Tag Archives: USA

Interstellar (2014)

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Ah Matthew McConaughey, have I ever really loved any film you’ve been in? You’re often a charmer but it’s a smug, chauvinistic sort of charm, especially in those dreadful romcoms you did back ten years or more ago. Mud was okay but I’ve just scrolled through your filmography on IMDb and the answer, really, is no. So why did I bother with Interstellar? I had a vague impression that it was interesting and, being about space, I thought it might interest my Starship Troopers-loving husband whilst also engaging our brains. It did neither. Continue reading →

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2016)

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Image via indiewire.com

“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains.” And so begins Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. I had low hopes for this film as it came and went at the cinema within a few weeks, never a good sign. It combines two excellent genres though – Austen and horror – and was much, much better than I’d hoped. Regardless of it’s occasional flaws in logic and pacing, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies reimagines a classic where women are socially powerless and makes them warriors. Continue reading →

Heart of a Dog (2015)

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A missed MIFF film, thanks be to ACMI for screening some MIFF gems well before they might get a Nova season (or not). Heart of a Dog is Laurie Anderson’s rumination on death, wrapped loosely around stories of her dog Lolabelle. It is spoken word and a moving montage of illustrations, painterly home movies and text, seeming to skitter from one thought to another. Continue reading →

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (2016)

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A warning: if you’ve read the book this film is based on, you are likely to be outraged at the liberties taken with the plot. Well my 13 year old daughter, although prewarned by her older sister, spent a good half hour afterwards detailing the inconsistencies. Being blissfully ignorant, I quite enjoyed this Tim Burton fantasy of children with special peculiarities and the adults who try to protect and exploit them. Continue reading →

Louis Theroux: My Scientology Movie (2015)

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I’m a fan of Louis, in fact I’m booked to see him in Melbourne in September. Having said that, I was pretty sure what to expect from this feature length Louis-style documentary; an enjoyable and endearing ride that would teach me something but perhaps leave me feeling a little unsatisfied. And that’s just what I got. Let’s face it, Louis is not about hard hitting investigative journalism, what makes him special is his ability to hang around people without saying much which seems to provoke them to reveal more than they intend or realise. In this case, it is ex-members of the Church of Scientology and various current members who show their colours by their aggressive and bullying behaviour toward Louis and his team. Continue reading →

Zero Days (2016)

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If I’d seen this US documentary at the start of my MIFF journey, I suspect I may have given it a more positive review. On my second last day of the festival and slightly tired after 60+ films, I found the topic interesting but the storytelling technique overly dramatic and over-padded. It’s about the Stuxnet virus that turned up a few years back and its origin has been traced to US/Israeli intelligence, developed as a weapon to damage Iran’s nuclear enrichment factories. It’s worth a watch though if you can catch it on television someday. Continue reading →

Phantasm: Remastered (1979)

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1970s horror is pretty stupid. I should have realised this but, you know, it’s good to give things a go. Apparently Phantasm is a classic of 70s horror, inspiring many films and directors, including George Lucas. It is set in a small US town where brothers Mike and Tommy occasionally talk to each other. Mike attends the funeral of a friend who was killed by a bare breasted blonde in high heels in a cemetery and at the funeral home, Tommy sees strange things. Continue reading →

Girlfriends (1978)

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GIRLFRIENDS-2One of the great things about MIFF is that you get to see older films that you can’t easily access. I don’t book many of these as there are so many new films to see but I liked the sound of this 1978 one by director Claudia Weill. It’s a simple story about two room mates, Susan and Annie, whose friendship is tested when Annie moves out and gets married. Continue reading →

Certain Women (2016)

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CERTAIN-WOMEN-01A lovely film, beautifully told, this triptych of stories directed by Kelly Reichardt (Meek’s Cutoff) immerses us in the lives of three women, played by Laura Dern, Michelle Williams and a luminous Lily Gladstone (above). Each of the three stories has a small interconnection with the others but stands alone as a meditation on loneliness and the sad reality of our inability sometimes to help others. Continue reading →

Paterson (2016)

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PATERSON-2Directed by Jim Jarmusch and starring the seemingly ubiquitous Adam Driver, I was expecting something interesting but mainstream from Paterson. That’s not quite what this film is. On the surface it is an uneventful study of the routine of a single, ordinary life, with some humour provided by a dog. Underneath, it is a meditation on the difficulty of reengaging and finding meaning in life after military service, or perhaps any trauma. Continue reading →