Sinners ★★★★ THE artistic pairing of director Ryan Coogler and actor Michael B. Jordan continues to be a very successful one. Since 2013 they have made five films together – Fruitvale Station, Creed, two Black Panther films and now, the best one so far, the genre-bending and highly entertaining Sinners. […]

Sinners produces the goods

Werewolves ★★ WEREWOLVES is one of those films that generates so many questions your head starts to spin. Firstly, who’s going to believe that Frank Grillo is playing a molecular biologist? Secondly, who’s going to believe he’s also the head of the ‘rapid response unit’ meaning he can still handle action […]

Werewolves: questions, questions, questions

Popeye the Slayer Man ★½ IT WILL take a lot of spinach to strengthen the script of B-grade horror film Popeye the Slayer Man. I gather that, like Winnie the Pooh, the copyright protection on using the Popeye character’s name has also recently run out. Unfortunately, what this also means […]

More spinach needed

A Minecraft Movie ★★½ I LOVE my grandchildren and of course will do anything for them, but taking the grandson to see A Minecraft Movie? You have to draw the line somewhere, right? Thankfully, this wasn’t the completely painful experience I expected, thanks mainly to a typically entertaining performance from […]

Making the ultimate sacrifice

The Amateur ★★★ ACTION heroes have suddenly gone all working class. In recent years we’ve had The Bricklayer, The Beekeeper, The Accountant, The Baker, a Bunnings worker (AKA The Equalizer) and even just a plain old Working Man. Why all these lazy, occupation-based titles? (although The Equalizer isn’t bad). Why […]

Pro Malek lifts The Amateur

Death of a Unicorn ★★½ THE comedic drama Death of a Unicorn doesn’t work in the way its creator and the studio may have envisioned. It’s hard to say with total confidence, but writer/director Alex Scharfman probably wanted to deliver a socially-relevant warning over our treatment of the natural world […]

Death of a Unicorn a confusing fantasy

G20 ★★½ VIOLA Davis is a wonderfully versatile actress, capable of making an impact in everything from powerful dramas to light comedy. In 2022’s The Woman King she took on the role of an action hero and also killed it (pardon the pun). In G20 she again enters the action […]

First Lady as action hero

A Purity of Vengeance ★★★½ THE fourth film in the Danish Department Q crime series starts in familiar style. Workmen are called in to help renovate a city apartment. They smash a hole in one of the walls and peer inside. What they find is a whole other room with […]

Fourth Department Q film a turning point

Novocaine ★★½ GREAT idea; average execution. That sums up the comic thriller Novocaine starring Jack Quaid (son of Dennis) as a man who cannot feel pain. The film starts promisingly with mild-mannered, slightly nerdy bank teller Nate becoming enamoured from afar by new employee Sherry. Eventually the pair start getting […]

Novocaine not without pain

Flight Risk ★★½ MEL Gibson has been ‘cancelled’ now for most of this century. The man who starred in Mad Max and Gallipoli and directed Braveheart and Apocalypto hasn’t been able to get a decent gig in Hollywood for a long time. Cue one of his mates, Mark Wahlberg, who […]

Flight Risk doesn’t reach any heights

A Conspiracy of Faith ★★★½ FANS of the Danish Department Q franchise all have their favourite of the six films released to date. The amazing thing, which speaks to the overall quality, is that three of the films are mentioned as being that favourite. Possibly the most often cited is […]

Conspiracies abound at Department Q

The Absent One ★★★★ THE second film in the Danish Department Q crime franchise is arguably the best. That’s a high bar considering the overall quality of the six films made to date. There are a few reasons why 2014’s The Absent One improves on the original film, The Keeper […]

Absent One may be best one