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Totally believable (NOT!) comes this thrilling, high-octane, comedic actioner set in and around Brisbane and the Gold Coast. It concerns a runner, namely a person charged with transporting goods (potentially legal and illegal) from place to place – in essence, a driver for hire. In this case it is ex-military American strongman Hank Malone (Alan Ritchson), who knows how to handle himself. He returned from Afghanistan all messed up, having taken to the bottle. Along the

Inspired by fact, By Any Means is a historical crime thriller. On 10th January, 1966 US civil rights leader Vernon Dahmer (Giancarlo Esposito) was murdered in Mississippi by the Ku Klux Klan. The reason: his work on recruiting Black Americans to vote. With less than 40 per cent of eligible coloured voters registered, the businessman offered to pay the $2 poll tax* for those who couldn’t afford it. That prompted the ire of the KKK, led by Imperial Wizard Sam Bowers (Jos

If you are into monster movies, you are likely never to have seen anything quite as bizarre and extreme as this Korean mystery, science fiction thriller. The first 50 minutes presents the point of view of police chief Beom Seok (Hwang Jung-min) running around like a chook without a head. Why? Because he is trying to make sense of something terrorising the neighbourhood. At that point, we – the audience – have no idea of just what is scaring the bejesus out of everyone tha

The wild young adult days of former American celebrity chef and author Anthony Bourdain are captured in narcissistic detail in Tony. The narrative feature, starring Dominic Sessa as Bourdain, covers only a period of months in his life, but it is certainly telling. It is set in 1975. Using his wiles, 19-year-old Bourdain is angling for a writing fellowship at Vassar College. Never backward in coming forward, in a bar he hits on Nancy Putkoski (Emilia Jones), a former Hig

Kinky and sexually charged, I Want Your Sex is an erotic dark comedy. Naïve twenty-three-year-old Elliot (Cooper Hoffman) almost can’t believe the fact that he has just landed his first job after finishing university. It is working as an assistant to renowned, sexually provocative artist Erika Tracy (Olivia Wilde). Apart from anything else, it will mean that Elliot can finally pay his half of the rent to his best friend and roommate, the equally sensitive Apple (Chase S

Nearly two decades ago, an incident shattered a family and now the patriarch – a feted, but ailing author – is intent on making good before he drops off the mortal coil. Forever sickly, stumbling about, popping pills and turning to the bottle, his name is Andrew Dyer (Bill Nighy). He lives a reclusive life in an old mansion in the country, aided by a devoted housekeeper, Gerde (Anna Geislerová). With him, when he is not at boarding school, is his 17-year-old son Andy (No

A decidedly French dark comedy about the class divide, The Party’s Over involves a well to do family and their caretakers, who are at loggerheads. Parisian lawyer Philippe Trousselard (Laurent Lafitte) and his former actress wife Laurence de Preville (Elodie Bouchez) are spending the summer at their villa. That is in the south of France. With them is their daughter, Garance (Noee Abita), who also aspires to be an actress, and her boyfriend of four months, Mehdi El Glaoui

Jacob Elordi’s star continues to rise in the dystopian thriller The Dog Stars. Playing opposite another imposing leading man in Josh Brolin, I felt like I was watching an acting masterclass. We are in Erie, Colorado, near a mountain range on the south side of Denver. A deadly flu outbreak has claimed the majority of the Earth’s population. Among those that made it through, many are affected by a crippling blood disease. Now, the few survivors are forced to confront th

A most entertaining dinosaur movie, unlike any dinosaur movie you have seen before, The End of Oak Street is, in a word, surprising. It is 1982 and the Platt family live on a pleasant street in Flowerdale, Michigan, where it is not unusual for neighbours to come together and have fun. Aspiring novelist Denise (Anne Hathaway) is not in a good place mentally. She is contemplating divorcing her husband, Greg (Ewan McGregor), who doesn’t open up to her. She can’t understand

Isla Fisher has ample opportunity to show off her comedic acting chops in the girls’ buddy comedy Spa Weekend. Realised in the spirit of Bad Moms and The Hangover, she plays Mel, the most outrageous of a foursome who became firm friends at middle school. Gifted some choice lines and visual gags, Fisher is all over them. She doesn’t disappoint with a hugely spirited performance. So, to the plot: Life has gotten in the way of regular catch ups for the quartet. Arguabl

Pure evil threatens to bring the dead back into the world of the living in this sixth instalment of the supernatural horror franchise, which started in 2010. They are trapped in purgatory, an astral dimension known as The Further, and a young Pittsburgh mother and dentist, Gemma (Amelia Eve) holds the key. A malevolent entity, Cyrus (Sam Spruel) recognises that Gemma has the unique ability to travel back and forth between the real world and The Further. Gemma, who is a

Protests in the heart of Paris are rife. We are talking 2018. Society is on the precipice and people are struggling, so they pour their anger and dissatisfaction into verbal and violent demonstrations. Many are from the regions – first time protestors, families even, some who haven’t had cause to come to Paris before. Police numbers have been doubled to cope with the increasingly aggressive situation that confronts them on the streets. Officers have been pulled from o

It starts with a statement of fact, unbelievable though it may appear. Three years ago, the US government enacted a mandate banning premarital sex, except for one night a year and then only with protection. All is fair in love and war if you are married, but not if you are single. So, you can just imagine that that results in a lot of horny people hanging out for that 12-hour period (7pm to 7am). Still, the results of the ban have been significant. Unwanted teen pregna

Spider-Man is my favourite superhero. Having said that, Brand New Day really tested my patience. I felt every bit of its extended running time, and it is too convoluted for its own good. Further, time and again, it trawls back through previous instalments of the franchise. The subject matter is mind control. Spider-Man (Tom Holland) has all but single handedly been protecting New York City. So much so that major crime in all five boroughs is down. But Spidey’s real

A frustrating script that is badly developed, featuring forced acting and loose direction. That in a nutshell is the new Australian movie The Birthday Trip. It is pretentious, heavy handed and, in large measure, boring. No wonder it is hard to get patrons to spend good money to see Aussie films. Three couples drive to an upmarket weekend farm stay in the Southern Highlands to celebrate the girls’ 30th birthdays. The getaway has been organised by artist Clare Lapsley

A dystopian fantasy set in the Amazon, it concerns the fate of a resilient 77-year-old woman. Her name is Tereza (Denise Weinberg) and she has lived her whole life in a small, industrialised town, working on the production line at a local factory. She raised her daughter, Joana (Clarissa Pinheiro) on her own and now, in turn, Joana is also a mother and working hard, with little time for Tereza. The Brazilian government is at pains to point out that it wants to recognise t

Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is an epic retelling of one of the oldest surviving works of ancient Greek literature. Homer composed the poem Odyssey in the 8th or 7th centuries BC. It concerns the exploits of the king of Ithaca, Odysseus (Matt Damon), as he attempts to make his way home many years after the Trojan War. The war itself lasted a decade, and then another decade passed, during which time he and his crew encountered many otherworldly and natural obstacles.

Beautifully shot in Sápmi, the traditional homeland of the Sámi, the indigenous people of the Arctic, Árru is a slow burn, intense drama about deeply buried trauma. It concerns a family of reindeer herders whose ancestral land and livelihood is being threatened by a copper mining project. Single mother Maia (Sara Marielle Gaup Beaska) and her taciturn, chain-smoking brother Dánel (Simon Issát Marainen) are losing the battle. So, Maia calls on her older brother, the chari

This is one for stalwarts of the horror gore genre because it doesn’t hold back – in short, it is tense and traumatising. Demonic carnage is unleashed to terrorise a French woman who has married into an American family. Alice (Souheila Yacoub) is with her husband, restaurateur William (George Pullar), to celebrate Will’s younger brother, Joseph’s (Hunter Doohan) birthday. Also with them is Joseph’s girlfriend, Thya (Luciane Buchanan) when an argument between Will and Ali

Fun, colourful and emotionally resonant comes this live action reimaging of the popular Polynesian-based 2016 Disney movie Moana. The story remains the same, but its execution is a whole lot more difficult. Yet, the studio has pushed all the right buttons. This is the tale of young leader in the making, Moana (Catherine Lagaʻaia). She is the daughter of island chief Tui (John Tui) and his wife, Sina (Frankie Adams) and they live on the glorious, lush island of Motunui.