https://screenrealm.com/infinity-pool-movie-review/

IMDB: Infinity Pool

RESURRECTION (full review at Screen Realm)

Resurrection is a psychological thriller from director Andrew Semans. It deals with dark themes, including the impact of resurfacing trauma, as a woman is haunted by a presence from her past.

Margaret (Rebecca Hall) is strong, confident and successful in her career. She juggles her responsibilities as single parent to her daughter Abbie (Grace Kaufman), has a demanding job in medicine, and enjoys a commitment-free relationship with her colleague Peter (Michael Esper). She’s fit and healthy and in control, living life completely on her own terms.

While at a work conference, Margaret spots a man from her past in the audience, causing her to flee in terror, breaking down in tears once she arrives home. As the week goes on she spots the man, David (Tim Roth), more and more frequently, but always in public places and never approaching her directly.

Read the full review at Screen Realm:

https://screenrealm.com/resurrection-movie-review-rebecca-hall-tim-roth/

IMDB: Resurrection

RESURRECTION MOVIE INTERVIEW: DIRECTOR-WRITER ANDREW SEMANS ON REBECCA HALL THRILLER

I had an enlightening chat with director Andrew Semans about his excellent psychological thriller, RESURRECTION, starring Rebecca Hall and Tim Roth. The interview is up now at Screen Realm and the movie is released on digital platforms on 30 November.

It also features an unexpected cameo from my cat, Charlie, at 7:58 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lXLW6z-_I4

The full Screen Realm piece is here:

https://screenrealm.com/resurrection-movie-interview-director-writer-andrew-semans-rebecca-hall/

THE GUEST (full article at The Guardian Australia)

Having made their director-writer team mark with the home invasion thriller You’re Next, Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett followed it up with the frantic action-sci-fi hybrid, The Guest. Kicking off as a mysterious thriller, The Guest feels like a movie you forgot to rent during the early 90s, a glorious throwback to medium-budget action flicks that, in another lifetime, could have been made by Cannon Films.

Read the full article at The Guardian Australia:

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2022/nov/09/the-guest-is-a-glorious-throwback-to-medium-budget-action-flicks

IMDB: The Guest

AWAKE (full review at Screen Realm)

Jill (Gina Rodriguez) is widowed ex-soldier and recovering addict. She works in security at a research laboratory and sells expired drugs on the side for extra cash. She is determined to win custody of her two children, Matilda (Ariana Greenblatt) and (Lucius Hoyos), who live with their grandmother.

During a routine school-run an unspecified global event take place, cutting the power and, it transpires, preventing the entire world from falling asleep. Without any decent shuteye, it’s not long before everyone descends into hysterical wide-eyed mania and society begins to crumble.

Jill escapes the city with her kids, meeting escaped convict Dodge (Shamier Anderson) en-route and heading for a research station run by her boss, Dr Murphy (Jennifer Jason Leigh). All the while keeping the closely guarded secret that Matilda can still sleep.

Read the full review at Screen Realm:
https://www.screenrealm.com/awake-movie-review-netflix/

IMDB: Awake

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

ALONE (full review at Screen Realm)

Alone is a survival thriller from director John Hyams, who is probably best known for helming the third and fourth instalments the Universal Soldier franchise. Alone could not be further away from UniSol shoot-em-up-action, as Hyams has delivered a tense and effective game of forest-bound cat and mouse

Jessica (Jules Willcox) is moving across country following a tragedy and having packed her possessions into a trailer, hits the forest lined roads of the Pacific Northwest. Travelling alone and after dark in order to make good time, a road rage incident on an unpopulated highway leaves her understandably shaken. As Jessica continues on her journey she notices the vehicle from the incident at seemingly every stop. Inevitably, the situation escalates and Jessica finds herself in the forest, on the run from the driver (Marc Menchaca). And that’s all you need to know about the plot without entering spoiler territory, but suffice it to say, you should probably give the overly revealing trailer a wide berth.

Read the full review at Screen Realm:
https://screenrealm.com/alone-movie-review-thriller-2020/

IMDB: Alone

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

BY NIGHT'S END (full review at Screen Realm)

Heather (Michelle Rose) and Mark (Kurt Yue) have just moved into a new house, following the loss of their daughter. Michelle is a former army sergeant, working a job she dislikes, and Mark is unemployed and their financial situation is strained. They awake in the middle of the night to find themselves confronted by a home invader, who promises them $10,000 if they let him go. Predictably, you just can’t trust burglars these days, and in an ensuing struggle Michelle shoots him dead.

Mindful of their precarious finances, Mark concludes there must be money hidden somewhere within the house and suggests they withhold calling the police for an hour in order to search for it.  Duly convinced, Heather and Mark set about searching their new property until an accidental discovery reveals the home invader was not alone and they are trapped inside by his accomplice, Moody (Michael Aaron Milligan), who is not prepared to walk away.

Read the full review at Screen Realm:
https://screenrealm.com/by-nights-end-movie-review-an-entertaining-indie-home-invasion-thriller/

IMDB: By Night's End

BURNING (BEONING) (full review at Screen Realm)

Burning is the sixth movie from Korean director Lee Chang-dong. It’s based on the short story Barn Burning by renowned Japanese author Haruki Murakami and taken from his short fiction collection, The Elephant Vanishes.

While out in the city one afternoon, Lee Jong-su (Ahi-in Yoo) bumps into childhood friend Hae-mi (Jeon Jong-seo) and the two quickly re-connect. When Hae-mi announces she is off travelling to Africa for several weeks, she asks him to look after her cat, Boil. When Hae-mi arrives home Lee Jong-su goes to pick her up from the airport, only to find she has met someone while travelling - the rich and sophisticated Ben (Steven Yeun). The exact nature of their relationship is not immediately clear to Lee Jong-su and so the three hang out together and gradually become friendly in what initially seems to be a strange love / friendship triangle.

Burning is one of those movies where if you know too much going in, your enjoyment will be sorely diminished. So it’s advisable to avoid the trailers because there is lot to unpack in terms of this plot and these characters that will no doubt generate much post-movie discussion.

Read the full review at Screen Realm:
https://screenrealm.com/burning-movie-review-south-korea/

IMDB: Burning

HOLD THE DARK (full review at Screen Realm)

Hold The Dark is Jeremey Saulnier’s fourth film as director and is an adaptation of a novel by William Giraldi. Collaborating with Macon Blair (writer/director of the exceptional I Don’t Feel At Home In This World Anymore) they bring us a slow burn, enigmatic thriller, saturated with violence.

After a young boy is taken by wolves outside his family home in rural Alaska, his mother, Melora Slone (Riley Keogh), writes to author and wolf expert Russell Core (Jeffrey Wright) for help. She requests that he come to Alaska, track and kill the animal responsible for her son’s presumed death.  Russell agrees to assist and what follows is a film that takes us in unexpected and not always explained directions.

Read the full review at Screen Realm:
https://screenrealm.com/hold-the-dark-movie-review-netflix/

IMDB: Hold The Dark

BAD BLOOD (full review at The Reel Word)

Vincent (Xavier Samuel) is a respected author with a tortured past. As he begins the follow up to his successful novel, and embarks on a whirlwind romance with Carrie (Morgan Griffin), he is approache
d by a private detective intent on proving that Vincent was responsible for the murder of his first wife. Needing to get his thoughts together for the book, and keep away from the attentions of the investigator, Vincent suggests to Carrie that they take a short break to the country.  After arriving at the house where they are staying, Vincent’s mood changes and Carrie begins to suspect that he is not quite all that he seems. Events begin to take a more homicidal direction.

Read the full article at The Reel Word:
https://www.thereelword.net/bad-blood-movie-review-2017-aussie/

IMDB: Bad Blood

ELLE (full review at The Reel Word)

Paul Verhoeven is responsible for some of the finest science fiction movies of the last thirty years, and although he conquered Hollywood in the 90s, it’s easy to forget that he is also the man responsible for Basic Instinct and Showgirls. As the credits open on Elle and the wannabe Bernard Hermann soundtrack screeches all over it, those memories come flooding back.

Read the full article at The Reel Word:
http://www.thereelword.net/elle-movie-review-paul-verhoeven-isabelle-huppert/

IMDB: Elle

VACANCY

Vacancy is a great thriller/horror which I really enjoyed. The fairly average reviews it got upon release did it a great disservice, as it was a far, far better film than they would have you believe.

The premise is that couple (Luke Wilson and Kate Beckinsale) get lost off the interstate, break down, and have to spend the night in a grotty run down motel in the middle of nowhere. In Hills Have Eyes style, it turns out they are out of cell phone range too. They bed down in their motel room, watching the tv to distract from having to converse with each other, when it suddenly becomes apparent that the horror film they are watching on tv is in actual fact an extremely real snuff movie that has taken place in their very room!

From that point on, the tension rachets up to unbearable levels, providing some genuine scares, with the fear coming from what would ordinarily be the mundane - phone ringing, door knocking, face at the window and so on. Director Nimrod Antal (soon to be directing Rodriguez’s new PREDATORS movie apparently) stated in the dvd extras that he was going for more of a Hitchcockian thriller than a horror movie, and I think he certainly nailed it for the most part. He sets his stall out with an excellent Hitchcock style title sequence with lots of discombobulating text. The story itself, with its creepy motel setting, obviously yanks the old memory chords in favour of PSYCHO.

It works because when the couple are trapped in the room, it is terrifying because of both the ludicrousness of the situation and the fact it remains very believable. It’s not giving too much away to say when they leave the room, and start running around the complex the scares are less effective because it becomes more of a chase / pursuit slasher flick.

My minor quibble is with the snuff films. I think they were a little too disturbing for the tone of the film. They were unpleasant to watch - even on the screen within a screen – and they ended up making the film stray too close to the kind of dreck Eli Roth excretes, and which this movie coasts loftily above. On the other hand they certainly helped invoke the fear of the couple trapped in the room. I just think I could have stood to have seen less of the footage. The wisdom of including them as dvd extras is most definitely lost on me though!

The other thing that sort of amused me was that one of the villans masks made him look like a grey William H. Macy!

I suppose, some parts of Vacancy were pretty predictable, but there's nothing wrong with predictability if done well, and this movie is a comfortably better than average horror thriller. It’s a good fun scare that will probably, undeservedly, slip under most peoples radar. Wilson and Beckinsale were both great and I would say this is perfect viewing for upcoming Halloween movie fests!

IMDB: VACANCY