Film Reviews

★★☆☆☆ George Miller’s Three Thousand Years of Longing (2022) is such a tedious grind from start to finish, it feels three thousand years long in running time. A ponderous and flat entry in the Australian maestro’s slim filmography, which outside of the Mad Max franchise has always been a bit hit and miss, this homage to storytelling and the power of love is a cringey dud. Alithea Binnie (Tilda Swinton) is a narratologist. That mean she spends her life studying...

★★★★☆ There is such a thing as too famous. Elvis Presley, king of rock ‘n’ roll, was too famous. In Baz Luhrmann’s excellent new film, the life of the 20th century icon of American culture and music is viewed through the eyes of unreliable narrator, the so-called "Colonel" Tom Parker (Tom Hanks). A former conman and freak show operator turned music promoter, this thoroughly mysterious chap singlehandedly turned the unknown Elvis into the biggest music star on the planet. Elvis...

★★☆☆☆ Spanish director Albert Serra’s so-called "anti-thriller" takes place in French Polynesia. In it, the island’s High Commissioner, De Roller (Benoit Magimel), begins to hear rumours about France resuming nuclear testing in the area. He does see signs of movement too; engineers showing up, the navy, but isn’t sure if he’s misinterpreting their presence. The native islanders get antsy and pester De Roller for information. It’s a headache De Roller doesn’t need and he's sensitive to French Polynesia being a...

★★★★☆ Are you ready to feel the need for speed again? Top Gun: Maverick (2022), arriving 36 years after the Tony Scott original, is a fly into the danger zone you won’t forget in a hurry. While it’s had more delays than a Ryanair flight to Malaga, the wait is definitely worth it. If when Covid hit, Hollywood studios panicked, and put tentpole blockbusters out as Video On Demand releases, Cruise, as the film’s producer and a powerful industry figure,...

★★★★☆ 2017’s Japanese zombie comedy, One Cut of the Dead, became a word-of-mouth sensation on the festival circuit. Boasting a clever film-within-a-film setup, it revealed itself to be anything but the same old zombie apocalypse yarn, more a charming celebration of guerrilla filmmaking, artistic creativity, thinking on your feet and the little miracles that happen on a beleaguered film set. Fast forward to 2022, and Michel Hazanavicius’ wonderful French remake has opened the 75th Cannes Film Festival. The Oscar-winning filmmaker...

★★★★★ In the Iranian city of Mashhad, between 2000-2001, a serial killer murdered 16 prostitutes. Upon capture, Saeed Azimi told the authorities he was doing the work of God, cleaning his home city of vice and moral corruption. Many in the country appeared to believe him and rallied against his conviction, turning the case into a national phenomenon. Ali Abbasi’s grim drama about predatory evil dressed up as a religious cause begins as a textbook Hitchcockian homage before transforming into...

Veteran filmmaker Clint Eastwood has had one of the most enduring careers in the history of Hollywood, both behind and in front of the camera. Now on his eighth decade in the business, the 4 times Oscar-winner is still averaging a film a year even in the midst a global crisis. While his more recent output hasn’t always been met with the critical praise he's been accustomed to - who could forget the truly baffling 15:17 to Paris - his...

Villeneuve creates a work with points of access out of unwieldy source material

Perhaps Bond just isn't for me.