Loosely adapting the popular television series, The Equalizer reunites star Denzel Washington with his Training Day director Antoine Fuqua. If only the result was half as engaging as that film. In truth, The Equalizer is a lazy and overly padded bore. Washington plays … Continue reading REVIEW: The Equalizer (2014)
I want to tell you about In the Dust of the Stars, known in its original German as Im Staub der Sterne. It is a relatively obscure science fiction film produced in 1976. The film is many things. It is odd. It … Continue reading “What kind of help do you need?” | In the Dust of the Stars (1976)
In a world experiencing a widespread viral outbreak, and with most cinemas closed and scheduled releases delayed, it has been a hard year for audiences seeking popular big-screen entertainment. Thankfully Netflix has been taking great advantage of the ‘new normal’, … Continue reading REVIEW: Enola Holmes (2020)
2020 has been one hell of a year, with the world facing an ongoing coronavirus pandemic. It seems either fitting, then – or perhaps deeply inappropriate – to revisit Robert Wise’s 1971 science fiction thriller The Andromeda Strain. Based on … Continue reading REVIEW: The Andromeda Strain (1971)
He Ping, the Chinese director best known for his international arthouse hit Red Firecracker Green Firecracker, is also the director of an intriguing trilogy of ‘Chinese westerns’. In these films He developed a combination of wuxia-style stories of heroic feudal warriors … Continue reading REVIEW: Swordsmen in Double Flag Town (1991)
An aspiring filmmaker returns home to Washington DC, intending to research a screenplay about the street where he lived – only to find that the past is gone, and for some there is no going back. In a year where … Continue reading REVIEW: Residue (2020)
Let’s talk about Gone in 60 Seconds, Dominic Sena’s 2000 car racing flick loosely inspired by H.B. Halicki’s 1974 cult favourite of the same name. This remake turns 20 years old this year, and is – let us be honest … Continue reading REVIEW: Gone in 60 Seconds (2000)
Ng Kau-Sau (Josie Ho) was a champion badminton player, but her poor attitude and aggressive style saw her career shattered. Now she’s overweight, depressed and working in her brother’s restaurant – until a chance encounter involving a meteorite and a … Continue reading REVIEW: Full Strike (2015)
Robert Roy MacGregor was born in 1671 near Loch Katrine in Scotland’s Perthshire. As a young man, like many Scottish patriots, he was drawn to the 1689 Jacobite uprising – an armed rebellion to restore Stuart dynasty rule to the … Continue reading “Neither asked nor given” | Rob Roy (1995)
There is a very good argument to be made that I, a white middle-aged Australian man, am not qualified to critique Black is King. Beyoncé Knowles-Carter’s self-described ‘visual album’ premiered earlier this year on streaming service Disney+. This 85-minute film acts … Continue reading REVIEW: Black is King (2020)
