The King’s Speech

Every holiday season needs that film that promises to make the spirit soar. And in a year where the major awards contenders are films about insanity, gritty westerns, and loneliness, this is even more true. Thanks must go to our friends on the other side of the pond for exporting this inspirational, and quite brilliant film just in time  seasonal celebrations. Boiled down to it’s core, The King’s Speech, directed by Tom Hooper of The... Read More

Animal Kingdom

It’s difficult to think of more than a couple of really outstanding Australian films. There’s The Proposition of course. Then there’s Spaz Luhrman’s films.  In fact, on this list of prominent Australian films of the 2000s, I’ve seen exactly eight.  Two of those are Luhrman, one was Wolf Creek.  So a film as well recieved  as Animal Kingdom (ninety five percent approval on Rotten Tomatoes, and won the Grand Jury... Read More

The Hurt Locker

The war in Iraq is one touchy-ass subject. It borders on the obscene to make a profitable film about this conflict, especially if it’s kitsch, or overly trite.  Over the past five or six years, the surge of poorly made films, (which were only ever mildly entertaining at best), has rightly made moviegoers weary of such film fare. Fortunately, The Hurt Locker was placed in the most competent hands possible: those of director Kathryn Bigelow.... Read More

The Proposition

In preparation for the upcoming masterpiece (is it too early to call it that?) of cinema, The Road, I chose to watch 2005′s The Proposition since director John Hillcoat directed them both.  I’m not one for westerns, even if they take place in Australia (as The Proposition does), but this film is beautiful. Nick Cave wrote this script in under three weeks.  He also wrote the original score that accompanies the film (don’t worry,... Read More