Category Archives: Movie Reviews

Bring Him to Me – Movie Review

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TL;DR – An oddly tense film about bringing a man to his coming fate.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I paid to see this film.

A masked man with a gun.

Bring Him to Me Review –

One of the perks of being a film reviewer in Australia is watching Aussie films make it to the big screen. Even more so when they have filmed the movie around where you live, and you get to play the game ‘Wait, I know that bridge’. Well, today we get to review that hits both these marks as it galivants pair towards danger.

So to set the scene, we open in on a robbery in progress, where a money cleaner (Sam Neill) is very put out by having his night ruined. Even more so when they threaten his son (Zac Garred). The next day, the Driver (Barry Pepper) is called by his Boss (Rachel Griffiths) because everything went wrong the night before. Something has to have caused it, so the Driver needs to pick up one of the other members of the robbery, The Kid (Jamie Costa), who stuffed it up and, as the title implies, bring him to her.  

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Uproar – Movie Review

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TL;DR – An emotional punch to the face as it explores the power of finding your identity.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I paid to see this film

A sign that says "Justice for Black South Africa, Justice for Brown New Zealand would be nice to!"

Uproar Review –

At the time of writing, we are in the middle of the Brisbane International Film Festival or, more affectionately, BIFF. So many films were on offer that you needed to sort through all the entries before being paralysed by indecision. For me this year, I decided to prioritise Aussie and Kiwi films, and with that in mind, you will see a couple of these entries over the coming days. Our first entry from BIFF explores the need to find your identity and how that shapes us as people.

So to set the scene, it is 1981, and the South African Rugby Team, the Springbok, are currently touring New Zealand. Given an intentionally racist Apartheid political system that still runs South Africa, this tour is quite controversial, and there are protests everywhere the team plays. It is within this world that Josh Waaka (Julian Dennison) is trying to find his voice. He is surviving High School by hiding in the library each lunchtime, but he is not thriving at any level. Much of his out-of-school time is spent on odd jobs helping his mother Shirley (Minnie Driver) and the family survive and assisting his brother Jamie (James Rolleston) in his physical therapy recovery from an accident. But as these protests cause a reckoning in the country, they also force Josh to reflect on his own identity.  

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Five Nights at Freddy’s – Movie Review

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TL;DR – It captures the feel of the video games, though the added narrative might not work for everyone.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a mid-credit scene.

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film.

Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza

Five Nights at Freddy’s Review –

In the not-so-distant past, if you heard the words ‘video game adaptation’, it would provoke a feeling of instant cringe. At best, they were okay, often terrible, and much of the time, they were embarrassed about the very material they were adapting. But 2023 has bucked that trend with The Last of Us and Gran Turismo, some of the many knocking it out of the park. Well, it is time to see if they can keep this run going and terrify me simultaneously.   

So to set the scene, we open in on a man (Ryan Reinike) in clear distress as he crawls through some vents, desperate to escape, but no exit can be found. Sometime later, Mike Schmidt (Josh Hutcherson) is desperately looking for a new job after mistaking a father grabbing his kid for a predator. If he can’t get a job, he will lose custody of his sister Abby (Piper Rubio) to their awful Aunt Jane (Mary Stuart Masterson). With very few options left, he takes a security gig at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. It was once all the rage but has sat chiefly abandoned since the 1980s. All Mike must do is sit in the security room and keep an eye on the place, but no one told him the place might be keeping an eye on him.

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The Retaliators – Movie Review

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TL;DR – It plays with some interesting concepts and an ocean of blood but does not quite stick the landing.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I was sent a screener of this film.

Warning – This film depicts scenes of abuse.

A man at a graveyard.

The Retaliators Review –

I remember seeing a trailer for this film last year and being intrigued by the concept. Is there a pressure point so severe that it would turn a peaceful person to use violence? I wondered when we would get it here in Australia, so I was intrigued when the screener arrived to see how it would explore that central issue.

So to set the scene, after hearing some musing on evil, we found ourselves near Hillsdale, New Jersey. When a tire bursts, two women are trying to take a shortcut near a local slaughterhouse stop to change it, not knowing the horror they found themselves in. We then encounter John Bishop (Michael Lombardi) and his family. John is a local pastor who does not believe in using violence to solve his problems. However, this will be tested when his daughter Sarah (Katie Kelly) accidentally stumbles across a crime and is chased down by Ram Kady (Joseph Gatt), a father’s worst nightmare.

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Loki: Breaking Brad – TV Review

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TL;DR – A follow-up that plays with intensity and emotions.  

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Disney+ subscription that viewed this show.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no End-Credit Scene.

The Temporal Loom.

Loki Review –

Last week, we dived into the first episode of Loki’s second season with Ouroboros, and to be clear, we came in with a bit of trepidation. But after a solid first episode, it made me a touch more assured, even more so as we end the follow-up today.  

So to set the scene, the TVA is barely holding on by the seams as timeline after timeline branches off. At the same time, OB (Ke Huy Quan) is trying to find a way to help the temporal loom handle all the new branching timelines. Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and Mobius (Owen Wilson) are desperately trying to find Sylvie (Sophia di Martino) before it all falls apart. They have one hint: a temp pad used by Hunter X-5 / Brad Wolfe (Rafael Casal). But when they return to 1977, London, they find that Hunter X-5 has become Brad Wolfe, actor extraordinaire. We will be looking at the episode as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Star Wars: Ahsoka – Part Eight: The Jedi, The Witch, and The Warlord & Full Season – TV Review

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TL;DR – A lacklustre conclusion to a solid season.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Disney+ service that viewed this series.

A Star Destroyer docked at the temple.

Ahsoka Review –

Well, we have reached the end of what turned out to be Ahsoka’s first season, and I came into this series with a bit more trepidation than any of the other Star Wars series. I did not watch Star Wars: The Clone Wars or Star Wars Rebels growing up, and I wondered how much that would have hindered me starting here. But as we reach the end, I am a little more confident about where we are and, surprisingly, where we will go from here.

So to set the scene, after fighting, flying, and finding across multiple galaxies, Ahsoka (Rosario Dawson), Sabine (Natasha Liu Bordizzo), and Ezra (Eman Esfandi) are finally reunited on Peridea. However, while this is a joyous moment, there is no time to celebrate because time is running out. Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen) has been filling his star destroyer with its cargo, and it will soon be ready to fly back home. They must act fast to stop the tyrant and the last lingering remnant of the Imperial Order. But time is not on their side as their ship crashes to the ground. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode and season as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.  

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The Exorcist: Believer – Movie Review

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TL;DR – It is a stunningly tense affair that gets closer to the original than I think people expected.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film.

Katherine walks down the ailse of a church covered in communion wine.

The Exorcist: Believer Review –

One of the jobs I set for myself this year was to explore the world of horror more. It was an area that was a bit of a blind spot for me, and I needed to engage with it a bit more. While I am not sure if I have been as successful with that as I would have liked. However, M3GAN, Outpost, and Evil Dead Rise have helped. But I am not sure that anything will prepare me for The Exorcist.

So to set the scene, one morning, Katherine (Olivia Marcum) and Angela (Lidya Jewett) go to school, and they disappear, vanishing until they are found walking in the forest disorientated. The girls think they have been gone for hours but have been missing for three days. Their parents are just happy to have them home, that is, until they start acting odd, dangerously odd. For you see, it might not have been just the girls who returned home that evening, and traditional medicine might not have the answer.

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The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A fascinating literary turducken that captivates you.  

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I paid for the Netflix service that viewed this film.

A writers writing room.

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar Review –

In the last week, we have looked at first The Rat Catcherand thenPoison, two fascinating adaptations of Roald Dahl’s short stories by Wes Anderson. It was at this point that I discovered that they were from a group of four that were released, and I had missed the first two. Well, that can not do, so we got back to the start with The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, which may have given some critical context for the ones that followed.

So to set the scene, we open with ‘a writer’ (Ralph Fiennes) explaining their process of getting ready to write when he introduces us to Henry Sugar (Benedict Cumberbatch). Henry is a rich man and one of the many useless rich people floating around like seaweed in the world. But Henry liked to bet. So, on one wet and dreary day, he drifted through a grand house till he came across a peculiar book in the library, A Report on Imdad Khan: The Man Who Sees Without His Eyes by Dr. Z.Z. Chatterjee, dated December 1935, Calcutta. Henry was immediately engrossed with the tale.  

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The Eight Mountains (Le Otto Montagne) – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A profound exploration of a deep plutonic friendship that lasts through the ages.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I paid to watch this film.

The Sun rising over a mountain top.

The Eight Mountains Review –

Cinema has a long history of being able to chart romantic or sexual relationships. Indeed, we have entire genres dedicated to their exploration. But what we don’t see engaged with as often is close platonic relationships. Which is odd because everyone has them, but rarely do they become the focus of a film. Well, today, we explore a film that cuts to the heart of just such a relationship as two wayward souls crash into each other and spin apart.

So to set the scene, Pietro’s (Lupo Barbiero) family decided to get out of the clawing bustle of Turin in the summer and escape into the mountains. They picked a town almost abandoned by people leaving to find work to rent a house, which is where he meets Bruno (Cristiano Sassella). It would have been hard for them to miss each other as Bruno was the last child left in the village, but they soon became inseparable. But Pietro is just there for the summer, and Bruno is there for life, which sets them on two very different paths.

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Poison – Movie Review

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TL;DR – Tense, engaging, and captivating.    

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I paid for the Netflix service that viewed this film.

the bungalow.

Poison Review –

After watching The Rat Catcher last night, I discovered it was not just a one-off, with Wes Anderson producing several of Roald Dahl’s short stories. With that in mind, I needed to see if they were all as absurdly compelling as the first, and I jumped into Poison.  
                          
It was midnight when Timber Woods (Dev Patel) drove home, trying not to wake his roommate. He should not have bothered because Harry (Benedict Cumberbatch) was still awake. Perplexed, Woods stuck his head in to see how he was when a barely audible whisper sang out ‘Help!‘.  

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