Reviewed by GREG KING Director: Paul Dano Stars: Carey Mulligan, Jake Gyllenhaal, Ed Oxenbould, Bill Camp. The opening night film for the Melbourne International Film Festival this year was Wildlife, a small coming of age drama which marks the directorial debut for Paul Dano, an actor better known for playing troubled and eccentric characters in films like Little Miss Sunshine and Prisoners, etc. Wildlife marks an auspicious directorial debut. Set in Montana in the 1960s this is a coming of age drama about the Brinson family and the disintegration of their …
RED SPARROW
Reviewed by GREG KING Director: Francis Lawrence Stars: Jennifer Lawrence, Joel Edgerton, Matthias Shoenaerts, Charlotte Rampling, Jeremy Irons, Ciaran Hinds, Joely Richardson, Bill Camp, Mary-Louise Parker, Douglas Hodge, Sergei Polunin, Thekla Reuten. A violent and brutal spy thriller, Red Sparrow follows quickly on the heels of last year’s tough Atomic Blonde, and serves up another strong female centric spy story. But there’s also a touch of Luc Besson’s La Femme Nikita to Red Sparrow. The violence here is brutal almost …
MOLLY’S GAME
Reviewed by GREG KING Director: Aaron Sorkin Stars: Jessica Chastain, Idris Elba, Kevin Costner, Michael Cera, Chris O'Dowd, Bill Camp, Jeremy Strong, Graham Greene, J C Mackenzie, Brian d'arcy Jones, Natalie Krill, Jon Bass. Poker is not the most exciting of cinematic sports, although there have been a few great films set against the backdrop of poker, including Rounders, A Big Hand For A Little Lady, etc. And now we get Molly’s Game. The film is based on the memoir of Molly Bloom (played here by Jessica Chastain), a former Olympic …
THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER
Reviewed by GREG KING Director: Yorgos Lanthimos Stars: Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, Barry Keoghan, Alicia Silverstone, Bill Camp, Raffey Cassidy, Sunny Suljic, Racahel McAdams. More weirdness from idiosyncratic Greek auteur Yorgos Lanthimos, who recently gave us the absurdist, dystopian social critique The Lobster. His films do well on the festival circuit, but have also increasingly found support from filmgoers interested in more challenging fare. With their second English language film, Lanthimos and his regular screenwriter …
THE ONLY LIVING BOY IN NEW YORK
Reviewed by GREG KING Director: Marc Webb Stars: Callum Turner, Kate Beckinsale, Pierce Brosnan, Cynthia Nixon, Jeff Bridges, Kiersey Clemons, Wallace Shawn, Tate Donovan, Anh Duong, Debi Mazar, Bill Camp. Taking its title from a Simon and Garfunkel song, The Only Living Boy In New York is a gentle coming of age drama that explores themes of family, love and relationships and the messy nature of life. The film follows the story of Thomas Webb (played by British actor and model Callum Turner, from Green Room, etc), a naive young man …
GOLD
Reviewed by GREG KING Director: Stephen Gaghan Stars: Matthew McConaughey, Edgar Ramirez, Bryce Dallas Howard, Corey Stoll, Bruce Greenwood, Craig T Nelson, Toby Kebbell, Bill Camp, Joshua Harto, Timothy Simons, Rachael Taylor, Stacy Keach, Mason Blair, Adam Lefevre. Matthew McConaughey goes from strength to strength with his recent choice of roles, and here he gives another winning performance in the financial drama Gold. He plays Kenny Wells, the eccentric, overly confident, alcoholic and down on his luck prospector and hustler, the son of a legendary and …
JASON BOURNE
Reviewed by GREG KING Director: Paul Greengrass Stars: Matt Damon, Alicia Vikander, Tommy Lee Jones, Vincent Cassel, Riz Ahmed, Julia Stiles, Gregg Henry, Ato Essendoh, Scott Shepherd, Bill Camp. The film adaptations of Robert Ludlum's novels about Jason Bourne, an amnesiac assassin trying to piece together his own identity while outrunning and outgunning assassins was very influential in shaping and reinvigorating the Bond franchise as well as inspiring action films like Taken and its ilk. Nine years ago, following The Bourne Ultimatum, Matt Damon, the star of …
MIDNIGHT SPECIAL
Reviewed by GREG KING Director: Jeff Nichols Stars: Michael Shannon, Joel Edgerton, Kirsten Dunst, Jaeden Lieberher, Adam Driver, Sam Shepard, Bill Camp. Jeff Nichols' previous two films - Take Shelter and Mud - were impressive and established his reputation as a director to watch. Mud in particular was a southern Gothic thriller that cemented Matthew McConaughey's reputation as a serious dramatic actor and appeared on many critics' best of list for 2012. The film also began with a limited art house release before positive word of mouth saw it gain a wider release. …