33 Results

Hollywood’s business model is in serious trouble, so the narrative goes. So why are big film studios making more money than ever? New markets in China and on the internet are driving a new boom.

Having now watched and reviewed 40 films in 10 days, Luke Buckmaster is now deep within the belly of the Melbourne International Film Festival beast. He examines the six films he’s seen in the last 48 hours.

It’s Day 6 of the Melbourne International Film Festival and the tired and bedraggled state of Crikey blogger Luke Buckmaster caused an embarrassing encounter in one cinema foyer.

Finally we have proof that a David Williamson play can still provide the foundation for a great Australian film and that a new great Australian film, Face to Face, is indeed upon us, writes Luke Buckmaster.

Concerns have been raised about the Sydney Film Festival and the relatively glacial pace of its board in seeking a new artistic director. It highlights the general ineptitude of bureaucracy and the various boards that oversee its parts, reports Matthew Clayfield.

Disney has clocked up an impressive run of 50 animated feature films and the Australian Centre for the Moving Image in Melbourne is celebrating the achievement with a new exhibition, Dreams Come True. Matt Smith went along.

Elegant women in elegant dresses, their dark hair pinned into perfect chignons. Men with slicked-back hair smoke thin cigarettes. Sultry glances are cast across hotel hallways. It must be a Wong Kar Wai film. Alexandra Patrikios watches the back-catalogue.

TV audiences are up but cinema tickets are down. Could cinemas reliance on tent-pole films and excessive market research be killing audiences love of cinema? asks TV blogger Dan Barrett.

And the honour of the first Western film ever shown in censorship-loving North Korea goes to…envelope please… Bend it like Beckham! Sure, it was edited from 112 minutes down to just 60, but no other film can claim that title.

While wannabe sports stars gets thousands in government support and sponsorship, young Australian film makers struggle to make a living in Australia and that talent heads overseas, writes film critic Margaret Pomeranz.

How come adults can watch a film about cartoon toys aimed at children and be reduced to crying messes? Ironically, people can apparently connect more emotionally with the characters because they are animated.

Quicksand used to be a standard popular culture disaster cliché, up there with deadly bombs with a ticking timer, but it’s recently sunk out of fashion. Why?

This is one for the film geeks. Designer Sean Mort created a timeline of all three Back to the Future films. Now you’ll never get confused where Marty McFly is again.

Like how all literary critics must be frustrated authors, is the myth that all film writers really want to be film makers actually true? Film writer Luke Buckmaster explains his story as he examines his vile hate mail.

A round-up of the top 10 best — and a few of the worst (*cough* Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel *cough*) — cinematic masterpieces of 2009.