Piranha 3D (Review)

Piranha 3D can be summarised, and reviewed, in just two simple words:

3D boobies.

Guys, be sure to sit extra close to the front. You can thank me later. Girls, I guess it’s just you and me now.

Directed by French (mad)man Alexadre Aja (Mirrors), Piranha 3D is a tongue-in-cheek horror movie about – surprise! – flesh-eating Piranhas. And yes, it’s as tacky and silly as it sounds, but deliberately so. Just [...]

Despicable Me (Review)

Sometimes in cinema, we see a movie that can’t really be criticised without sounding as if we expect everything to be a masterpiece. Sometimes a film will exhibit obnoxious, uninspired, lazy or subjectively displeasing elements that we can confidently criticise and openly disapprove of. However, if your biggest criticism of the picture is: “it’s no Citizen Kane” or “it’s no Shawshank Redemption”, you truly have nothing substantial to dislike. For me, this situation applies to Despicable Me; the latest computer [...]

Splice (Review)

Ever since Frankenstein first came alive in the early 20^th century, filmmakers have constantly reminded us of  the potential horrors of playing God in the laboratory. And just in case Flubber or The Nutty Professor 2 wasn’t incentive enough to put down those test tubes, here comes indie writer/director Vincenzo Natali — best known for his existential cult hit Cube — with the provocative sci-fi horror Splice.

But viewer discretion is advised; Natali’s mostly solemn treatment [...]

The Waiting City (Review)

The Waiting City, the second feature from Australian writer/director Claire McCarthy (Cross Life), is really quite a beautiful and poignant cross-cultural drama. It’s just a shame that it takes a while for this to become apparent.

Set against the lively backdrop of Calcutta, the cultural capital of India, the film follows an Australian couple’s attempt to adopt a child in hope that it will mend their troubled marriage. Fiona (Radha Mitchell; Finding Neverland) is an anxious [...]

Grown Ups (Review)

For the Adam Sandler we’ve come to know and love over the years, ‘are you ever going to grow up?’ is a question fans have watched him struggle to answer time and time again. And while Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore and even the Water Boy Himself, Bobby Boucher Jr., have found it tough to live up to society’s expectations of maturity and the appropriate expressions of Masculinity, Sandler proves once again with Grown Ups and his lead role [...]

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (Her Review)

With the opening image of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, the franchise reveals its own piece of Adelaide; Xavier Samuel’s introduction to Hollywood couldn’t possibly be any bigger. The tasty morsel you can sink your teeth into provides a good introduction to the best film in the series yet – an unexpected surprise that reveals the lack of standard the first two truly set.