This Month
This might be the most explosive tennis movie ever made
Challengers packs a punch with breathless action while Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist builds slowly and silently.
- John McDonald
This new Aussie horror is scary and funny
There’s not a moment in “Late Night with the Devil” when you’re not eager to know what’s going to happen next.
- John McDonald
This new nunsploitation film is a good omen
This is a cinephile’s movie, but it also delivers the thrills and suspense one expects from the horror genre.
- John McDonald
This debut feature is an instant classic
Director Mohamed Kordofani effortlessly weaves political issues into an ongoing moral drama in Goodbye Julia.
- John McDonald
March
This movie may show you how to be happy in your job
Small events take on momentous significance in Perfect Days’ minimal narrative.
- John McDonald
This movie shows what happens when ‘economic refugees’ chase riches
Oscar contender “Io Capitano” does not moralise. Instead, it takes you along for the brutal ride as poor people from Africa set out for fabled European lands.
- John McDonald
Oscar winner is a sharp satire on identity politics
This is a much-needed and long overdue as a skewering of white, bourgeois hypocrisy.
- John McDonald
Hitchcockian Iranian thriller works wonders within strictures
Subtraction is a thriller, a mystery, a low-level horror movie quite unlike anything else from this nation of talented filmmakers.
- John McDonald
February
Auschwitz meets suburbia in film of Martin Amis novel
In its depiction of a Nazi commandant and his family’s life near a concentration camp, The Zone of Interest is a chilling depiction of humanity’s ability to compartmentalise.
- John McDonald
The Cannes crowd loved this offbeat romantic tale
If you’ve never seen anything by this idiosyncratic, Finnish auteur, this is a good place to start.
- John McDonald
Eric Bana’s traumatised cop returns to solve a bushland mystery
Like its predecessor, the scenery in Force of Nature: The Dry 2 threatens to be more engaging than any of the characters.
- John McDonald
This is the most cruelly undervalued film of the year
Director Todd Haynes is the most subtle of psychologists, a crafter of characters motivated by veins of insecurity or sexual obsession.
- John McDonald
January
What our reviewer has to say about the Oscars Best Film nominees
The 10 nominees for this year’s Best Film have been announced. Here’s what our critic thinks about them.
- John McDonald
Two very different films about women in troubled marriages
‘Anatomy of a Fall’ is a sort of whodunnit earning accolades. ‘The Color Purple’ is a musical that is pure melodrama.
- John McDonald
This could be the saddest film you see in 2024
Iron Claw is a true story about a family of wrestlers that raises questions about the hand of fate. Priscilla, also a true story, is realistic but not lifelike.
- John McDonald
Two new films in which white men aren’t villains
George Clooney’s The Boys in the Boat is an old-fashioned romance that’s also true, and Paul Giamatti delivers an award-worthy performance in The Holdovers.
- John McDonald
These are two of the most engaging films to start 2024
Nicolas Cage plays against type in a parable about the ephemeral nature of fame, while Adam Driver transforms into an Italian business titan for the second time.
- John McDonald
December 2023
- Opinion
- Film
Here are 10 of the most entertaining movies of 2023
Our film critic nominates the cinema releases he most enjoyed this year.
- John McDonald
This film will polarise viewers, some will walk out
Emma Stone plays a female Frankenstein’s monster in this tale about an infant in a woman’s body.
- John McDonald
Christmas films to watch at home (some naughty, some nice)
Whether you love a sappy classic or a darker take on the festive season, here are some of our favourites to help you escape some viewing nightmares before Christmas.
