Reviews

David Michôd’s debut feature film Animal Kingdom (2010) may include a few typical Aussie pursuits: a barbie, the bush, time for a cup of tea and a good old natter – but Neighbours it is certainly not. When Josh Cody’s (played by newcomer James Frecheville) mother dies from a heroin overdose, he turns to his…

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★★★★☆ Fanboys and fangirls alike awaited the release of X-Men: First Class (2011) with both baited breath and nervous apprehension, but as far as I’m concerned, this prequel doesn’t disappoint. Perhaps I found X-Men: First Class so entertaining because I have only a vague knowledge of the X-Men story and no solid basis for a comparison with the…

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★★★☆☆ Spike Lee’s last feature film, Miracle at St. Anna (2008), fits perfectly into his catalogue in whilst also challenging his unarguable capabilities as a director, in his deciding to create a fictionalised account of black GIs fighting the Axis Powers in Italy in the Second World War.T he narrative is initiated when the surviving…

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★★★★☆ Depending upon your source, reactions to Shion Sono’s latest opus Cold Fish (2010) has drawn a wide range of divergent repsonses. It has been called outrageous and pointlessly violent or ground breaking, gripping and challenging. Whichever side of this argument one might place it under, Shion Sono’s Cold Fish is certainly not an easy…

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★★★☆☆ Fantasy seems to be Nicolas Cage’s realm as of late. After fiddling with spells and dragons in The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (2010), he is now journeying back to medieval times to deal with magic again – this time of a black type – in Dominic Sena’s Season of the Witch (2011). Set in the 14th…

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★★☆☆☆ British director Kelly Smith’s Don’t Let Him In (2011) is a strange movie. Starting from the title, which echoes that of Matt Reeve’s vampire horror-remake Let Me In (2010) – you’ll be forgiven for wondering whether this is a parody. However, Don’t Let Him In transpires to be a serious and gore-packed horror film…

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★★★★☆ There are two types of main characters in the world of romantic comedies: the protagonist is generally either someone we like to be jealous of – for their enviable looks, perfect job and a social life worthy of Kim Kardashian – or, a complete loser who we can laugh at and pity for their…

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I watched Danny Steinmann’s Savage Streets (1984), knowing nothing about it besides what I’d seen in the trailer, with a friend who admitted to “not understanding” this kind of film – what he’d earlier described as “shitty exploitation”, films which aren’t ‘proper’. Watching the film, he laughed and gasped consistently, thus proving that there is no…

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