Biosphere (2023) - Movie Review

Last time we checked in on indie titan Mark Duplass, it was with the softly soul-crushing Paddleton, and his latest production works under a similar premise. Like Paddleton, this is also the story of two best friends dealing with a particularly bleak personal scenario and finding a way to bond during the experience. Only this time, it’s not just the impending death of a single person; it’s the aftermath of the apocalypse. Duplass’ Billy and Sterling K. Brown’s Ray are the last two human beings alive, kept safe and in relative comfort in the titular Biosphere that Ray designed and built.

Bubble (2022) - Movie Review

 I was really looking forward to this one. Writer Gen Urobuchi is not only the mastermind behind one of my all-time favourite works of fiction in any medium with Puella Magi Madoka Magica, but he’s also responsible for getting me into kaiju stories with the animated Godzilla trilogy. His knack for heart-crushingly tragic storytelling is something I’ll always be in the mood for… or so I thought, as his latest penned feature isn’t so hot.

Prisoners Of The Ghostland (2021) - Movie Review

Yep, we’re still on the crazy train, and what’s more, we’re picking back up with the regular conductor of said train with another Nic Cage starring role. And I am once again in awe of him being able to find productions that fit perfectly into his extremely idiosyncratic wheelhouse. This film is the English-language debut of Japanese filmmaker Sion Sono and, far as I can ascertain, this is the first time Cage has worked on a mainly-Japanese production. But much like the film they have built around themselves, their act of cultural exchange makes perfect sense. After all, crazy surpasses any and all language barriers.

Wyrmwood: Apocalypse (2021) - Movie Review

About six years ago, I looked at a little Aussie feature called Wyrmwood: Road Of The Dead. Along with thinking it was terrific, and still one of the most all-out fun movies I’ve ever reviewed on here, that particular screening involved a Q&A with the directors, where they got into some of their ideas for a sequel. I said that I’d be right there when that sequel materialised, and lo and behold, they finally made that fucking movie. It is most certainly not the film I was expecting, though.

Love And Monsters (2021) - Movie Review

After absolutely crushing it last year with Spontaneous, a film I truly hope will go down as one of the most poignant statements on the Millennial generation (my generation), writer Brian Duffield seems to have found his calling in creating coming-of-age stories in truly bizarre situations. With Love And Monsters, that takes the form of Joel, a young-adult survivor of the apocalypse (basically, in stopping a meteor, we wound up mutating all of our animal life into the things that killed off most of the human population) who sets out across the wilderness to reunite with his love Aimee. It is every bit as effective as Spontaneous, and might even go a few steps further.

After The End (2020) - Movie Review

Well, this is about as close to the bone as a feature can get for me: A post-apocalyptic Aussie film, where a virus has decimated humanity, that came out just last month. Have to admit, after covering Edge Of Extinction for FilmInk a while ago, I was expecting to end up with another perplexing sit that managed to make the end of the world insufferably boring. Thankfully, that’s not what we get here; in fact, it’s a fittingly depressing look at humanity’s collapse when the rest of the world goes to shit.

Bird Box (2018) - Movie Review

  

It’s a little too easy to just cut to the chase and see this as an attempt to cash in on A Quiet Place. Atmospheric horror tied directly to one of the human senses, with heavy emphasis on parenthood through the characters; the ties exist, is all I’m saying. But more so than that, this concept feels like someone looked at The Happening and went “Okay, there has to be a way to do this story without it being completely stupid.” A mysterious force is making the human population commit suicide, and the few that remain have to try and survive without getting exposed to that force. It’s an idea that honestly is worth trying to make palatable, and the attempt made here ain’t half bad.

The Darkest Minds (2018) - Movie Review

The plot: A mysterious disease has spread across the United States, killing most of the children and giving the survivors superhuman abilities. Out of fear of what the disease, or its carriers, could do next, children are rounded up into camps and, if any of them are too powerful, they are exterminated. One of the kids, Ruby (Amandla Stenberg), finds a way out of one of the camps and comes across runaways Liam (Harris Dickinson), Chubs (Skylan Brooks) and Zu (Miya Cech). With the government hunting after them, and no certainty of which (if any) adults they can trust, they'll have to rely on each other in order to survive.

The Humanity Bureau (2018) - Movie Review

The plot: In the not-too-distant future, as a result of severe climate change, economic collapse and civil war, the United States has become a near-barren wasteland. Noah (Nicolas Cage), an agent of the productivity-evaluating Humanity Bureau, is sent to inform farmer Rachel (Sarah Lind) and her son Lucas (Jakob Davies) that they are to be relocated to the New Eden colony. However, Noah soon finds out that the organisation he works for isn't all that it seems.

It Comes At Night (2017) - Movie Review

The plot: A mysterious contagion has reduced the world to a barren wasteland. Among the only known survivors are Paul (Joel Edgerton), his wife Sarah (Carmen Ejogo) and their son Travis (Kelvin Harrison Jr.), who have set up shelter in a secluded house in the woods. They soon come across Will (Christopher Abbott), his wife Kim (Riley Keough) and their son Andrew (Griffin Robert Faulkner), who stumble across the house and are soon invited in to share it. However, suspicions start to arise between the two families, with the constant fear of one of them being infected, some drastic measures may have to be taken.

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) - Movie Review

This review marks the first of three films in the next couple of months that will require me to brush up on my 80s-90s action series… which should have come around a lot sooner than this, considering these are the kind of films that are required viewing for any self-respecting movie buff, but better late than never. The first Mad Max film furthers the thinking that the biggest of accomplishments come out of the smallest of budgets, as the visual aesthetic, characterisation and overall grit of the film highlight some of the best that Australian cinema has to offer. Unfortunately, the follow-ups didn’t hold up nearly as well for me: Road Warrior was rather dull given how many times I’ve seen its Western-inspired plot and character development, despite being easily one of the most influential films of all time; and Beyond Thunderdome joins the list of films that make me question anything Rotten Tomatoes has to say. I was expecting 80’s cheese, but what I was given was literal pig shit. So, based on what came before it, my expectations aren’t that high given how we have approximately one-and-one-quarter good films to go on. But does this film at least deliver on the promise of fire-spewing electric guitars?