Movies
Episode VII
Adam Driver 'to rip a hole in da force' as Star Wars villain
SARAH THOMAS 11:42am Lena Dunham has praised her Girls co-star Adam Driver, who has reportedly been lined up to play the villain in J.J. Abrams' Star Wars reboot.
Editor's choice
Paulina Garcia
Mature role reflects society's coming of age
PHILIPPA HAWKER Paulina Garcia gives a mesemerising performance as the sort of character we rarely see on screen: a middle-aged woman leading a seemingly normal life.
Comment
Why Margaret and David were wrong
KARL QUINN It doesn't matter if they loathed it or loved it, Margaret Pomeranz and David Stratton abrogated their responsibility as critics in failing to address Wolf Creek 2.
Short Cuts
Squeezing every last drop out of the audience
GARRY MADDOX Winery thriller Crushed to play among the vines; union claim could bother Gods; Railway Man's Teplitzky eyes next vehicle.
J-Law
Jennifer Lawrence takes a break from movies
SARAH THOMAS She's become the hardest-working woman in showbusiness, but now the hottest movie star on the planet aims to take back her life.
Vale Harold Ramis
Now who you gonna call?
SARAH THOMAS The director of Groundhog Day and co-writer of Animal House and Ghostbusters leaves behind a legacy of laughs, and of surprising gravity.
Casting
Luke Bracey to star in Point Break remake
MICHAEL IDATO Australian actor Luke Bracey's Hollywood star is on the rise. The 24-year-old has just secured his second major Hollywood film role in as many weeks.
Mark Wahlberg
On sacrifice, mateship and courage
DANIEL FALLON A military disaster - still a raw memory - required special handling for cinema. Lone Survivor delivers.
Spat
'As bad as drug dealers' says Underbelly star
KARL QUINN Violent, unrealistic and sick: that's what Australian actor Simon Westaway thinks of the Wolf Creek movies, though some might say the same about his Underbelly television series.
Latest reviews
All Is Lost
SANDRA HALL This shipwreck movie, starring a weather-beaten Robert Redford, was shot in Baja, Mexico, in tanks used by James Cameron in the making of Titanic, but the scale of events is rather different.
Non-Stop
PAUL BYRNES A cleverly plotted and efficiently put together thriller that is absolutely on the pulse in its manipulations.
Out of the Furnace
PHILIPPA HAWKER Moody, dark and menacing, Out Of The Furnace is a drama-cum-thriller that sets itself somewhere between weighty and heavy-handed.
Film
The Wind Rises review: Hayao Miyazaki bids farewell in animation
JAKE WILSON Announced as the final film by the great Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki, The Wind Rises is one of the peaks of his career.
Gloria
PAUL BYRNES A soulful film about a middle-aged woman who has embraced life yet is still lonely, Gloria is a heartfelt work with a remarkable performance at its core.
Film
Non-Stop
PHILIPPA HAWKER Despite some ingenious plot machinations, this mid-air Liam Neeson action vehicle leaves you with the impression it had the potential to be far better than it is.
Gloria
PHILIPPA HAWKER Chilean director Sebastian Lelio's Gloria is a warm, intimate, sharply funny depiction of a life in progress.
Full coverage
French connections
PHILIPPA HAWKER From an artist's muse to a real-life heist, the French Film Festival covers broad territory. Tres bon!
The Oscar goes to ...
GARRY MADDOX Who will triumph at this year's Academy Awards? Garry Maddox predicts the winners.
So chic, so ... French
PHILIPPA HAWKER This year's festival crop mines 20th-century history, from Camille Claudel in 1915 to a 2009 heist 'hero'.
Julianne Moore
Non-Stop: Star turn jolts sky-high thriller
Jenny Cooney Carrillo Julianne Moore says she has some specific criteria that have to be met before she accepts a movie role – and Non-Stop ticked all of the boxes.
Child 'porn'
Australia bans award-winning Swedish film Children's Island over child porn concerns
MATTHEW KNOTT 8:12pm Censors have refused classification for a 30-year-old award-winning Swedish film, in effect banning it, after an application by the Australian Federal Police.
Oscars
Pick of the Oscars 2014: Who should win vs most likely to succeed
GARRY MADDOX 1:49pm Who will triumph at this year's Academy Awards? Garry Maddox predicts the winners.
Gravity
Sandra Bullock's astronomical pay cheque for Gravity
SARAH THOMAS 12:34pm If Sandra Bullock fails to snatch the best actress award away from Cate Blanchett at the Oscars, she can at least console herself with a $70 million pay cheque.
Thailand
Australian actor Sullivan Stapleton suffers serious injury in Thailand
MICHAEL IDATO 9:41am Australian actor Sullivan Stapleton has been injured in Thailand.
Movies
Gay affair libel case settled with writing prize in honour of Philip Seymour Hoffman
New York An annual prize will award $US45,000 to a playwright in honour of Oscar-winning US actor Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Critical
At the Movies: Margaret and David avoid 'ugly' Wolf Creek 2
SARAH THOMAS Wolf Creek 2 writer-director Greg McLean has slammed Margaret Pomeranz and David Stratton for failing to support local productions, after the ABC duo decided against reviewing his horror sequel on Tuesday’s At the Movies.
Trailer
Can Bryan Cranston resurrect Godzilla?
SARAH THOMAS "You have no idea what's coming," says a panicked Bryan Cranston as scientist Joe Brody in the reboot of Godzilla, which is set to be one of the biggest blockbusters of the year.
Cloud control
Disney battles DVD decline with digital movie download service
Walt Disney has launched Disney Movies Anywhere, a service for consumers to buy and watch Disney, Pixar and Marvel films online and store them in the cloud, in the latest bid by a Hollywood studio to encourage digital movie purchases.
Where the stars keep their Oscars
From bathrooms to museums: Cate Blanchett, Emma Thompson and others reveal where their golden statues live.
Movies
Warner Bros and Bradley Cooper leap on NZ writer Ben Sanders' new book American Blood
Warner Brosbuys the film rights to a yet-to-be published crime novel by young writer Ben Sanders.
Focus
Hollywood props have their turn in the spotlight
Sean Macaulay How could a stuffed horse's head, a pack of cigarettes, or an old switchblade be worth a small fortune? Welcome to the cutthroat world of Hollywood movie memorabilia.
Flickerfest filmmakers vouch for local production support
NATALIE BOCHENSKI Brisbane filmmakers selected for this year's Flickerfest have highlighted the importance of a local production house to support emerging artists.
Columns
Short Cuts: film news round-up
Mumbai terror comes to Blue Mountains; Lego continues to build.
Big, bad Wolf: Margaret and David snub local horror movie
It doesn't matter if they loathed it or loved it, Margaret Pomeranz and David Stratton abrogated their responsibility as critics in failing to address Wolf Creek 2.
Australian film wins prize in Venice
The Australian film Ruin, shot in Cambodia, was among the prizewinners in Venice.
Lesbian love epic wins Cannes' top prize
An audacious lesbian love story featuring hardcore sex by French-Tunisian director Abdellatif Kechiche has won the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival.
Trailers
Gloria
A story set in Santiago and centred on Gloria, a free-spirited older woman, and the realities of her whirlwind relationship with a former naval officer whom she meets out in the clubs.
Guardians of the Galaxy
In the far reaches of space, an American pilot Peter Quill finds himself the object of a manhunt after stealing an orb coveted by the villainous Ronan.
These Final Hours
A self-obsessed young man makes his way to the party-to-end-all-parties on the last day on Earth, but ends up saving the life of a little girl searching for her father.
Out of the Furnace
When Rodney Baze mysteriously disappears and law enforcement doesn't follow through fast enough, his older brother, Russell, takes matters into his own hands to find justice.
Only Lovers Left Alive
Set against the romantic desolation of Detroit and Tangiers, an underground musician, deeply depressed by the direction of human activities, reunites with his resilient and enigmatic lover.
Half of a Yellow Sun
An upper class couple whose marriage is put to the test when Nigeria breaks into the crippling 1967 civil war that births the short-lived republic of Biafra.
Wolf Creek 2
The outback once more becomes a place of horror as another unwitting tourist becomes the prey for crazed, serial-killing pig-shooter Mick Taylor.
Nebraska
An aging, booze-addled father makes the trip from Montana to Nebraska with his estranged son in order to claim a million-dollar Mega Sweepstakes Marketing prize.
Divergent
Beatrice Prior, a teenager with a special mind, finds her life threatened when an authoritarian leader seeks to exterminate her kind in her effort to seize control of their divided society.
Lone Survivor
Marcus Luttrell and his team set out on a mission to capture or kill notorious Taliban leader Ahmad Shah, in late June 2005. Marcus and his team are left to fight for their lives in one of the most valiant efforts of modern warfare.
Ida
Anna, a young novitiate nun in 1960s Poland, is on the verge of taking her vows when she discovers a dark family secret dating back to the years of the Nazi occupation.
The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet
Enter the curious world of T.S Spivet and his lovingly mismatched family who reside on a sprawling ranch near Montana.
Belle
Raised by her aristocratic great-uncle Lord Mansfield, Belle's lineage affords her certain privileges, yet the colour of her skin prevents her from fully participating in the traditions of her social standing.
Non-Stop
US Air Marshal Bill Marks learns he has only hours to find a killer aboard a transatlantic flight. What follows is a nail-biting cat and mouse game played at 40,000 feet.
Cuban Fury
Beneath Bruce Garrett's shabby, overweight exterior, the passionate beating heart of a salsa king lays dormant. Only one woman can reignite his Latin fire.
The Wind Rises
In what he says will be his last film, Hayao Miyazaki tells the story of Jiro Horikoshi, who designed Japanese fighter planes during World War II.