by GREG KING Wild Things is a new documentary that looks at the history of environmental activism in Australia, from the historic Franklin River protests through to the protests against the Adani coal mine in Queensland, foresting operations in Tasmania, and even the organised protest by school children demanding action on climate change. Documentary film maker Sally Ingleton spoke with Greg about some of the challenges in making this film, about the impact that documentaries like this can have. Sally is also holding some screenings and Q&A sessions along with Continue reading
SUMMERLAND
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Reviewed by GREG KING Director: Jessica Swale Stars: Gemma Arterton, Lucas Bond, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Tom Courtenay, Penelope Wilton, Amada Root, Sian Phillips. "Stories have to come from somewhere." Set against the backdrop of WWII, the wartime drama Summerland is a bit of a tearjerker. It explores themes of love lost and found, family, connections, relationships, prejudice. This is old fashioned story telling but with a contemporary edge. During the Blitz lots of British children were evacuated from London and housed in rural communities. One such Continue reading
MUSIC
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Reviewed by GREG KING Director: Sia Stars: Kate Hudson, Maddie Ziegler, Leslie Odom jr, Hector Elizondo, Beto Calvillo, Juliette Lewis, Henry Rollins, Mary Kay Place, Tig Notaro . This ambitious and well-meaning but flawed film is the film directorial debut of Grammy award winning Australian singer Sia, who has sold several million records and topped the charts both here and in the US. Based on a short story that she wrote in 2007 Music explores some important themes of family, togetherness, tolerance, community. Kate Hudson is almost unrecognisable here Continue reading
MY SALINGER YEAR
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Reviewed by GREG KING Director: Philippe Falardeau Stars: Margaret Qualley, Sigourney Weaver, Douglas Booth, Colm Feore, Brian F O'Byrne, Tim Post. The Devil Wears Prada set in a literary agency? The comparison is obvious if somewhat lazy, and My Salinger Year is also a little bland by comparison. It is not as sharp or as well written. This is an adaptation of Joanne Rakoff’s best-selling 2014 memoir detailing her year spent working in the New York literary agency that represented J D Salinger, the notoriously reclusive author of Catcher In The Rye, one of Continue reading
BUDDY GAMES
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Reviewed by GREG KING Director: Josh Duhamel Stars: Josh Duhamel, Kevin Dillon, Dax Shepard, Nick Swardson, Dan Bakkedahl, James Roday, Olivia Munn. “You don’t stop playing games because you get older; you get older because you stop playing” was the raison d’etre behind the 2018 film Tag, in which a group of grown men, obsessed with the childhood game of tag, had turned it into a more physical competition that consumed their lives. A similar ethos drives the crass, appalling, cringeworthy and embarrassingly unfunny buddy comedy Buddy Games, which is already Continue reading
