January 30, 2010 – 11:59 am
The phenomenal success of Avatar and its widely lauded, eye-bogglingly gorgeous visual structure has paved the way for an onslaught of 3D movies. Some titles, such as the re-rendered 3D versions of Pixar classics Toy Story 1 and 2, were in production well before James Cameron’s blockbustepic bulldozed its way into the record books. Others, [...]
January 28, 2010 – 6:23 pm
Just who is the law abiding citizen in Law Abiding Citizen? Certainly not Gerard Butler aka Clyde Shelton, a pushed-over-the-line newborn psychopath who dedicates his existence to bloody revenge against all and sundry after the murderers of his wife and daughter get off with a lean sentence. And surely not Jamie Foxx, who plays state [...]
January 28, 2010 – 11:37 am
The common perception of Clint Eastwood is that of a tough, uncompromising figure in Hollywood, the kind of rugged seen-it-all type who can smite souls with his eyes and talks through gritted teeth, grousing about the foibles of a harsh, unforgiving and morally vacuous world. As an actor he is both revered and stereotyped as [...]
January 26, 2010 – 11:33 am
Last November I wrote about the striking use of white employed in the poster for Clint Eastwood’s new political biopic/sports movie Invictus. This simple but rather wonderful one-sheet for Creation (left, click to enlarge) ups the ante with a whole lot more nothingness; it’s a strikingly elegant, uncluttered image that uses empty space to maximum [...]
January 25, 2010 – 3:06 pm
I wrote a story for today’s Crikey newsletter about South Australia’s bizarre new DVD laws pertaining to the manner in which R-rated films are displayed and promoted. You can read it online here.
January 25, 2010 – 10:09 am
3D movies are traditionally associated with horror, science fiction and animation, but in the wake of Avatar’s monolithic success expect to see the third-dimensional playing field substantially widened to accommodate a much more diverse array of pictures. With this in mind, it’s not all that surprising that Australia’s first 3D flick will be a nature [...]
January 22, 2010 – 8:42 am
Director Rob Marshall’s follow-up to his leg-kicking, Oscar-snaring adaptation of Broadway behemoth Chicago is Nine, an Italian soft porn musical with virtually no Italians in it. When Fergie belts out one of the more rousing numbers, Be Italian, roaring like a plump toothless tiger determined to prove she’s still capable of swallowing a man whole, [...]
By Luke Buckmaster
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Posted in Film reviews
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Tagged Nicole Kidman, Nine, Nine Be Italian, Nine film review, Nine movie musical, Nine movie review, Nine musical Australia, Nine Nicole Kidman, Nine review, Penelope Cruz, Rob Marshall
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January 21, 2010 – 9:45 am
While the official list of Academy Award nominations is still a couple of weeks away (to be announced 12:30am February 3, AET) here is some positive news for Warwick Thornton’s seminal indigenous drama Samson & Delilah. Word arrived this morning that S & D has made the shortlist for the final nine contenders in the [...]
January 20, 2010 – 7:18 pm
After soaking up 3D screenings of Avatar film writers the world over inevitably wipe the drool from their mouths and lung towards their keyboards, frantically attempting to conjure superlatives capable of explaining the gorgeous visual structure of James Cameron’s blockbusterpic. I’ve read “eyeballs having sex” more than once; my preferred description is “eye cocaine” but [...]
January 20, 2010 – 8:01 am
In the Loop is a film stuffed to the gills with words – mean, pointy, slashing words, words used as weapons by the characters to taunt and belittle each other or as tools for self-aggrandisement. Often both. Vicious diatribes flow like streams of venom from the mouths of twitchy people who incessantly argue, bicker, bitch [...]
January 19, 2010 – 8:33 pm
Below is a summary of this year’s Golden Globe winners for most of the major categories. Full results including nominees can be found over at the official website. No time at the mo for commentary, but I did write a “guide to the Globes” story last Friday for the Crikey newsletter (see below for a [...]
January 18, 2010 – 9:47 am
The new Star Wars instalments arrived in cinemas across the country on Friday. No, wait – they didn’t arrive in cinemas at all. They arrived in, er, shoe shops. In yet another shameless Star Wars merchandise tie-in the folk over at Twentieth Century Fox have collaborated with the guys and gals from Adidas to create [...]
January 15, 2010 – 7:45 am
Director John Hillcoat’s poignant post-apocalyptic father and son yarn The Road provides one helluva case study in last minute cinematic cock-ups. It is by and large an impressively made film. Over a couple of carefully constructed hours Hillcoat slowly ropes the audience into his patiently paced adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s novel about lonely vagabonds who [...]
January 14, 2010 – 1:16 pm
This week the National Board of Review gave Wes Anderson (left, click to enlarge) a Special Filmmaking Achievement Award in recognition of the fabulous stop motion artistry exhibited in the quirk-laden director’s new flick Fantastic Mr Fox. Check out Anderson’s rather fantastic acceptance speech below, in which he decided to “express my gratitude through the [...]
January 13, 2010 – 2:58 pm
At the butt end of what has been widely reported as a long and bitter stoush between Sony Pictures and director Sam Raimi (pictured left) comes two big pieces of Raimi-related news: firstly, the fo(u)rthcoming Spider-Man sequel, Spider-Man 4, has been scrapped and secondly, the studio has announced that the franchise is to be rebooted [...]
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