I saw I, TONYA last night and it really caught me off guard. At its core it's about abuse and obsession, and it so successfully oscillates between dark uncomfortable humour and moments where the tragic human face behind the sensationalism is revealed. Margot Robbie is brilliant.
SWEET COUNTRY confirms yet again that Warwick Thornton is one of Australia's most important filmmakers. Steeped in Australia's brutal colonialist past and evoking other contemporary classics such as THE PROPOSITION and THE TRACKER, SWEET COUNTRY continually defies and undermines genre expectations with its masterful command of film style and its confronting tale of racism and injustice. My favourite film released this month.
FACES PLACES will be screening around Melbourne soon and I loved it. It's one of the end results of a glorious collaboration between iconic French filmmaker Agnès Varda and photographer/muralist JR. Following the pair as they create giant portraits of people they meet by chance in regional France, this sweet, moving, funny and playful film is an exploration of friendship, the artist process, personal identity and embracing the new.
THE SHAPE OF WATER is the first film release this year I'm really excited about. Guillermo del Toro's best film in a decade, it's a wonderful fantasy-horror-romance film that provides a new variation on one of my favourite tropes: the misunderstood monster. Reminding me of both Terry Gilliam and Tim Burton at their best, this is still distinctively a del Toro film where the horror, grief and beauty of humanity is expressed through a dark fantastic tale of love and desire.
I finished up on Plato's Cave last night playing film scores and songs from films that screened in Melbourne this year. There won't be a podcast version, but you can listen back via Triple R - 3RRR 102.7FM's Radio On Demand service at http://ondemand.rrr.org.au/grid/20171211190000
For the final regular Plato's Cave of 2017 (I'll be back next week doing a film music show) we all got together for one last time to discuss our favourite films released in Melbourne this year.
Full details, listen back online, podcast subscription link etc: https://www.rrr.org.au/program/plato-s-cave…
Direct podcast link: goo.gl/fb/ZhncPF
On this week's episode of Plato's Cave we discuss THE ORNITHOLOGIST, THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER and LUCKY.
Full details, listen back online, podcast subscription link etc: https://www.rrr.org.au/program/plato-s-cave…
Direct podcast link: goo.gl/fb/eq5KMY
On Plato's Cave this week we discuss MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (1977) and DETROIT.
Full details, listen back online, podcast subscription link etc: https://www.rrr.org.au/program/plato-s-cave…
Direct podcast link: goo.gl/fb/YgThLr
Earlier today I was on ABC RN Books and Arts to discuss Agatha Christie's classic 1934 novel MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS and the recent film adaptation by Kenneth Branagh.
I love the premise of the new podcast Doctor Who and the Episodes of Death where guests go on to argue the case for Doctor Who stories that the fanbase tends not to care for. So I was thrilled to be this month's guest where I got to defend the 1968 2nd Doctor story THE KROTONS!
Hello secondary school students and teachers! The new edition of my text book on how to write about films is out now through Insight Publications. I've added new writing samples, updated the terminology and updated a stack of the film examples.
THE MEYEROWITZ STORIES (NEW AND SELECTED), THOR: RAGNAROK and BRIGSBY BEAR are discussed on Plato's Cave this week.
Full details, listen back online, podcast subscription link etc: https://www.rrr.org.au/program/plato-s-cave…
Direct podcast link: goo.gl/fb/PPZozD
