We’re a nation of cinematic tradies, not artists
The threat of Trump’s film tariffs has revealed the extent to which Australia has become a service industry for international film rather than a country that invests in its own creativity.
Film
Actor with accent on versatility
Cosmo Jarvis went from drawing samurai swords as the hero of Shogun to playing an American sniper in Warfare. It took him to his limit.
Trump tariff threat ‘kick in the guts’ for local film industry
The Gold Coast has spent decades trying to attract filmmakers to the famed glitter strip; mayor Tom Tate laments the potential effects of Donald Trump’s proposed tariff.
Hollywood wanted Trump to bring movie-making home but not like this
Jon Voight meet Donald Trump last weekend to plead for help in stemming the exodus of film and TV production to other countries – 100 per cent tariffs wasn’t what he asked for.
Trump’s monster film tariffs unspool a disaster for movie-making
Donald Trump’s plan to impose a 100 per cent tariff on ‘any and all’ movies made in ‘foreign lands’ carries significant economic and cultural consequences.
Ocean with David Attenborough: All aboard for must-sea doco
This documentary is the least beautiful film the British biologist, natural historian, conservationist, broadcaster and filmmaker has made. This is intentional.
‘They couldn’t stop me if they wanted to’
She may be playing a ‘blindly optimistic’ character, but Emma Lung can clearly see it was a punt she took on herself which led to a plum role starring opposite Australian television royalty.
Dundee has been sanitised but it’s still a good movie
Some frames involving Mick and a cross-dresser are among those that have been deleted from Crocodile Dundee: The Encore Cut, the restored and edited 4K cut of Australia’s most commercially successful film.
Blake Lively has a new movie – promoting it is a minefield
The actress has done minimal publicity for ‘Another Simple Favour,’ when experts say any wrong move could be used against her by Justin Baldoni and his attorneys
Uncovering a filmmaker’s lies about Nazi atrocities
A new documentary draws on previously unreleased archival material to challenge Leni Riefenstahl’s claims she knew nothing about the Holocaust and other Nazi atrocities.
The actress giving Tom Cruise a run for his money in Mission: Impossible
With roles that demand both discipline and danger, Pom Klementieff has trained with wolves, boxed for parts, and learned to skydive on Tom Cruise’s recommendation.
Culture of Anzac: Dawning of the ‘fair go’ nation
Australia’s World War I legend still informs the Australian mind and identity, in mysterious and compelling ways.
Tina review — a tested format lifted with warmth
Samoan-born Miki Magasiva’s bittersweet debut follows a grieving teacher and a ragtag choir on a redemptive journey.
Hysteria review — a tense exploration of immigration
In Mehmet Akif Buyukatalay’s shrewdly-plotted film an accidental Koran burning on a film set ignites a taut ideological thriller.
With movies about Michael Jackson and Madonna on the way, do we really need another biopic?
There’s an avalanche of music biopics coming our way, but summing up an artist’s life in a few hours can be tricky business.
‘I ended up with no sex and a penguin’
Steve Coogan is at his wry best in The Penguin Lessons, a comedy-drama set on the eve of the 1976 Argentinian coup.
‘The battle scenes in Warfare are brutal and merciless’
This visceral film follows a group of US Navy SEALs over the course of one day in Ramadi in western Iraq and is based on the memories of the soldiers who were there.
Kansas to Vegas: AI the new wizard of Oz
Google invented techniques to enhance resolution and generated new character performances to bring the 1939 film to the giant screen.
Inside a journalist’s nightmare story of detention
As I watched Richard Roxburgh’s understated performance, I wondered if the internal strength Peter Greste needed to survive was one of the traits that made him an award-winning war correspondent.
Play the president? Hell yeah!
Viola Davis has won every major acting award, but how will she fare in an action film set at the G20?
The Count of Monte Cristo review – an absolute pleasure
This spirited adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’ 1844 novel is almost three hours long yet passes in a heartbeat.
Asylum-seeker’s award-winning role as illegal delivery driver imitates real life
Abou Sangare’s prize-winning turn in Story of Souleymane is just one of the highlights of the 2025 Alliance Francaise French Film Festival, the biggest showcase of Gallic movies outside France.
Small Things Like These review — trouble in the convent
Oscar-winner Cillian Murphy plays a man who witnesses Ireland’s now-notorious Magdalene Laundries in this quietly powerful adaptation of Claire Keegan’s 2021 novella.
Actors playing The Beatles in Sam Mendes’ biopics unveiled
The Oscar-winning director will bring the Fab Four back to the big screen with The Beatles – A Four-Film Cinematic Event, an ambitious multi-part biopic touted the first ‘binge-able theatrical experience’.
This five-star gift of a film made me weep
With incredible performances by Richard Gere, Uma Thurman and Australia’s Jacob Elordi, this film had a profound effect on me. When it ended I needed to sit in the cinema for quite a while to gather myself.
Revolution of John and Yoko
Not just ‘another Beatles film’, a new documentary looks at John Lennon and Yoko Ono, and their post-Beatles life in America.
Epic fail? Interrogating cinema’s ancient history problem
Christopher Nolan is set to tackle Homer’s epic on the big screen but one academic says the film will only succeed if it adheres to one theme.
The one thing missing from Crocodile Dundee doco
While it deals with the famous knife scene, Love of an Icon fails to capture these important details of Paul Hogan’s personal life.
Believe the anti-hype. Disney’s Snow White really is that bad
Drama? Story? Character? Nope. These are, it seems, decadent tools of the oppressor. The new Snow White movie is a new low — and a crisis point for Disney.
Depardieu stands trial for alleged sexual assaults on film set
The French actor is facing charges of sexually assaulting two women on a movie set, in a case seen as a potential watershed for the #MeToo movement in France.
Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/film/page/3