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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 30 June 2025

If you’ve seen Naked Lunch, Crash, eXistenZ and Videodrome, you’ll known Canadian filmmaker David Cronenberg is someone who gets audiences’ eyebrows raising.  A quick artificial intelligence search on the internet comes back with the following adjectives to describe his works – visceral, unsettling, disturbing, erotic, and psychological.  They’re all accurate and appropriate.

The Shrouds is his latest film and it’s based on a messed-up premise.  A savvy entrepreneur, Karsh (Cassel), has developed a unique business – a cemetery where cameras are placed inside buried coffins.  Loved ones can tap into the surveillance on their phones and watch the bodies decompose over time.  It’s a warped way to “stay in touch” with a deceased family member and Karsh crafted the idea when his wife passed away four years ago.  He’s now looking to roll out the niche idea out across the globe.

As you might expect, not everyone is a fan, and his cemetery is desecrated by vandals one evening who smash tombstones and uproot technology.  To make matters worse, they’ve hacked the cameras and locked clients out.  Are they after ransom money?  Is it intended to be a protest?  Do they perversely want to look at the dead bodies themselves?  Karsh doesn’t want to engage the local police and so he enlists his tech-savvy brother-in-law, Maury (Pearce), to obtain answers.  As this transpires, Karsh experiences a series of hallucinations involving his late wife which results in even more questions.  Weird and perverse enough for you?

I like the concept more than the narrative.  This idea of voyeuristic, 21^st Century cemeteries is thought-provoking and will generate a range of views depending on your personal perspectives and ideologies.  Could something like this be constructed today?  The film’s whodunit elements are less compelling.  Cronenberg throws in red herrings (that’s a plus) but when it’s all wrapped up and the closing credits roll, I wasn’t fully satisfied by Karsh’s character arc and the mystery’s resolution.

It has taken over a year for The Shrouds to reach Australian cinemas after it premiered in competition at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.  It’s interesting but not fully satisfying.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 19 June 2025

In need of a refresher?  28 Days Later, released in Australia in 2003, was a brilliant, lowish-budget horror film about a zombie-inducing virus inflicted on the people of the England after a medical lab ape goes feral.  It provided a compelling survival tale, centred a courier played by Cillian Murphy, but also asked meaningful questions about how technology could work against humanity and leave society on the verge of annihilation.  It turned a tidy profit at the box-office and a less successful follow-up, 28 Weeks Later, debuted in 2007.

For the two individuals responsible for the original, director Danny Boyle (Trainspotting) and writer Alex Garland, it’s been a busy two decades.  Boyle won an Academy Award for the popular Slumdog Millionaire and oversaw the well-received opening ceremony for London’s 2012 Summer Olympic Games (loved Queen Elizabeth II’s cameo).  Garland transitioned into direction and made a string of discussion-generating films including Ex Machina, Civil War, and Warfare.  Both have returned for this new instalment, aptly titled 28 Years Later.

I respect artists who take risks and Boyle, working closely with cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle (Slumdog Millionaire), have done that by shooting the bulk of the footage using off-the-shelf iPhones.  It’s head-shaking stuff.  The small device currently resting in my pocket has the power to conjure imagery for a $60 million studio film shown on giant cinema screens across the globe.  As you’ll see for yourself, it allows for distinctive camera angles – from a tight facial close-up of an emotive person through to a multitude of perspectives as a zombie is split open by a piercing arrow.

The narrative (obviously) takes place 28 years after the “Rage Virus” was first released and focuses on a small group of Brits who have found refuge on a zombie-free island close to the coastline.  They’re still alive… but it’s a very different lifestyle to the one they left behind.  I liked the film’s many small details.  Bacon is a luxury good, residents must recycle, and job options are narrow.

The zombies are freaky, and the deaths are gory but the strongest attribute of 28 Years Later is the robust family tale at its core.  Young English actor Alfie Williams is a revelation as the 12-year-old Spike.  He’s a big-hearted kid who wants to help his ailing mother (Comer), but he lacks the nous and emotional maturity to fully grasp the risks he is taking.  Spike treads the fine line between bravery and stupidity.  The dynamic he shares with his “macho” father (Taylor-Johnson) is also an interesting subplot.

If curious about the unresolved loose ends when the credits start rolling, you’ll be happy to know the next chapter, entitled 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, is slated for release in early 2026.  Hopefully it’s great too!

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 26 June 2025

Another week, another horror film.  We’ve reached the midpoint of 2025 and by my count, a dozen have been released in Australian cinemas.  They’ve included the wildly unconventional (Sinners, Bring Her Back) through to cliché-laden trash (Final Destination: Bloodlines, Heart Eyes).  I’m not sure we’ve needed that many but the fact they’ve outnumbered comedy and romance movies is a sign of the times.  They appeal to younger crowds and they’re a demographic more likely to visit cinemas than older audiences.

The original M3GAN was released in January 2023.  A computing engineer, Gemma (Williams), created an android doll for her 8-year-old niece, Cady (McGraw), but things went haywire when the overprotective doll started killing people.  It was predictable but director Gerard Johnstone added a few creative flourishes, such as the song choices, to make it worthwhile.  The public clearly agreed as it took in $182 million USD at the global box-office against a budget of just $12 million.  That’s a recipe for a sequel in anyone’s book.

If you’ve seen any of the promotional material for the cutely titled M3GAN 2.0, you’ll realise they’ve spun the robot’s character around and transformed her into a helpful hero.  The villains this time are a group of dodgy government military folk who have covertly used M3GAN’s programming to create their own doll, called AMELIA, who is being used as an assassin on a secret Middle Eastern mission.  AMELIA develops a mind of her own and goes feral (surprise, surprise) and so it’s up to the robot-turned-good to take down the robot-gone-bad.  As returning characters, Gemma and Cady will also have a role to play is saving the world.

It’s not a total write-off but M3GAN 2.0 is subpar.  The first movie felt like a credible “this could actually happen” tale with its exploration of robots utilised as a substitute for friendship and parenting.  This feels clumsier by trying to bring in shady government departments, with endless funds at their disposal, and goofy agents.  The drama doesn’t feel as “dramatic”.  The same can be said of the comedic elements with much of the humour falling flat.  The tones change far too often.  It’s hard to care about a character’s fate when they seemingly have no care themselves.

A new model isn’t always better than the old one and sadly, that’s the case with M3GAN 2.0.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 18 June 2025

Pixar’s latest hits hard from the outset.  This isn’t an animated feature about cute talking animals going on goofy misadventures.  The opening scene introduces us to Elio (Kibreab), an 11-year-old who has recently moved in with his Aunt Olga (Saldaña) following the tragic death of his mum and dad in a car crash.  It’s an intensely painful event for both with the preteen Elio retreating into his “shell” and struggling emotionally, while the kind-hearted Olga puts her career ambitions on hold (she wants to be astronaut) to raise her nephew.

A trip to an air and space museum lifts Elio’s spirits in a quirky, unusual way.  He becomes fascinated by extraterrestrial life!  So much so that, unhappy with life on Earth, he sends a message into the cosmos asking aliens to abduct him.  His wish comes true when an intergalactic spaceship beams him up, mistakes him as Earth’s leader, and then has him lead a complex negotiation against the insecure warmonger Lord Grigon (Garrett) who seeks control of the universe.  It provides a coming-of-age awakening for Elio who makes new friends but, in the process, learns life isn’t easy no matter what planet you’re from.

As always, it’s nice to engage with an animated movie which isn’t a sequel, spin-off or remake.  Elio tackles an array of themes including trauma, loneliness, sacrifice, courage, friendship and family.  I don’t think every subplot works (some are rushed) but kids of different ages will find an “in point” to connect with these characters.  Mature children will tap into the film’s heavier, emotional material.  Those younger can still have fun with the vibrant aliens and the four-eyed villain, distinctively voiced by Emmy winner Brad Garrett (Everybody Loves Raymond).

It’s unusual to see three directors credited with a film’s creation.  Adrian Molina, a co-writer of 2017’s Coco, kickstarted the project but stepped away partway through to work on a Coco sequel.  The reins were then handed to Domee Shi (Turning Red) and first-time feature director Madeline Sharafian to see Elio through to completion.  They’ve done a nice job bring the aliens to life – from Remy Edgerly as a playful worm through to Scottish actress Shirley Henderson as a tiny, blob-like supercomputer.  The use of colour and light also stands out.

It’s not “top shelf” Pixar but Elio is an amiable outing to occupy the kids over the winter school holidays.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 23 June 2025

F1 is the Happy Gilmore of motor racing movies.  You can enjoy it as simple entertainment, but it bears no resemblance to the sport itself.  This is a cliched, Hollywood-ised action piece, and you don’t need to be a Formula One aficionado to recognise that fact.  As is so often the case with sporting films, there’s no substitute for the real thing.  If looking for a “crash” course on Formula One, I’d suggest watching a live race on television or connecting through the popular British documentary series Drive to Survive.

Directed by Joseph Kosinski (Top Gun: Maverick), F1 is centred on the fictitious Sonny Hayes, a washed-up, 50-something-year-old who had a fleeting career in the 1990s which amounted to nothing.  He’s played by Brad Pitt in a very Brad Pitt-type role.  He’s a jokey, playful, carefree character who goes “against the grain” like we saw in Moneyball, The Big Short, Bullet Train, and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.  Pitt also serves as producer with the film co-funded by his own Plan B Entertainment company.

Sonny is lured back into the sport when approached by a former driver, Ruben Cervantes (Bardem), desperate for help.  Ruben now runs the APXGP team but, having burned through $350 million over three years and not earned a single place on the podium, he’s reached the bottom of the barrel in search of answers.  He wants Sonny to serve as #2 driver for the team while also mentoring the young Noah Pearce (Idris) who has natural talent but lacks maturity and experience.  They’ve got 9 races to prove themselves or else it’s “curtains” for their respective careers.

The production values are top-notch.  Kosinski and his team had permission to shoot scenes on actual Formula One race weekends over two years and it’s why the sets, costumes and extras look so genuine.  They don’t have much in the way of speaking lines, but the film finds a way of incorporating a bunch of real-life commentators and drivers, including Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri, into the drama.  The race sequences will get the blood pumping and composer Hans Zimmer (Interstellar) adds further energy with a pulsating music score, nicely showcased during the opening titles.  I’ll be adding it to my soundtrack collection!

It’s a shame the script doesn’t offer more.  It’s as if they filmed all the racetrack stuff first and tried to cobble together a narrative in the editing room.  I realise that’s not the case but it’s how the film comes across.  From Sonny Hayes rediscovering his skills with next-to-no training, to a group of ignorant investors with minimal knowledge, to a pioneering female engineer (Condon) who becomes a token love interest, to a pit crew member lacking confidence when changing tires… yeah, it’s hard to swallow.

While it has its fair share of positive attributes, F1 suffers by being a movie which “features” Formula One but is not “about” Formula One.