I went into this film a little heavy hearted, and guilty of writing a review in my head before I’d actually sat down to watch it. The reason was that Goodbye Pork Pie, the original of 1981, was such an…
As supernatural thrillers go, this is a pretty good one. It’s the genre you’d expect from writer/director M. Night Shyamalan, and while he has suffered from the critics in the latter part of his career, one suspects he will have…
Writer director Kenneth Lonergan offers a detailed, honest and well informed examination of the impact of loss and tragedy on the lives of ordinary people in this seriously well put together drama. Manchester-by-the-Sea is a town about forty minutes north…
A crowded California freeway, cars crawling along in the heat, and the camera swoops across the tableau to rest on a young woman listening to music in her car. She starts to sing. She gets out of the car, dancing…
This movie of a gay black man’s journey from childhood to adulthood has gained rave reviews, and a Golden Globe for best drama, and I approached Moonlight wondering if the the acclaim was for its storytelling, or for it focussing…
A tall lean man moved to the centre of the stage, moving and weaving fluidly to the music of the band behind him. It was the opening song, but this was no crashing of electric guitars or stirring call to…
News about this film spread fast on its release overseas, so you may well have already read a lot about Passengers. Even so, I’m not going to give anything away here, so if it’s an unspoiled view you’re after, read…
Vector Arena, Auckland, December 2 Out of Steve and I, I think I got the better deal from this wonderful concert. Granted, Steve got up close to take some great photos, but he could only do so for the first three…
The Founder This is a story that may make you pause a little between bites of your next Big Mac. The Founder tells the tale of Ray Kroc, the man who built up the McDonald’s business empire, and who dubbed himself…
Nocturnal Animals A dark drama with dashes of David Lynch oddness and the western violence of Cormac McCarthy (or maybe it’s Tarantino), Nocturnal Animals is riveting and often disturbing, and a story of how we try to live with the…