Haneke’s “Happy End” is darkly funny, impeccably made and the performers relish being conducted by a master; however it doesn’t have as clear a drive or fervent punch of his other string of incredible works...

One hopes desperately that this confronting film is an exaggeration - not the ‘ordinary’ experience in Manilla. “Ordinary People,” is not a neo-realist film about working class life, set in a culture of poverty, making a case for redistribution of wealth. The grim reality portrayed is horrific, the moral undertones make it mean. 

“The Wall” is a war movie, make no bones about it. Despite the slick premise, the refreshingly sound logic, the ‘real-time’ experience of the characters and the blistering pace, it presents the conflicted ethics and morality of the American war in Afghanistan.

Aki Kaurismäki’s “The Other Side of Hope” is the kind of film about asylum seekers that one imagines Rainer Werner Fassbinder would have made.

“Transformers: The Last Knight” is a bad film – in fact, it’s one of the most ludicrous films ever made.

“Ingrid Goes West” is filmmakers Smith and Spicer going ‘behind the filter’ on social media obsession and disarming you with humour. You’ll laugh, you’ll cringe, but don't you dare look at your phone.

“Manifesto” may have been a vibrant, disorientating and fascinating art installation. As a film, it’s an agonising, mind numbing slog.

“Australia Day” is stuck in an interconnecting formula that propagates stereotypes, and wedges gaps between racial tribes that no closing montage can correct.

Welcome to my weird and wonderful experiences of the Sydney Film Festival 2017. 

Director Benedict Andrews and writer David Harrower (who adapted the film from his own play “Blackbird”) create an all round uncomfortable viewing experience  with “Una.” Wrestling with the subject of statutory rape and the ambivalent agency of a girl on the edge of womanhood.

The first stanza of “We Don’t Need A Map” is a furious, energetic, punk rock f*ck you, that kicks the audiences arse with a collision of styles and content.

Whitney Houston. A once in a generation voice. A movie star. A household name. A Diva whose brightness was extinguished by drug addiction at the all too early age of 48. It's almost shocking to consider that despite Houston's rise to a stratospheric level of fame in the 80s and early 90s that by the time of her death, she'd retreated into a level of obscurity. Nick Broomfield and co-director  Rudi Dolezal attempt to resurrect her. 

While Australia blissfully throws shrimps on the 'Barbeeee' and assumes that we're the world's greatest snag turners; Matthew Salleh's "Barbecue" takes us around the world to reinforce the elemental practice of cooking meat over fire for your tribe.

“La La Land” takes a city of broken dreams and gives us characters that are willing to take chances in spite of tasting that bitter pill of reality.

Prometheus” travelled the universe to confront our newly discovered creators with “why” and we glimpsed a creature that resembled the beast that haunted our expansion and colonisation of the universe. “Covenant” looks at the evolution of the beast and asks if it is just an evolutionary step beyond what the universal architects developed; or something else entirely. 

“Wonder Woman” gracefully ascends into the arena and defiantly delivers a stylish, funny adventure made with heart. After the genre shaking “Logan” and the genre redefining “Wonder Woman,” there’s only one thing left to be said: your move Marvel. 

“Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales” is a movie sequel that exploits the loyalty of its fans; mindlessly splatters hundreds of millions of dollars of budget across the screen; and finally was the victim of diva controversy that robbed the Australian film industry of promotion and reward for its investment

A short thank you Marc Fennell for creating the vacancy that I applied for.

“Lion” is unadulterated cinema, reaching out to the audience to embrace and be embraced.  

Australian documentary filmmaker Kitty Green delivers an amazing insight into this tale that forms both an affirmation for the public’s enduring fascination but organically mutates into a more fascinating subject than the tragic death of a this youthful beauty queen; the way that people surrounding this tale project themselves into this scenario in every way possible.