The Guardians of the Galaxy team are rocking the universe again in the latest volume of the science fiction blockbuster. But how does the science stand up to some number crunching?
(Eternal Sunshine of Spotless Mind) says to me…true love is still possible and you can put your faith in it.
Bruce Isaacs analyses the deceptively complex closing scene of Charlie Kaufman’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), starring Jim Carey and Kate Winslet.
New documentary Beware the Slenderman follows the horrific stabbing of a 12 year old girl in the name of an internet myth.
IMDB
Musicals are back in vogue, with La La Land cleaning up at the Golden Globes. The film is, among other things, an homage to the classic musicals of old. So what are the must see movies of the genre?
Dev Patel as Saroo Brierley in Lion (2016).
Long Way Home Productions
Lion, which has screened to critical acclaim around the world, seems to think it’s a political film. In reality it’s an effective melodrama that uncritically embraces a colonial fantasy of white saviours.
Maggie Naouri as Anu Singh, behind Jerome Meyer as Joe Cinque. Singh famously killed Cinque in 1997 by injecting him with a fatal dose of heroin.
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In 1997, Joe Cinque was killed by his girlfriend Anu Singh. A new film about his death is riveting Australian cinema, with a heightened sense of tension and implicit violence throughout.
Collisions director Lynette Wallworth used drones and 360 degree filming to create a totally immersive experience.
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What if your first contact with the Western world was witnessing an atomic test? This is the story of Nyarri Nyarri Morgan, told in stunning virtual reality in animation/documentary hybrid Collisions.
Michelangelo Antonioni’s The Passenger (1975), starring Jack Nicholson, explored time and memory. We look at a single scene, featuring one of the most influential camera moves of ‘70s cinema.
James Stewart and Kim Novak in Vertigo (1958).
Alfred J. Hitchcock Productions
What makes a film a classic? In a new monthly column, film scholar Bruce Isaacs analyses a single sequence from a great film. Here, we look at a scene from Vertigo.
Warcraft: the Beginning is based on the wildly popular game World of Warcraft – a fantasy escape for tens of millions of people. Yet watching the film brings home uncomfortable truths about race.
Ethan Hawke and Greta Gerwig star as John and Maggie in this intelligent, satirical screwball comedy.
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Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice has committed performances and Zack Snyder’s trademark action. But it can’t overcome a confused internal logic – and has the colour palette of an ashtray.
A still from Mirrors of Bergman, a profoundly moving audio-visual essay.
Vimeo.
Digital technology has transformed the work of cinema scholars, spawning a rich and poetic critical form.
The Oscars ceremony might seem very far away, but Australia’s film industry is closely tied to Hollywood and it’s worth paying attention.
Mario Anzuoni/Reuters
The Oscars have become the focus point for a huge cultural conversation about Hollywood, race, gender, inclusiveness and diversity. Should Australians care? Well, yes.
The Coen brothers’ Hail, Caesar! romps through several genres, and only occasionally wallows in self-indulgence.
Image courtesy of Universal Pictures International
The Coen brothers may have returned to form with the genre-spinning Hail, Caesar! It still remains to be seen if they’ll ever reach the heights of their glory days again.
It’s time to rethink content distribution.
Mike K/Flickr
Netflix’s recent ban on proxies, unblockers and virtual private networks (VPNs) is unlikely to provide a long-term cure to content providers’ chronic headaches.
Professor of Electrical and Electronic Engineering and Deputy Dean Research at Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, The University of Melbourne