April, 2011

Just when it seemed like Schembrigate was done and dusted, Crikey senior journalist Andrew Crook uncovered new evidence contradicting Jim Schembri’s explanation that he intentionally spoiled Scream 4 in order to “punk” the Twitterverse. Schembri’s explanation was — to put it generously — a shade difficult to accept, but Crook’s forensic analysis of what happened [...]

Five gears in and The Fast and The Furious franchise shows no sign of slowing down. Nor have the reviewers shown any sign of steering away from car-related puns. The F&F flicks are genre films through and through, delivering to the punters exactly what they paid for: powder kegs of revved up action, stoopid storytelling [...]

In the movie biz if you own the rights to a commercially appealing franchise or idea you put together a package and shop around for the highest bidder. To put together a package you need talent attached, which requires convincing people to sign on to a movie that may never see the light of day [...]

The makers of Arthur would like you to believe that Russell Brand’s trademark shtick — the outspoken androgynous wastoid — is a contemporary equivalent of the leisurely comedic style of Dudley Moore, star of the Oscar-winning 1981 hit on which director Jason Winer’s rubbishy remake is based. With baked eyes, slippery British enunciation and a real [...]

“I wanted to become the scourge of the Twitterverse as I led the hordes down a merry trail of cryptic messages and misdirection.” — Jim Schembri, 2011. A week after Fairfax film critic Jim Schembri spoiled the ending of Scream 4 then engaged in what has been widely interpreted as a bizarre attempt to cover [...]

During my weekly Thursday night spot on MTR with host Luke Grant, we discussed an odd combination of subjects including gout, uric arthritis, Easter festivities, Justin Bieber and his movie Never Say Never and, finally, one of Bob Dylan’s recent concerts in Melbourne. Before my spot Luke talked about some of the things we can [...]

This story was published in today’s Crikey newsletter. Yesterday I sat down to eat my lunch and noticed something weird unfolding on Twitter. It appeared to be a kind of surreal online performance piece in which I was unwittingly cast as one of the key players.  Bizarrely, the words “Luke Buckmaster” and “time machine” were [...]

An abbreviated version of this story was published today in the Media Briefs section of the Crikey newsletter. There are certain unwritten rules a film reviewer must abide by in order to a) maintain professional integrity and b) not get chased down, strung up and burnt at the stake by the general public, proverbially or [...]

Earlier this week I took my good pal Liam Mills (a very talented graphic artist) along to a preview screening of Scream 4. He’s one of a select cut of horror cinephiles who specialise in knowledge of the Scream franchise. He can tell you which characters died, when and by who for each of the [...]

Pandas sneezing. Babies laughing. A bride and groom falling into a swimming pool. And….Justin Bieber. It’s hard to imagine a Bieber documentary opening with a more appropriate first reel than Justin Bieber: Never Say Never, which unspools four Youtube videos played one after the other, the fourth depicting the man/kid of the hour as a [...]

Here is a quick and criminally short tribute to the late and great director Sidney Lumet, who died of lymphoma in Manhattan on Saturday, age 86. In a career that spanned more than five decades, Lumet directed more than 40 feature films, which collectively generated more than 50 Oscar nominations. Of those films two are [...]

To read my review of Little Johnny, a proudly 2D Australian animated movie currently playing until April 24 as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, head over to Crikey’s new comedy blog Laugh Track. I’m also contributing reviews of stand-up comedy acts (stand-up comedy has been one of my passions for the past few [...]

A syrupy sweet cross-cultural New Zealand romantic dramedy about two dorky uni students falling in love and tying the knot, follows Chinese NZ-born Emily (Michelle Ang) and dweeby Dungeons and Dragons devout James (Matt Whelan). The two meet while fencing, go out for food and ice cream and la-la-love is in the air. But there’s a [...]

Fueled by the berserk brain juice of SFX addict Zack Snyder, director of the homoerotic battle fest 300 and epic graphic novel adaptation Watchmen, Sucker Punch is about a woman who goes troppo in a mental asylum and visits a futuristic fantasy land of war and anarchy every time she dances. In the real world, [...]

This sad, sweet, enormously moving biopic of TV producer Barney Panofsky features front and centre a career best performance from Paul Giamatti, who scales back his trademark neurosis for a more nuanced and varied portrayal that was unforgivably snubbed at this year’s Academy Awards. Helmed by long time TV director Richard J. Lewis and adapted [...]