Showing all posts about film
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.
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Australian film, film, Louise Alston, Nelle Lee, Stephen Vagg
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.
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Cillian Murphy, film, Harry Potter, novels, screen adaptations, TV
Jane Austen Wrecked My Life, a film by Laura Piani, with Camille Rutherford
30 May 2025
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.
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Camille Rutherford, Charlie Anson, film, Jane Austen, Laura Piani, literature, Pablo Pauly
Bring Her Back, a film by Micheal and Danny Philippou, with Sally Hawkins
26 May 2025
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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Danny Philippou, film, Michael Philippou, Sally Hawkins, trailers
Floodland, a documentary about the Lismore floods, by Jordan Giusti
15 May 2025
Lismore, a city located in northern NSW, Australia, suffered catastrophic flooding in 2017, and again in 2022. During the latter event, flood waters reached unprecedented levels, almost completely submerging some buildings in the process.
Floodlands, trailer, a documentary directed by Melbourne based filmmaker Jordan Giusti (Instagram page), is a up close look at the devastation caused by the flooding, and the impact on the residents of the local community.
Floodlands will premier at this year’s Sydney Film Festival, where it will screen on the evening of Saturday 14 June 2025. The film is also a finalist in the festival’s Documentary Australia Award.
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Australian film, documentary, film, Jordan Giusti, Sydney Film Festival
How much of a movie based on a true story is actually true?
7 May 2025
A fantastic visualisation from Information is Beautiful. Selma, made in 2014 by Ava DuVernay, achieves a score of one-hundred percent. In other words, the plot is based on, so far as the researchers can tell, events that actually transpired.
The Social Network, made in 2010 by David Fincher, and a favourite of mine, has a score of about seventy-six, so nearly all true. I think most viewers realised screenwriters exercised some poetic licence, in a bid to keep the tension on the boil throughout.
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Ava DuVernay, David Fincher, film, film production, visualisations
Han Solo shoots first: original 1977 Star Wars print to screen in London
17 April 2025
The British Film Institute (BFI) has kept a copy of the 1977 print of Star Wars in their archive, which will screen as part of Film on Film festival, in the British capital, taking place from Thursday 12 June until Sunday 15 June 2025. I have the feeling tickets will sell quickly.
After making changes to the original edition, Star Wars creator George Lucas dismissed the concerns of fans in 2004, berating them for liking “half a completed film”.
Numerous alterations were made to A New Hope, and the other two titles in the original trilogy series, but the most contentious saw Greedo, a bounty hunter, firing his weapon first at Han Solo during their confrontation at the Mos Eisley Cantina. Viewers of the 1977 print will recall it was Solo who shot first. The edit went on to spawn the Alderaan shot first meme.
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entertainment, film, George Lucas, science fiction, Star Wars
Meta seeks to improve cinema experience by encouraging smartphone use
15 April 2025
After unleashing their content polluting algorithms onto our social media feeds, allowing the display of stuff (sorry, content is not the right word in this context) from people we don’t follow, far less even heard of, Facebook owner Meta wants to interfere with the film watching experience.
Technology called Movie Mate, will allow people to “second screen” during a film, that is, watch a feature on the big screen, while accessing related “exclusive content” on their smartphones. As if second screening, whereby people don’t put their phones down at the cinema, isn’t already a big enough problem, and Meta wants to encourage the practise.
But let’s talk about second screening for a minute. I don’t have a problem with what’s sometimes referred to as content grazing, while watching a movie. In fact, I find it quite relaxing. I might stream a movie I’m familiar with, and lookup other things on my phone. Since I know what’s going to happen in the story, I can multitask a bit, without worrying about missing anything important.
But this is at home, not in a movie theatre, being the only place Movie Mate will be available. And sure, access to story related trivia, director’s commentaries, and deleted scenes is fun, but hardly while watching the film at the same time. Won’t that be distracting, especially for first-time viewers? Isn’t there the risk they’ll miss something important?
It makes me wonder what the intent of second screen technology really is.
From Meta’s point of view though, it’s pretty simple. They like to take something sensible and straightforward, say a social media feed featuring only content people want to see, and muddy it up. From a film producer’s perspective though? That’s a little trickier to fathom. I don’t see how presenting extra-features content, simultaneously, during the film is screening, is meant to be useful.
For repeat viewings, and at home, of course. But not in a theatre full of people who want see a film, not a sea of phone screens. The second screen technology will be trailed in American cinemas during limited run re-screenings of 2022 horror title M3GAN, in a few weeks. Ok, a lot of people have already seen M3GAN, so just maybe checking out extra features in this fashion won’t be a problem.
But making only-for-use-in-cinema second screen tech available for first-time releases, premieres even? Now there’s a horror story in the making.
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film, film production, technology
The Phoenician Scheme, the new film by Wes Anderson
8 April 2025
The Phoenician Scheme, trailer, is the thirteenth feature of American filmmaker Wes Anderson. As ever, you don’t need to see Anderson’s name on the trailer to know this is a Wes Anderson film.
Many of his regular collaborators return, including Willem Dafoe, Scarlett Johansson, Rupert Friend, and of course Bill Murray, in what is billed as an espionage black comedy, and centres on a strained father-daughter relationship.
And the bit you’ve been waiting for… The Phoenician Scheme opens in Australian cinemas on Thursday 29 May 2025. This just might necessitate a visit to the cinema that day.
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