Emulate Wes Anderson with Shoot Like Wes, a book by Adam Woodward and Liz Seabrook

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Emulate Wes Anderson with Shoot Like Wes, a book by Adam Woodward and Liz Seabrook

3 July 2025

Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, on the set of Wes Anderson's film Asteroid City

Perhaps the world is still sufficiently pre-peak the work of American filmmaker Wes Anderson, to the point that photographers still want to emulate his style in their work. If you believe the former, and are among the latter, then Shoot Like Wes, a book by British journalist and film critic Adam Woodward, and London based photographer Liz Seabrook, might be for you.

Inspired by the distinctive vision of director Wes Anderson, Shoot Like Wes is packed with rich imagery and in-depth analysis of the auteur’s remarkable body of work. This is the only guide you’ll need to create your own cinematic masterpiece, transforming everyday scenes into vibrant, storytelling moments worthy of the big screen.

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books, film, photography, Wes Anderson

Fifteen years ago, my interview with Claire McCarthy, Australian filmmaker

30 June 2025

In 2010, Claire McCarthy’s publicity company kindly gave me the opportunity to ask her about her then upcoming film, The Waiting City, which starred Radha Mitchell and Joel Edgerton. I published the interview on this day fifteen years ago.

I remember feeling a tad apprehensive preparing my questions as I hadn’t seen the film beforehand, and subsequently didn’t think they were particularly original. All seemed to be well (or well enough) on the night though, as they say.

Margaret Pomeranz, David Stratton, join Australian Film Walk of Fame

28 June 2025

Colloquially referred to as Margaret and David, the long time Australian film critics became, on Sunday 1 June 2025, the first non-actors to be inducted to the Australian Film Walk of Fame.

The pair are perhaps best known for the two film review television shows they co-hosted, The Movie Show, on SBS, from 1986 until 2004, and then At the Movies, on ABC, from 2004 through to 2014.

Among other roles, Stratton served as director of the Sydney Film Festival from 1966 until 1983. Pomeranz meanwhile was a prominent anti-censorship activist, and was once detained by police during a protest. Despite the warmth of their professional partnership, they often disagreed with each other as to the merits of a film. This became a distinguishing hallmark of their collaboration.

In the earlier days of disassociated I wrote a fair bit about film, and often saw Pomeranz and Stratton at various previews screenings and other events. Stratton hosted a conversation with Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood, of 2001: A Space Odyssey, in 2006.

One evening, while waiting to go into a preview screening of The Dark Knight Rises in Sydney in 2012, Pomeranz walked right passed me, as she was leaving the earlier screening. “Any good?” I asked her. She nodded politely in response.

The Australian Film Walk of Fame plague awarded to Pomeranz and Stratton earlier this month, is the second one presented this year. In recent years, the Walk, located outside the Ritz Cinema, in the Sydney suburb of Randwick, has been a little quiet. Is this something of a Film Walk of Fame revival?

Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale, the third and final Downton film

25 June 2025

Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale, trailer, directed by Simon Curtis, with a fair chunk of long time Downton cast members reprising their roles, will be released globally on Friday 12 September 2025.

I’ve only ever seen series three of the original TV show, which aired in the second half of 2012, and that’s because I was gifted the DVD set of the series some years later. I saw the first spin-off film, simply named Downton Abbey in 2019, but missed the 2022 follow-up, Downton Abbey: A New Era.

It’s tricky to work out what’s happening based on the little of the story we see in the trailer for The Grand Finale. One thread of the preview seems to revisit the earlier part of series three, where the possibility the Crawley family would have to leave the Abbey, loomed large. But who knows.

There’s no missing the finality of that title though.

On Falling, a film by Laura Carreira, with Joana Santos

24 June 2025

We order an item from an online retailer, submit payment, and a few days later it arrives in a box on the doorstep. Most convenient.

On Falling, trailer, the debut feature of Edinburgh, Scotland, based Portuguese filmmaker Laura Carreira, explores the lesser seen, behind the scenes, side of this ostensibly expedient process.

Aurora (Joana Santos), is a Portuguese immigrant living in Scotland. She works in a distribution warehouse, likely being paid below minimum wage rates, and at the end of her shift retreats to her single room apartment, where she lives alone.

On Falling is bleak drama, but the sort I like. The film premiered at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival, last September, and has been in limited release, mainly in Europe.

I can’t, as yet, find any information about a cinematic run in Australia, so this might be one to stream.

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film, Joana Santos, Laura Carreira

David Wenham inducted into the Australian Film Walk of Fame

7 June 2025

Talking of the erstwhile Australian Film Festival, as I was earlier this week, word has reached me that Brisbane based Australian actor David Wenham was admitted to the Australian Film Walk of Fame in February 2025. The induction coincided with a screening of Spit, Wenham’s then most recent work, at the Ritz Cinema, in Randwick, Sydney.

Anyone who has seen Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films, 300: Rise of an Empire, or Elvis by Baz Luhrmann, will have seen some of Wenham’s work. Oranges and Sunshine, directed by Jim Loach, was one I particularly liked. The pavement outside the Ritz is adorned with the plagues of the twelve Australian actors who have so far been inducted to the Walk.

(Thanks Stef AKA Coffee Girl)

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Australian film, David Wenham, film

All My Friends Are Back in Brisbane, a film by Louise Alston

2 June 2025

All My Friends Are Back in Brisbane is the sequel to rom-com All My Friends Are Leaving Brisbane, made in 2007, also directed by Australian filmmaker Louise Alston. The story to Leaving Brisbane, which was also Alston’s debut feature, goes something like this:

Anthea is 25, single and hates her job — and all her friends are leaving Brisbane. Should she follow the herd to the big city? Is there anything worth staying for now that her best friend Michael finally has a girlfriend?

All My Friends Are Back in Brisbane, however, is not a linear sequel. Alston refers to it as a “spiritual” sequel, which tells the story of a woman, Cris, who returns to Brisbane after ten years in London:

Cris returns to Brisbane after being in London for a decade, having just been dumped by her fiancé. She finds herself working alongside her ex who refused to leave Brisbane to be with her ten years ago, and is now married with a child.

I’m yet to see Leaving Brisbane, though I did catch Alston’s 2010 feature, Jucy, at the sadly defunct Australian Film Festival in 2011.

There’s also a few crossovers between Jucy and Back in Brisbane in Nelle Lee, who co-starred in the former, and Stephen Vagg, Alston’s husband, who wrote the screenplays for both, plus of course Leaving Brisbane. No word yet as to when it will screen in cinemas, Back in Brisbane is presently in post-production, but I’ve read sometime in 2025.

Harry Potter producers pull lead actors for ten year TV adaptation from hat

31 May 2025

Two years after the announcement of a ten series TV adaptation of the (original) Harry Potter books, members of the primary cast have been announced.

This includes Dominic McLaughlin, Arabella Stanton, and Alastair Stout in the roles of Harry, Hermione, and Ron, respectively. Other castings include John Lithgow as Dumbledore, Janet McTeer as Minerva McGonagall, and Paapa Essiedu as Severus Snape. No word yet on who will portray bad guy Voldemort, though rumours suggest this might be Cillian Murphy.

So, another ten years of Harry Potter on the screen. No doubt fans will be delighted. It is anticipated the first series will be broadcast sometime in 2026 or 2027.

Jane Austen Wrecked My Life, a film by Laura Piani, with Camille Rutherford

30 May 2025

A still from Jane Austen Wrecked My Life. A woman is seated on a wooden bench outside a bookstore, reading a book. Behind her, shelves filled with books are visible through the shop window, alongside handwritten text on a chalkboard. The scene conveys a cozy, serene atmosphere.

A scene from Jane Austen Wrecked My Life.

Jane Austen Wrecked My Life, trailer, is the debut feature of Paris based French filmmaker Laura Piani.

A desperately single bookseller, lost in a fantasy world, finds herself forced to fulfill her dreams of becoming a writer in order to stop messing up her love life.

Protagonist Agathe (Camille Rutherford), lives in Paris, where she works at (the well known) Shakespeare & Co English language bookshop. She also aspires to be an author, but struggles with writers block. To her surprise, Agathe is invited to join a Jane Austen writers retreat in the United Kingdom. There she meets Oliver (Charlie Anson), a descendent of Austen.

Here might be a Jane Austen inspired rom-com that doesn’t seem to riff too much on the Jane Austen hopeless romantic trope. It doesn’t look like Jane Austen Wrecked My Life will be in Australian cinemas any time in the near future, so this might be one to stream instead.

Bring Her Back, a film by Micheal and Danny Philippou, with Sally Hawkins

26 May 2025

An eerie image depicting a hand covered in blood pressing against a rain coated window, with the distorted face of Sally Hawkins partially visible behind it. The background features dark tones and textures, enhancing the ominous atmosphere.

Image courtesy of A24 films, RackaRacka.

British actor Sally Hawkins stars in Bring Her Back, trailer, the new horror feature by twin sibling Australian filmmakers Michael and Danny Philippou (Instagram page). The synopsis is short and sweet, but tells us enough:

A brother and sister uncover a terrifying ritual at the secluded home of their new foster mother.

I’m not a fan of horror, but I am fan of Sally Hawkins, so I just might have to check this one out. Bring Her Back opens in Australian cinemas this week, Thursday 29 May 2025.

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