Don’t you hate it when the ending lets you down? The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 didn’t have to try too hard to be a popular, or even a good film. Coming off the […]
Author: Glen on the Big Smoke
Glen produces film, theatre and television reviews and commentary for a number of publications, covering festivals, interviews and events.
Glen lives in Sydney, Australia and enjoys making short films.
His views are his own.
Glen tweets @GlenFalkenstein
BURNT
Bradley Cooper is front and centre in Burnt as troubled chef Adam Jones. Originally titled Chef, the film is based on Michelin-starred celebrity cook Gordon Ramsay who, amongst others, collaborated closely with Cooper to develop […]
BLACK MASS
Johnny Depp is James “Whitey” Bulger: notorious Boston gangster, FBI informant and confidant of childhood friend/Agent John Connolly (Joel Edgerton). Benedict Cumberbatch plays Whitey’s politician brother with Kevin Bacon, Dakota Johnson and Breaking Bad’s Jesse Plemons […]
THE INTERN
In The Intern, Robert De Niro plays Ben, a retired looking-for-fulfilment type, who is recruited as a senior intern to the younger, highly motivated dotcom wiz, Jules (Anne Hathaway). You know Ben’s older, because he doesn’t […]
Licence to surmise: Who will be the next Bond?
Daniel Craig is only just suiting up for the release schedule of his fourth (and by no means final) James Bond outing, while the world is already debating who should fill the shoes of the iconic […]
SICARIO
“In Mexico, Sicario means hitman.” The phenomenally talented Benicio Del Toro deserves the opportunity to headline a competent thriller, something he’s been denied for some time. Del Toro gets his chance with the mesmerisingly brutal Sicario, […]
Gyllenhaal’s knockout punch: Southpaw
Jake Gyllenhaal knows what a career-defining moment looks like – he’s had several. Hitting the big-time at twenty with cult favourite Donnie Darko, this generation’s Dustin Hoffman has continued to refine his image across any […]
SF3 Festival: Smartphones creating the future cinema classics
“There are feature films being made on smartphones now, so for all the finalists, your dreams can be bigger.” A presenter accurately pitched the inaugural festival to a theatre full of finalists, families and keen […]
VACATION
Remember those family vacations you used to take as a kid? Remember those movies about family vacations you used to watch as a kid? Did your childhood also involve long, music-filled car trips where you […]
THE GIFT
Joel Edgerton has a lot of options open to him. Riding the wave of the Australian hit, the Animal Kingdom star can and has gone for a number of big-budget Hollywood roles, in Exodus: Gods and Kings, […]
ROBOT OVERLORDS
This had the potential to be an amazing movie. With the opening line already a slap in the face to conventional wisdom and logical plot development, on par with 2012‘s “the neutrinos have mutated” – this sci-fi […]
7 CHINESE BROTHERS
The lyrics of R.E.M’s lesser-known hit ‘7 Chinese Brothers,’ for which the film is named, do little to make sense of this elusive comedy, or at least make sense of the title. But that’s kind of […]
The Man from U.N.C.L.E
The latest popular ’60s TV show to get a modern remake, director Guy Ritchie has emerged from a series of awful missteps with a glitzy, stylish, action-filled adaptation of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. American super-agent Napoleon […]
SELF/LESS
In 2009, Buffy creator Joss Whedon captured our imaginations with the short-lived Dollhouse, a sci-fi action series where the minds of deceased, frail, creative and/or uber-rich people could be implanted into living hosts or dolls, […]
Magic Mike XXL
Arriving at the Magic Mike XXL premiere, we were greeted by a line of shirtless men with more six-packs on display than a Dan Murphy’s on Origin night. Waiting nearby while my friend took a […]
Mr Holmes – Clueless, my dear Watson
Based on Mitch Cullin’s novel A Slight Trick of the Mind, Sir Ian McKellen plays a 93-year-old Sherlock, wiling away his retirement on the Dover coast and slowly losing his great faculties. Replacing Dr Watson […]
Women He’s Undressed
Where would anyone be without their clothes? Once Australia’s most prolific Oscar-winner, famed costumer designer Orry-Kelly is the subject of this affectionate, quirky and telling Gillian Armstrong documentary (enjoying its world premiere in Sydney this week) of its subject’s Hollywood […]
Phoenix
In a jarring homage to Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo, Phoenix, Glen Falkenstein finds that like so many of the great director’s thrillers, Phoenix is all about the ending. Set shortly after the end of the Second World […]
The Smell of Us
“He’s a peacock who drags his little ass through Paris.” So a mother unflatteringly teases her son Math (Lukas Ionesco), a teenage escort for older men, before proceeding to mount him and demand affection. Larry Clark’s […]
Slow West
New Zealand doubling as 19th century Colorado? Yes, and done brilliantly and humorously, in Michael Fassbender’s latest film, Slow West. “Let’s drift” Macabre cinema can best be described by that old steak pun – it’s […]
Far from the Madding Crowd
Having seen Far from the Madding Crowd at this year’s SFF, Glen Falkenstein concludes that sometimes, casting just works. Heiress Bathsheba Everdene (Carey Mulligan) takes over a large farm and property in the latest Thomas […]
