This Month
Paddington in Peru loses the magic of the first films
In this third instalment, the bear travels “home” – and the franchise’s feel-good, pro-immigration spirit vanishes.
- David Sexton
December 2024
Not enough tang in this Christmas gravy movie
The film version of Paul Kelly’s seasonal anthem, How to Make Gravy, has its moments but borrows too many ingredients from the very Australian genre of sozzled social realism.
- Michael Bodey
November 2024
Hugh Grant is a charming, bashful serial killer in Heretic
The English actor has come a long way from Bridget Jones in this preposterous, yet mostly fun horror film.
- Pippa Bailey
Gladiator II is a dumber, prettier rerun of the original
Paul Mescal is no Russell Crowe, but to paraphrase old Maximus from the first Gladiator: you will still be entertained by its sequel.
- Michael Bodey
October 2024
Final Venom film is trilogy’s least biting
The anti-hero of Spider-Man’s world is mostly just the enemy of entertainment in the $180 million-budget Venom: The Last Dance.
- Robbie Collin
In ‘Smile 2’, a grin becomes a very bad thing
The “smile curse” from Parker Finn’s 2022 horror hit is going around again, this time in the hothouse world of a pop star.
- Beatrice Loayza
- Opinion
- AFR Weekend
When Superman became a real-life hero
A new documentary on Superman actor Christopher Reeve, who became a quadriplegic after a 1995 accident, packs an emotional punch.
- Tim Robey
Impractical Joker sequel will split the fans
Part musical, part prison saga, part courtroom drama, this ambitious follow-up to the 2019 hit about Batman’s nemesis may struggle to recoup its $300m budget.
- John McDonald
No wonder Coppola had to pay for Megalopolis with his own money
This Roman orgy of a film, 40 years in the making, warns of end of days for America – but more likely just means the end of the director’s career.
- John McDonald
September 2024
Margot Robbie’s ‘My Old Ass’ is a bummer
This lame coming-of-age story, produced by the megastar, is no Barbie. Meanwhile, 85-year-old Ian McKellen hams it up megalomaniacally in The Critic.
- John McDonald
Demi Moore gives performance of her life in shocking ‘The Substance’
There’s a self-referential note to the ’90s superstar’s role in Coralie Fargeat’s fable about ageism, making it doubly compelling.
- John McDonald
Art’s greatest couple get the biopic treatment
Pierre Bonnard, France’s most important 20th century artist after Matisse, painted wife Marthe hundreds of times. This film shows their deep and tumultuous bond.
- John McDonald
In Beetlejuice sequel, Michael Keaton looks the same 36 years on
The actor delivers a barnstorming performance as the fast-talking sleazebag demon in Tim Burton’s comedic vision of the Afterlife as a nightmarish bureaucracy.
- John McDonald
August 2024
‘Kneecap’ and ‘Touch’: edgy Irish hip-hop and an Icelandic romance
The fictionalised biopic of a loud, incomprehensible band has a rough and ready quality, while a heart-warming drama somehow manages to keep the lid on the treacle jar
- John McDonald
Blink Twice film review – billionaires behaving badly
Zoe Kravitz’s directorial debut stars Channing Tatum as a tech bro with dark predilections.
- John McDonald
Alien: Romulus – this film floats like a giant piece of astro-junk
After seven chapters, the series has become utterly predictable, cluttered with the bodies of dead characters and fossilised storylines.
- John McDonald
Sleeping Dogs movie review: Russell Crowe in top form in this thriller
Crowe’s performance in the lead role reminds us what a fine actor he is in this slow-burner that occasionally erupts into violent action.
- John McDonald
Deadpool & Wolverine film review – on its way to cinematic immortality
This “action-comedy” has more blood-letting than any other superhero movie, but its “R” rating hasn’t stopped it making financial history.
- John McDonald
July 2024
Movie reviews – Gothic Aussie Birdeater and old-school B flick MaXXXine
This dark, ugly chiller set in the bush is hard to fathom, but fiendishly dumb B-grader MaXXXine at least entertains.
- John McDonald
‘Fly Me To The Moon’ review: Johansson shines in space age romcom
Director Greg Berlanti’s would-be screwball comedy is not concerned with plausibility – he wants us to be seduced by the characters.
- John McDonald