I really need to see more of Thomas McCarthy’s films. If his other films, The Station Agent and The Visitor, are as good as Win Win, I have been seriously missing out. Some critics, though enjoying the film, have labeled Win Win ‘uncharacteristically safe’ for the McCarthy resume. Sure, it does rely on some coincidences and it does all round up in a neat little package. But as... 

You don’t have to be a Formula One fan to be brought to tears by Senna. This vibrant, engrossing, powerful and ultimately tragic portrayal of the life and untimely death of beloved sporting icon Ayrton Senna, from British director Asif Kapadia, is documentary filmmaking at its most exciting. Winner of the World Cinema Audience Award for Documentaries at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, Senna... 

The Tree of Life has finally arrived in Australian cinemas. Notorious recluse and media-shy auteur Terrence Malick’s fifth feature has been highly anticipated for more than twelve months. It premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May where it was awarded the Palme d’Or. It actually opened in Australia at the Sydney Film Festival where I managed to catch a screening. But amongst all of the other... 

Mad Bastards is the debut feature from writer/director Brendan Fletcher, a man who is both successful in setting a compelling drama in the not-often seen Kimberley region of Australia and making an audience aware of the rich culture that exists there. While this confronting and powerful tale often reveals a lack of confidence and skill to effectively drive its narrative and sustain its audience’s... 

Every now and then a powerful, emotive and chilling political tragedy endowed with harrowing realism will come along that forces viewers to cower in horror at the state of the world they live in. Few films in recent memory have so deftly dealt with such an intriguing and compelling mystery as the one that drives Incendies. Few can match the film’s tension and lasting impact neither. From writer... 

Never Let Me Go, the British screen adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s timeless 2005 science-fiction romance novel, is a mesmerizing film endowed with poignant beauty and tragic heartbreak that asks viewers to consider our own mortality, and what we value above all in our uncertain existence. Directed by Mark Romanek (One Hour Photo) and fueled by a wonderful central performance from Carey Mulligan,... 

Griff The Invisible is an offbeat Australian romantic comedy/drama written and directed by Leon Ford and starring Ryan Kwanten (True Blood, Red Hill) in the lead role. I found plenty of enjoyment in this ‘undeniably Aussie’ film. Barring some incredible plot elements, Griff the Invisible is fueled by fine performances from the leads, humorous idiosyncrasies and an outstanding score. It... 

The Way Back is the highly anticipated new film from renowned Australian director Peter Weir, a man known for the acclaimed films Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, The Truman Show and Gallipoli. Audiences have now come to expect greatness from Weir, and despite The Way Back once again proving that Weir is gifted in making the grand visual epic, it does feel overlong and emotionally... 

Directed by John Cameron Mitchell (writer and star of Hedwig and the Angry Inch), and adapted by David Lindsay-Abaire from his own 2005 Pulitzer winning play, Rabbit Hole is an American drama centered around a formerly happily married couple (Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart) whose life is turned upside down by the untimely death of their 4-year-old son, Danny. The film begins about 8 months after... 

Andrew Buckle is a fellow inner westie, a local film critic and our guest blogger. Each week Andrew has the enviable job of checking out the latest movies showing at Dendy Newtown. He will share with us what movies he believes to be Oscar worthy and which ones are award winning crap. If you are not a weekly movie junkie like me and can only get to the movies a couple of times every year, you want to...