Movies
Fright Night
Hooray for Horrorwood
Joel Meares Guilty pleasure or channelling of existential angst? Either way, the simple horror film offers some very complex pleasures.
Editor's choice
Movies
Everyone wants a piece of 12 Years a Slave
KARL QUINN It may give Brad Pitt his best shot of an Oscar but the success of 12 Years a Slave is also putting strain on his long-running deal with Paramount.
Thor: The Dark World
Marvel's Thor sequel makes worlds collide
STEPHANIE BUNBURY Marvel's blockbusters meld commerce and art to staggering effect. Thor: The Dark World director Alan Taylor and Marvel chief Kevin Feige take us behind the scenes.
The Turning
Tim Winton film is Turning a dollar
KARL QUINN 5:59pm The multi-director adaptation of Tim Winton's The Turning has proven an unlikely box office success, passing the $1 million mark locally.
Vale Antonia Bird
Director of Priest, Ravenous, dead
KARL QUINN 5:59pm The British film director Antonia Bird, a frequent collabroator of Robert Carlyle, has died.
The Counselor
Penelope Cruz never plays it safe
Jenny Cooney Carrillo The star of the Cormac McCarthy-penned The Counselor insists the perception of Cruz control is just an illusion.
The Tribal Mind
The 3D reality show
David Dale You'd be mad to watch a great 3D film on your phone; you'd completely miss the gravity of the situation.
Press eject
Last bark of Video Dogs as buffs buy up treats
PHILIPPA HAWKER Video Dogs, the video rental store that has been servicing movie buffs for almost 15 years, is selling up its stock, yet another sign of the decline of the rental sector.
WA boom
Plans to build a $50m film studio in Perth
It is an ambitious goal, but a Perth film producer believes he can build Western Australia's first film studio within the next three years.
Vale Anthony Hinds
Producer made Hammer house of horror
Anthony Hinds, 1922-2013, was the producer who put the horror in Hammer horror, in the process turning a puny British film studio into a Goliath of cinematic gore.
Steve Coogan
'It's sort of a low-rent Die Hard, I suppose'
KYLIE NORTHOVER Steve Coogan finally brings his best-loved creation, Alan Partridge, to the big-screen in an unlikely tale of digital radio, hostages and old-fashioned English prejudice.
Unbroken
Jai Courtney for Unbroken, Water Diviner
CHRISTINE SAMS Jai Courtney's star continues to rise, with the young Australian actor landing major roles in Angelina Jolie and Russell Crowe's pictures.
Get Flick'd
Why the biopics have failed in 2013
Giles Hardie The big name films about people with big names have all flopped at the box office, yet films about Elton John, Lance Armstrong and Stephen Hawking are in the works. Can Hollywood save the biopic?
50 Shades
Jamie Dornan is Fifty Shades' Christian Grey
GILES HARDIE The Fifty Shades of Grey movie has replaced Charlie Hunnam with their new "discovery" Jamie Dornan.
Latest reviews
Sister
CRAIG MATHIESON A strong cast and direction elevate this drama about the disparities of life.
The Butler
ED GIBBS Packed with stars, The Butler misses an opportunity to make a strong point on race politics.
Fly Me to the Moon
CRAIG MATHIESON A woman's romantic escapades make for a pleasingly lightweight comedy in Fly Me to the Moon.
4 stars
Renoir
Paul Byrnes A pretty, diverting but somewhat unsatisfying movie about the traingular relationship between Pierre-Auguste Renoir, his son Jean and a beautiful young woman.
3.5 stars
The Butler
JAKE WILSON An uplifting all-American saga that deals with important social issues but is also refreshingly irreverent.
Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa
PAUL BYRNES This is a movie for the fans; had it been made for the people who do not yet like Alan Partridge, they might have had to try harder.
Blancanieves
JAKE WILSON It draws on fairytales, bullfights and silent cinema but this Snow White is ultimately an arid experience.
Remembrance
SANDRA HALL Hannah and Tomasz meet in Auschwitz. She's a German Jew and he's a Polish political prisoner. Somehow they fall in love and even more remarkably, they escape.
Renoir
PHILIPPA HAWKER This mood piece about the painter, his son and the muse they shared lacks obvious drama or incident, yet has dark, disconcerting elements.
Captain Phillips
JAKE WILSON This latest offering suggests that perhaps Tom Hanks has been cast once too often as the ordinary Joe martyred.
Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa
JAKE WILSON The long-awaited debut of Alan Partridge on the big screen is a triumph, within its small-screen inspired limits.
Exposed
PHILIPPA HAWKER A smart, thoroughly engaging documentary about burlesque and what it means to eight men and women who perform it.
Full coverage
'Notorious'
'Notorious' pirated DVD market pinpointed in Australia by US authority
MICHAEL IDATO 8:30am America's film industry watchdog, the Motion Picture Association of America, has fired a broadside at a number of countries, including Australia, which it has identified as "notorious marketplaces for the distribution of illegal film and television shows".
Hobbit fans to get sneak peek at Smaug
Wellington 3:34pm Hobbit fans will get a sneak peek at the second film of the trilogy - The Desolation of Smaug - at a global live presentation next month.
Ghost story
A fine bromance
Nick Galvin Artist Ben Quilty and filmmaker Warwick Thornton bonded over beer and a shared love of cars. The two good mates sit down to discuss their first artistic collaboration.
Deneuve does it her way
STEPHANIE BUNBURY At 70, Catherine Deneuve knows what she wants and is prepared to ask for it.
Machete Kills
Back as the blade runner
Jenny Cooney Carrillo Danny Trejo returns as a vengeful secret agent in Robert Rodriguez's Machete Kills.
Smaug to the rescue
GILES HARDIE Benedict Cumberbatch has had a bad week, as The Fifth Estate bombed at US and UK box offices, but his next film is a guaranteed winner. He voices the dragon Smaug in The Hobbitmovies. Screen Grabs visited Middle Earth to meet the cast and crew in anticipation ofThe Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, which will be out on Boxing Day. In our day on set, we learnt of five different Hobbits we nearly got instead.
The inspirational force of beauty
Garry Maddox A French drama about Renoir's muse has drawn huge box-office numbers.
Hail, Captain Everyman
Jenny Cooney Carrillo Tom Hanks has had a knack for turning the ordinary into the extraordinary.
Columns
Strangerland touched by the hand of Nic
Kidman's support gives debut feature a boost; film sector gets funding push in WA; ignored at home but 100 Bloody Acres a hit in Sitges.
Did Fifty Shades of fandom chase away Charlie Hunnam?
If Charlie Hunnam really has backed out of Fifty Shades of Grey because the fans didn't want him, could it mark a tipping point in the relationship between studio and audience?
Get Flick'd
Giles Hardie's lifelong mission is to bring Gold Class to the masses.
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
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, is living quietly in Washington, DC trying to adjust to the modern world.
Anchorman 2
With the '70s behind him, San Diego's top-rated newsman Ron Burgundy returns to take New York's first 24-hour news channel by storm.
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Ben Stiller stars in a remake of the tale of a day-dreamer who escapes his anonymous life by disappearing into a world of fantasies.
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The adventures of Gustave H, concierge at a famous European hotel between the wars, and Zero Moustafa, the lobby boy who becomes his most trusted friend.
Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones
After being "marked", Jesse is pursued by mysterious forces while his family and friends try to save him.
Fruitvale Station
The purportedly true story of Oscar Grant III, a 22-year-old Bay Area resident, who crosses paths with friends, enemies, family, and strangers on the last day of 2008.
Battle of the Year
Battle of the Year is an international dance crew tournament that attracts all the best teams from around the world, but the Americans haven't won in 15 years.
Devil's Due
After a mysterious last night on their honeymoon, a newlywed couple finds themselves dealing with an earlier-than-planned, and far from normal, pregnancy.
Walking With Dinosaurs
See and feel what it was like when dinosaurs ruled the Earth in this big-screen spin-off from the BBC series.
American Hustle
The story of a con artist and his partner in crime, who are forced to work with a federal agent to turn the tables on other cons, mobsters, and politicians.
Philomena
After her baby is whisked away by nuns to America for adoption, Philomena spends the next 50 years searching for him. Based on a true story.
In Bob We Trust
Documentary about the dynamic and sometimes controversial Melbourne Catholic priest Father Bob Maguire.
Ender's Game
In the near future, when a hostile alien race has attacked Earth, a boy named Ender is humanity's best chance of survival.
Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit
Young covert CIA analyst Jack Ryan uncovers a Russian plot to crash the US economy with a terrorist attack.
Thor - The Dark World
Thor continues his battle to save the Earth and all the nine realms from a shadowy enemy that predates the universe itself.
Inside Llewyn Davis
A week in the life of a young singer as he navigates the Greenwich Village folk scene of 1961.
