Background In 1993, Czechoslovakia dissolved into two independent states: Czech Republic (made up of the Bohemia and Moravia regions) and Slovakia. The 20th Century up until that point had been a turbulent time for the former country. After World War I, it gained independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire and grew into a socially and economically … Continue reading The European Masterpieces Part 4: Closely Watched Trains (1966 Jiří Menzel)
If Beale Street Could Talk (2018, Annapurna Pictures) Directed by Barry Jenkins. Featuring KiKi Layne, Stephan James, Regina King, Colman Domingo and Diego Luna. If Beale Street Cold Talk, based on the novel of the same name by James Baldwin, is a romantic drama set within a backdrop of early 1970s racial relations in New … Continue reading The Two Reviews: If Beale Street Could Talk and Alita: Battle Angel
Roma (2018, Mexico and US, on Netflix in Spanish with subtitles) Directed by Alfonso Cuarón. Featuring Yalitza Aparicio, Marina de Tavira, Jorge Antonio Guerrero, Marco Graf, Daniela Demesa, Diego Cortina Autrey, Carlos Peralta and Verónica García. As you may have heard, Roma is the highly acclaimed, award season favourite from Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón. It … Continue reading The Two Reviews: Roma and Cold War
Green Book (2018, Participant Media, DreamWorks, Innisfree and Cinetic Media) Directed by Peter Farrelly. Featuring Viggo Mortensen, Mahershala Ali and Linda Cardellini. Review 1 by Annabelle Davis Green Book follows the story of African-American jazz pianist Don Shirley (played by Ali) and his driver-come-bodyguard Tony Vallelonga (Mortensen), set in the early 1960s. Tony is a classic … Continue reading The Two Reviews: Green Book (2018 Peter Farrelly)
The Children Act (2018, FilmNation Entertainment and BBC Films) Directed by Richard Eyre. Featuring Emma Thompson, Stanley Tucci, Fionn Whitehead and Ben Chaplin. Based on a novel by Ian McEwan. This English-set drama follows the traumatic life choices surrounding religious objections to blood transfusions by Jehovah Witnesses. Seventeen year-old Adam (Whitehead) is dying and only … Continue reading The Two Reviews: The Children Act and Vice
First Man (2018, Universal, DreamWorks and Temple Hill Entertainment) Directed by Damien Chazelle. Based on First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrongby James R. Hansen. Featuring Ryan Gosling, Claire Foy, Jason Clarke, Kyle Chandler and Ciarán Hinds. So many movies have been made about space missions. At first I thought that First Man might just … Continue reading The Two Reviews: First Man and The Girl in the Spider’s Web
This film has only had a limited release but has been showing at special screenings across Australia. Language: Bengali (narrated in local Chittagonian dialect) – with English subtitles This film is a powerful tragi-romance about the struggle between power and love, a metaphor for life and death on the river Halda in southeast Bangladesh. The … Continue reading Review Special: Haldaa হালদা (2017 Tauquir Ahmed)
Australiana, noun - items relating to or characteristic of Australia. As the Australian film critic Luke Buckmaster pointed out recently, the madly popular 1980s blockbuster Crocodile Dundee not only gave the world a less than flattering impression of Australians, it was also racist, sexist and homophobic. As fun as it may have seemed when I … Continue reading A Slice of Australiana in Five Films
'...a vehicle for comedy and for showing character flaws...' This dark comedy was filmed in 33 days on a relatively small budget, released in late 2017 in the US and had a world release in January 2018. It has already picked up numerous awards. This doesn’t automatically qualify it as a great film, but to … Continue reading The Two Reviews: Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017 Martin McDonagh)
Murder on the Orient Express (Director, Kenneth Branagh. Featuring Kenneth Branagh, Judi Dench, Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Willem Dafoe, Daisy Ridley, Penelope Cruz, Lesley Odom, Derek Jacobi and Sergei Polunin) Everyone is on the same train i.e. The Orient Express. There is a murder most hideous and everyone is a suspect. I enjoyed this movie … Continue reading The Two Reviews: Murder on the Orient Express and Loving Vincent
