A personal journal of film and documentary reviews, and reviews of anything else that intrigues me.
Tim Burton, “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” (2007) US film director Tim Burton has long been fascinated with non-conformists and outsiders, especially those…
Tom McCarthy, “Spotlight” (2015) On rare occasions Hollywood can still demonstrate an ability to make good films about muck-raking journalism and Tom McCarthy’s “Spotlight”, based on…
Australian and New Zealand Films
Rolf de Heer, “Charlie’s Country” (2013) A sad and compassionate film of a man’s search for identity and belonging, “Charlie’s Country” originated as a vehicle around…
Adam McKay, “The Big Short” (2015) How do you tell the story behind the sub-prime mortgage crisis and the massive housing bubble that led to the…
Review of Films I’ve seen in 2015 Dear Under Southern Eyes Readers, Another year, another summary of the films seen over the past 12 calendar months!…
Charles Chaplin, “The Gold Rush” (1925, revised 1942) In reality, the 1898 Klondike Gold Rush must have been a harsh, grim and ultimately disappointing experience for…
Sarah Gavron, “Suffragette” (2015) Of the recent plethora of British historical drama movies, Gavron’s film “Suffragette” is one flick that tries to be two things to…
Kim Kiduk, “Pieta” (2012) This tale of dark revenge centres around a class of people at the bottom-feeding end of the capitalist social hierarchy pyramid, those…
James Vanderbilt, “Truth” (2015) An ambitious film for James Vanderbilt’s directorial debut, though he is well known in Hollywood as a script-writer, “Truth” is a fictional…
Charles Chaplin, “The Great Dictator” (1940) It’s over-long and the slapstick comedy is laid on very thickly but film legend Charlie Chaplin’s “The Great Dictator” is…