It does feel that the romantic comedy is becoming a lost art. Big movie studios no longer want to invest in it, and if we think back to the biggest one of 2019, it was the movie “Long Shot” starring the odd coupling of Charlize Theron and Seth Rogen. And while it was good and…
In the film, Sweet Country, set in the bleak Northern Territory of Australia of the 1920s, there is a brief interchange between a hard-working, though weary and aging Archie (Gibson John), an Aboriginal cattle hand, and a wayward teenage Aboriginal Philomac (played by the twins, Tremayne and Trevan Doolan). Archie lectures the boy about their…
A few weeks ago, a friend returned from her annual trip to her family’s farm, about two hours outside of Sydney. When she returned home, I was shocked to hear how common it was for people to hunt and shoot kangaroos, supported by photos of them proudly holding the slain marsupials by their feet. Confused…
The Down Under is home to danger — again. To the internet, Australia is “Nopeland,” deserving such a name after reading the various listicles or clips about lethal horrors that a person may find in the wild. Among them, crocodiles have had most success invading cineplexes, appendage-to-appendage with equally bloodthirsty bushmen. While we are waiting…
“And I shall rest my head between two worlds, in the Valley of the Vanquished” — Léolo, Jean-Claude Lauzon Whether Harvey Weinstein’s purpose in producing Lion was to add to his collection of Oscars or just to tell a sweet, heartfelt story about a lost boy searching for his home, the result is that he…
The conflict between satisfying one’s emotional needs and doing the right thing is spotlighted in Derek Cianfrance’s (“The Place Beyond the Pines”) intense drama The Light Between Oceans. Set in 1918, the film is based on M.L. Stedman’s debut novel, a work of sparse and understated beauty. Tom Sherbourne (Michael Fassbender, “X-Men: Apocalypse”), a traumatized…
Mad Max: Fury Road has an eclectic collection of keywords listed on its main IMDb page like: “desert,” “feminism,” “pregnant woman,” “exploding car,” “peak oil,” and “dark future.” Oddly enough, they’re all fairly accurate. The film, marking the fourth installment in George Miller’s “Mad Max” series (and the first without Mel Gibson), follows Max (now…
