Only the second and last driver to win a Formula One Grand Prix with his name on the bonnet, Bruce McLaren’s formidable legacy gets a fairly laudable treatment in Roger Donaldson’s new documentary. No stranger […]
Glen writes film reviews, features, commentary and covers festivals, events and interviews for a number of publications
Category: Reviews
THE BEGUILED
There are two films here – you might like one of them, and you may struggle to like both. Sofia Coppola’s The Beguiled, based on the novel by Thomas P. Cullinan, itself adapted by Don […]
PACMEN
No one wants to see how the sausage is made. You might however want to see this film. The Republican primary season of 2016 will inevitably be the subject of countless films and documentaries. One […]
OTHERLIFE
Fixing on a great idea or something you haven’t seen before isn’t easy – watching any flick is that much better when you know the filmmakers have floored their premise. Home-grown Aussie sci-fi OtherLife asks […]
THE FARTHEST
Imagine knowing that the first time extra-terrestrial life hears a human voice, it might be yours. Or better yet, Chuck Berry. Charting the Voyager project from the get-go to, as Star Trek fans can attest […]
MY NAME IS EMILY
Uplifting if wildly uneven, My Name is Emily will leave you with a smile on your face and no doubt scratching your head. Emily (Harry Potter’s Evanna Lynch) has had a rough time. Her […]
WIND RIVER
Taylor Sheridan. Remember that name. The Actor turned Writer and now Director blew away audiences with Sicario in 2015 and only a year later turned over Hell or High Water, the criminally underrated Oscars dark […]
THE FOREST OF LOST SOULS
Let’s go with glass half full. The debut feature by Portugese Director Jose Pedro Lopes, The Forest of Lost Souls, at least for the first Act, is engrossing horror. Set upon dying in a forest […]
I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO
“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” Director Raoul Peck’s I Am Not Your Negro is not a film that lends itself to casual nor […]
IT’S NOT YET DARK
An uplifting story for film-tragics, anyone familiar with the impact of Motor Neuron Disease, or both, It’s Not Yet Dark, unlike the many fictional stories that no doubt inspired its central figure, is all the […]
BETTER WATCH OUT
It’s one thing to be knocked off your feet by a top horror flick, it’s another entirely to find out they shot it down the road from your childhood home. Set in a quiet suburban […]
THE OTHER SIDE OF HOPE
Compelling if flawed, the one thing you can’t fault here is the title. Driving right at the heart of the radically different notions that makes this film tick, The Other Side of Hope manages to […]
INGRID GOES WEST
Ingrid Goes West, like so many good satires, is barely so. The growth of social media and Instagram in particular has not been the subject of broad filmic introspection as the industry, fairly contending with […]
THE WORKER’S CUP
Going beyond the headlines of Qatar’s controversial bid for the 2022 FIFA tournament, The Worker’s Cup focuses on a very different but by no means less compelling competition, that of the workers building the stadiums. […]
PHANTOM BOY
A boy. A cop. A reporter. A crime. A supervillain, and a phantom. Thankfully, there’s nothing too regular about French animation Phantom Boy, a pleasing fantasy feature for kids everywhere. Leo (Alex Gagnol), confined to […]
SPOOKERS
Filling an old psychiatric hospital with scary clowns who frighten tourists might seem like a strange way to spend your days, but then you haven’t met this family. The perfect backdrop for a theme park […]
THAT’S NOT ME
Sometimes all you need is a good lead and a good idea. Wannabee actress Polly Cuthbert (Alice Foulcher) has to deal with the newfound on-screen success of her identical twin sister (also, Alice Foulcher). Constantly […]
MRS K
It’s becoming increasingly apparent that criminals, assassins or anyone with a ‘particular set of skills’ won’t be enjoying an early retirement. Mrs K (prolific performer Kara Hui) and her husband are forced out of their […]
THE PARTY
The colourful personalities in The Party would make for better dinner guests than entertainment. Fusing the bottle society-comedies and Whitehall farces emblematic of Stoppard’s early output to which this effort doesn’t quite hold a candle, […]
UNA
Theatre, however powerful, often struggles to translate to film. Based on the play Blackbird, Una’s eponymous twenty-something (Rooney Mara) finally tracks down the man who abused her as a child (Ben Mendelsohn), too promising he […]
78/52
If someone asks you to name Alfred Hitchcock’s most enduring contribution to cinema, you’re probably going to say something about the shower scene in Psycho. Here’s a whole movie to tell you why. Iconic for […]
BRIGSBY BEAR
Imagine being stuck in a bunker for 25 years and your only point of pop culture reference was a bad TV show. A fish out of water in every sense, James (Saturday Night Live’s Kyle […]
