Author results: Alexandra Heller-Nicholas
The Wackness
A 90210 joke here, a Boyz II Men comment there, some RIP Kurt Cobain street art for good measure, and hey presto: it's 1994! Welcome to director Jonathan Levine's The Wackness.
This earnest, urban melodrama is hardly Spike Lee. When white guy Luke (Josh Peck) falls in love with white girl Stephanie (Olivia Thirlby), the warm fuzzies aren't exactly dumbed down, but there's no brain-breaking politics either.
Burn After Reading
Ever since Blood Simple back in 1984, Joel and Ethan Coen have produced a steady stream of unrelentingly oddball features that totter on the border between melodrama and black humour. Now, after the unexpected success of last year's No Country for Old Men, it seems the Coen Brothers can do, well, whatever they please.
Man On Wire
In 1974, French tightrope walker Philippe Petit strung up a cable between two corners of the World Trade Centre buildings in New York and went for an awe-inspiring stroll. Suddenly, the up-til-then ambivalent public response to the new constructions was converted into a fever of art-fuelled patriotism.
In Bruges
Don't be fooled by the fact that Martin McDonagh's In Bruges stars legendary douchebag Colin Farrell. Gone is his whiplash-inducing Miami Vice-era pout, replaced here with his native Irish accent and type-shattering performance as Ray, an alternate universe Father Dougal McGuire. Instead of being a priest, he's hired to kill them.
Not Quite Hollywood
It's ironic that some of the most recognisable faces in Not Quite Hollywood are American. Why does Quentin Tarantino know more about Australian genre cinema than we do? A nationwide awkwardness about our own film history has distracted us from this stash of glittery fool's gold for far too long.
MIFF - Jack's Wife (1973)
From the moment they first shuffled across the grainy screen of Night of the Living Dead, zombies became synonymous with George Romero. Since he injected new monstrosity into a feared favourite, the excitement surrounding his zombie films is so frenzied that it's easy to forget he made anything else.
MIFF - Artist Docos
The popularity of the music documentary section of MIFF may lead many - like your idiot housemate - to assume that this is all the doco program has to offer. Not so! If he proves difficult to convince, take him to see these; if he refuses, get a new housemate.
Surely there is nothing less foreboding than the saccharin pop of ‘80s sweetheart, Tiffany.
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