VENOM

Reviewed by GREG KING Director: Ruben Fleischer Stars: Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, Riz Ahmed, Jenny Slate, Scott Haze, Reid Scott, Woody Harrelson, Peggy Lu. Yet another superhero movie, this one featuring a second-tier character from the Marvel stable. Or should that be a super-anti-hero, because Venom is not your usual superhero? We first met Venom in the Sam Raimi-helmed Spiderman 3, when he was played by Topher Grace. And despite its origins with Spiderman, Venom clearly sits outside the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The film itself has been produced by Sony Continue reading

ITALIAN FILM FESTIVAL 2018 – interview with Valeria Solarino

by GREG KING The Italian Film Festival is screening at Palace Cinemas across the country throughout September. One of the special guests of the festival this year is actress Valeria Solarino, who has three films screening. She will be opening the festival in both Sydney and Melbourne before taking part in a Q&A session for her film There’s No Place Like Home, which has been directed by Gabriele Muccino. Valeria also appears in Quanto Basta (As Needed), and I Can Quit Whenever I Want 3: Ad Honorem, the third film in Sydney Sibilia’s popular comedy series. Greg Continue reading

THE SECOND – interview with Rachael Blake and Vince Colosimo

by GREG KING   The Second is an erotic psychological thriller written by Stephen Lance (My Mistress, etc), and stars Rachael Blake, Vince Colosimo and Susie Porter. Celebrated author (Blake) is suffering from a case of writer’s block while trying to follow up her successful debut novel. But her persona is threatened when her best friend and muse (Porter) reveals the dark secret behind her first novel's provenance, igniting an incendiary tale of sex, lies and betrayal. The Second marks the feature debut for director Mairi Cameron. It is currently screening in Continue reading

VALERIAN AND THE CITY OF A THOUSAND PLANETS

Reviewed by GREG KING Director: Luc Besson Stars: Dane De Haan, Cara Delevingne, Clive Owen, Herbie Hancock, Rutger Hauer, Louis Leterrier, Olivier Megaton, Rihanna, Ethan Hawke, Kris Wu, Sam Spruell, Alain Chabat, voices of Elizabeth Debicki, John Goodman. Twenty years after he gave us The Fifth Element, director Luc Besson returns to the futuristic sci-fi genre with this flawed special-effects heavy space opera that plays out on a grander and visually epic canvas. Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets is based on the Continue reading

VICEROY’S HOUSE

By GREG KING Director: Gurinder Chadha Stars: Hugh Bonneville, Gillian Anderson, Michael Gambon, Simon Callow, Manish Dayal, Huma Qureshi, Lily Travers, Om Puri, Simon Williams, Lucy Fleming. India, 1947. Financially weakened by the cost of fighting WWII, the British government is planning to pull out of India, leaving the country to become an independent nation. Sent to oversee the transition from a colony of the fading British Empire to independence is Earl Mountbatten (Hugh Bonneville, from tv series Downton Abbey, etc), the great grandson of Queen Victoria. Continue reading