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FILMHOUNDS Magazine •

Everybody Digs Bill Evans (Film Review) — FILMHOUNDS

Everybody may dig Bill Evans, but by the end of Everybody Digs Bill Evans, you won’t necessarily be any the wiser as to why. Credit to Grant Gee’s film that it doesn’t go for an obvious biopic portrait. By narrowing its focus to a tragedy, it aims for a broader audience than the fans, and in doing so risks alienating everyone. For a film about a piano virtuoso, it’s surprisingly one-note, and only some keen performances and a polished look keep the viewer onside.

Everybody Digs Bill Evans is na...
Loud And Clear Reviews •

Coyote vs. Acme Review: Beep Against The Machine

Coyote vs. Acme has some big laughs and a sharp message, though they’re blunted by an unfocused, over-extended script.


Coyote vs. Acme sees the fictional ACME Corporation brought to court by its most loyal but disgruntled customer, and the audience is cheering for the under (prairie) dog from the start. Wile E. Coyote  becomes a standard bearer for every Temu customer that doesn’t think twice. Many saw the film’s cancellation as an act of pure greed, while others interpreted it as an attempt...
Loud And Clear Reviews •

Bruton (Locarno) Film Review: Prison Drama 101

Bruton takes a fascinating true crime story and boils it down to the prison clichés we’ve seen in other, better films.


From the start, director/writer/editor Vincent Grashaw tries to show off his style, shooting the barbed wire and fences of a prison perimeter with a handheld video filter, accompanied by narration from Bruton (Theo Rossi, of Emily the Criminal). There is undeniable ambition in Bruton, but it struggles to get out from the suffocating weight of its influences.


Bruton is no...
FILMHOUNDS Magazine •

Tony (Film Review) — Bland But Digestible

Anthony Bourdain’s life was driven by curiosity. Wherever the great chef and raconteur went on his travels, no matter what restaurants he worked or dined in, his towering demeanour could be humbled by a new taste experience. Tony, an adaptation of the first chapters of Bourdain’s memoir Kitchen Confidential, takes the opposite tack to that of its subject. Matt Johnson’s film is warm and safe, and too bland to capture his indomitable spirit, despite the best efforts of its leading man.

Tony open...
FILMHOUNDS Magazine •

Dead Man’s Shoes (Blu-ray Review) - A Brilliant Revenge Tale

Reading contemporary reviews of Dead Man’s Shoes, it’s baffling to see some critics found it impenetrable, whether due to its violence or its defiantly localised take on the revenge thriller. As if the violence wasn’t inherent in the genre, or the regional accents and focus didn’t give it any flavour. More than two decades after it reminded us all how smart and lean British crime flicks could be in a world of slick Guy Ritchie mockneys, Dead Man’s Shoes appears on special edition Blu-ray to remi...
FILMHOUNDS Magazine •

Stéphane (Blu-ray Review) — Spluttering Satirical Spoof

“Filmmaking isn’t easy”, says Timothée (Bastien Garcia), the wannabe director whose exploits form the backdrop for Stéphane, a horror comedy whose attempts at both genres suggest co-writers/directors Lucas Pastor and Timothée Hochet should have heeded their lead character’s warning. Granted, by the time Timothée acknowledges the hardships of a film set, he’s got in too deep with a lead actor whose narcissistic psychosis is now threatening his life, but it’s hard to muster sympathy when he’s brou...
FILMHOUNDS Magazine •

Histoire(s) du Cinéma - Godard’s Subversive Opus

Histoire(s) du Cinéma, Jean-Luc Godard’s multi-part exercise in defiance (of narrative thrust, of documentarian rigour, of audience expectations, etc.) is designed to frustrate any viewer, even the most accepting and appreciative of the French auteur’s sense of humour and pursuits in intellectualism. It’s the challenge that entices; over eight episodes and almost four-and-a-half hours, Godard dares you to find something in it. There’s plenty to be taken from the experience, so long as you’re ope...
FILMHOUNDS Magazine •

Oh! What A Lovely War (Blu-ray Review) – Not So Quiet On The Western Front

François Truffaut famously observed that any film about war becomes pro-war by dint of its commitment to violent action, but 1969’s Oh! What A Lovely War is a resolutely anti-war film. Richard Attenborough’s directorial debut avoids accusations of glamourising battle by diverting its attention away from the battlefield as much as it can, and giving as much emphasis (if not more) to the home front and musical numbers. The result is a wide-reaching affair, one that lands some valuable points even...
HeadStuff •

Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie movie review | Comfortably Dumb - HeadStuff

The title Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie sounds like an attempt to weed out the die-hard fans of the web series and subsequent sitcom that birthed it, but it overcomes pigeonholing by being both very smart and very funny. Writer-director Matt Johnson has ample experience to date in capturing zeitgeists past and present (Operation Avalanche, Blackberry), and he combines it with his metatextual proclivities in a pleasingly smart, but primarily hilarious vehicle for his and co-writer/composer...
FILMHOUNDS Magazine •

Wake In Fright (4K Review) — Beer, Brawn And Blood

Wake In Fright may well be the sweatiest film ever made. The outback wastes in which it is set are as parched as its characters, all of whom are dripping in copious perspiration. Ted Kotcheff’s 1971 gem may have kickstarted the Australian New Wave, but few of the films that followed it retain its hypnotic power. It is at once repulsive and entrancing, daring the viewer to look away, even when its sticky, sickly imagery leaves the viewer with no other choice.

Few films set Australia apart from t...
HeadStuff •

Blue Heron movie review | Memory and Mission collide in 2026’s Best Debut - HeadStuff

“Some things last a long time”, sings Daniel Johnston over the end credits of Blue Heron. Sophy Romvari’s touching debut feature builds on the themes of her short film repertoire to examine a life that sadly didn’t get to last a long time, namely that of her older brother. Blue Heron sounds like it should be a simple airing of dirty laundry but, under Romvari’s considered direction, it becomes something smarter and much more potent.


“I struggle now to remember much of my childhood.” The voice...
FILMHOUNDS Magazine •

Dernsie (Cannes Film Festival 2026) - Keep On Running

Dernsie sounds like it takes its title from a nickname for its subject, Academy Award-nominated actor Bruce Dern. In fact, it refers to Dern’s defining trait as an actor. A ‘Dernsie’ is when the actor adds in an additional line, movement or tic in his performance, the kind of little move that no-one else would think to do. These little acts of improvisation have been key to Dern’s long and distinguished career, though the film that’s been made of his life lacks that same memorability. Mike Mende...
HeadStuff •

Disclosure Day movie review | Spielberg’s Sci-Fi Return Is A Religious Experience - HeadStuff

Steven Spielberg’s name is all over the posters for Disclosure Day. His latest film boasts a starry cast, but he’s the brand. He’s one of the few directors who commands attention in his own right. However, that lauded position does not guarantee financial success (as his last couple of films sadly proved), nor does it mean that his ideas are loftier than anyone else’s. Disclosure Day is a film about the universal desire for truth. As we continue to dig into the depths of  the post-truth age, a r...
Next Best Picture •

"INTO THE JAWS OF THE OGRE" - Review

THE STORY – Filmmaker Mahsa Karampour reflects on the experiences of her
musician brother Siavash, as they make different lives for themselves far from their
native Iran.
THE CAST – Mahsa Karampour & Siavash Karampour
THE TEAM – Mahsa Karampour (Director/Writer) & Maya Haffar (Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 86 Minutes
Iranian musician Siavash Karampour drives down a road while his sister (and the film’s director), Mahsa, films him. It’s a warm day in California. They pull up at a busy junction, wait...
Next Best Picture •

"ADIEU MONDE CRUEL" - Review

THE STORY – Otto Vidal, 14, disappeared after writing a farewell letter to his classmates. While everyone believes he is dead, Léna, a girl from his high school, spots him one night roaming the streets of the city.
THE CAST – Milo Machado-Graner, Jane Beever, Françoise Lebrun, Maïa Sandoz, Emmanuelle Destremau & Erwan Kepoa Falé
THE TEAM – Félix de Givry (Director/Writer) & Marie-Stéphane Imbert (Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 93 Minutes
“Goodbye, cruel world!” It’s a wonderfully hyperbolic and evoc...
Loud And Clear Reviews •

The Black Ball (La Bola Negra) Film Review

The Black Ball is brilliantly made and heartfelt in its ambition, even if it can’t convey its characters’ passion as well as their suffering.


The Black Ball (La Bola Negra) is a pleasantly trickier proposition, at once more conventional and more subversive than its fellow Palme d’Or competitors. Its historical setting and reconciliation to tragedies past screams for trophies, but its era-spanning multiple narratives are burdened with breathtaking ambition. Writer-directors Javier Ambrossi and...
Loud And Clear Reviews •

The Man I Love Review: Crying When The Party’s Over

The Man I Love looks and sounds great, but Ira Sachs’ AIDS-era drama is almost sunk by Rami Malek’s affected lead turn.


If The Man I Love can’t quite land its emotional beats, it’s not for lack of trying to locate them in a fertile context. In late-1980s New York, AIDS is rampant, and among its victims is Malek’s flamboyant Jimmy George. The Reagan-era vilification of the victims of the AIDS epidemic lingers in the background of The Man I Love, but it’s not a piece of advocacy or a rabble-rou...
Loud And Clear Reviews •

Interview: Lisandro Alonso & Misael Saavedra on Double Freedom

We interview writer-director Lisandro Alonso and actor Misael Saavedra about their new film Double Freedom (La Libertad Doble) at the Cannes Film Festival.


It’s been 25 years since Lisandro Alonso was nominated for the Un Certain Regard award at the Cannes Film Festival for his feature debut La Libertad (Freedom). A quarter of a century later we interview him at Cannes, where he’s returned with the unlikely sequel, Double Freedom (La Libertad Doble). Alonso’s work has made the Argentinian dir...
Loud And Clear Reviews •

Hope (2026) Film Review: A Wild Ride

Forgive Hope its obvious flaws, and a ridiculously fun time will be had with Na Hong-jin’s creative creature feature.


Hope is intense, but it couldn’t be much less cerebral if it tried. Rarely is something so silly made with so much investment by cast and crew. Its flaws are readily apparent, but that makes it easier to overcome them, and just enjoy this perky but prolonged ride. Goodness knows why it’s in Competition, but a press corps left jaded by an otherwise lacklustre lineup to this poi...
Loud And Clear Reviews •

Minotaur Review: Russia Caught In A Labyrinth

Writer-director Andrey Zvyagintsev returns angrier than ever with Minotaur, his latest excoriation of the authoritarian Russian state.


Scorsese doesn’t always make mobster pictures, and Spielberg isn’t always pining over absent fathers. Andrey Zvyagintsev, on the other hand, can be reliably depended upon to skewer the contemporary Russian political firmament with righteous anger. Minotaur, Zvyagintsev’s first feature since 2017’s Loveless, delivers almost exactly what you’d expect from the ex...
Loud And Clear Reviews •

Paper Tiger Review: A Roar Worse Than Its Bite

Solid performances and filmmaking can’t shake the feeling of déjà-vu from Paper Tiger, James Gray’s latest New York-set crime thriller.


For all his evocation of classic Hollywood filmmakers, Gray is a more challenging writer-director than people realize. In many of his films (his crime thrillers especially), he throws us in with ragtag bunches of everymen who could lead perfectly happy lives if they’d just stop making stupid decisions. The protagonists of We Own The Night, The Yards and Littl...
Loud And Clear Reviews •

Double Freedom (La Libertad Doble) Review

In Double Freedom, Lisandro Alonso reminds us of what a sequel should do, revisiting his earliest triumph while taking it in new directions.


Alonso’s methods have not changed much, but the Argentine filmmaker should be reassured that audiences are invested enough to see what will happen to his protagonist when he might be in some kind of trouble. As Misael chomps on a meaty limb, the black skies behind him light up with flashes of lightning. Dark clouds, both literal and metaphorical, are rol...
Loud And Clear Reviews •

The Beloved (El Ser Querido) Film Review

Javier Bardem is excellent in The Beloved (El Ser Querido), which works better as a portrait of behind the scenes on a film shoot rather than a father-daughter tale.


It’s not a winning strategy for rebuilding family ties, and it ends up leaving The Beloved disjointed, even if there’s so much else here that works quite well.


Javier Bardem channels his inner Coppola to play Esteban Martínez, a film festival-friendly Spanish director who’s returning to his homeland to make his first film ther...
Loud And Clear Reviews •

All of a Sudden (Soudain): Film Review

All Of A Sudden (Soudain) showcases Ryūsuke Hamaguchi in full-throated expression of his intelligence, optimism, and naïveté.


Hamaguchi sidesteps such accusations by keeping these chats real, and infusing them with warmth, ensuring that the time is well spent. All Of A Sudden (Soudain), his first film made outside Japan, tests the limits of his approach. It’s full of generous and intelligent characters that draw you towards them with their grace, but Hamaguchi is so enamoured with them that h...
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