Check Please: awkward romantic situation comedy with unattractive characters
Daniel Sorochkin, “Check Please” (2015) A man, Ben (Bryan Manley Davis), takes his girlfriend Laura (Amelia Brain) to evening dinner at a swish restaurant, planning to…
Fill Your Heart with French Fries: dark comedy about grief, social media celebrity and exploitation
Tamar Glezerman, “Fill Your Heart with French Fries” (2016) Based on an actual incident in China, in which a woman jilted by her boyfriend ended up…
Trunk Space: familiar and predictable story and plot elements redeemed by good performances
Max Silver, “Trunk Space” (2016) As surely as the sun rises in the east, birds fly in the sky and fish swim in the oceans, so…
Last Requests: quiet naturalistic character study gives insight into US prison culture and the people it exploits
Courtenay Johnson, “Last Requests” (2017) A sombre character study of a prison worker on her last day in a program that supplies last-request meals to death…
The Incident at Benghazi: a good summary of an ambitious diplomat’s career bites off more than it can chew
Carlton Meyer, “The Incident at Benghazi” (31 July 2020) As short reports go, this one on the lynching death of US ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens…
The American Annexation of Okinawa: an overview of the post-1945 history of the Ryukyu Islands under the US military
Carlton Meyer, “The American Annexation of Okinawa” (Tales of the American Empire, 24 July 2020) In a little over ten minutes, this documentary presents a good…
Chappaquiddick: character study deprived of its wider historical background and significance
John Curran, “Chappaquiddick” (2017) A thoughtful and well-acted film, as the metonym title suggests, this work revolves around the drowning tragedy of Mary Jo Kopechne on…
Breaking an individual to intimidate others in “Not In Our Name: The Psychological Torture of Julian Assange”
John Furse, “Not In Our Name: The Psychological Torture of Julian Assange” (July 2020) Making good use of archived video material and photographs, current news reels…
Australian and New Zealand Films
The Power of Falun Gong: a timid presentation of a dangerous and deranged fascist cult
“The Power of Falun Gong” (Foreign Correspondent, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 21 July 2020) Purporting to be an expose of Falun Gong’s activities as a secretive religious…
The False Tale of Killing Osama bin Laden: duping the public with fake news for political gain
Carlton Meyer, “The False Tale of Killing Osama bin Laden” (Tales of the American Empire, 13 February 2020) This short documentary makes a succinct case for…