The Power Of The Dog (2021)

Benedict Cumberbatch is the star of the new western drama, The Power Of The Dog (2021), directed by Jane Campion who is best known for The Piano, Holy Smoke, In The Cut and Bright Star. Based on a novel from the 1960s by Thomas Savage, an author I’m not familiar with, The Power Of The […]

Maps To The Stars (2014)

“Please. No film noir questions.” Maps To The Stars (2014) fits into the sub-genre of Hollywood noir or neo-noir rather, a descendant of Sunset Boulevard’s scathing look at the film industry, wrapped up in murder, gothic imagery, grotesqueries, and sardonic comedy. David Cronenberg’s film, the first he shot in Los Angeles, and working with a […]

Point Blank (1967)

Lee Marvin in a series of dapper suits with a revolver in hand is enough for a 1960s neo-noir like Point Blank (1967) but the actor’s collaboration with young British director John Boorman offered them both a chance to push the crime genre into pop art experimentation. Revisiting Point Blank, it feels like Steven Soderbergh […]

Saint Maud (2019)

Saint Maud (2019) is a critically acclaimed contemporary horror movie – the feature film debut of British director Rose Glass – that didn’t get a cinema release in Perth, and is now available direct to digital. There’s a cliche now of A24 type modern horror movies that are more like psychological character studies that only […]

Pig (2021)

I appreciate people who avoid trailers or reading reviews (and can easily skip reading this); the idea of taking a movie in without preconceptions, expectations or spoilers is like the pure film viewing experience. But I can’t help myself – I like watching trailers, I like reading advance reviews, probably to my detriment. So it […]