Sandra Hall
Sandra Hall is a film critic for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
There’s not enough Aubrey Plaza in this Aubrey Plaza film
In My Old Ass, a teenager is visited by her 39-year-old self who offers a preview of their shared future. And it’s not what she hoped.
- by Sandra Hall
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The director of How to Train Your Dragon is back with another excellent animation
Featuring a cast including Lupita Nyong’o, Catherine O’Hara, Bill Nighy, Pedro Pascal and Mark Hamill, The Wild Robot is both beautiful and original.
- by Sandra Hall
James McAvoy is electrifying in this buzzy horror. But is it any good?
Horror remake Speak No Evil is a clever but nauseating frightener about the consequences of remaining silent in the face of rampant domestic abuse.
- by Sandra Hall
Boxing drama Kid Snow is the kind of Australian film we used to make
Forget about political correctness, director Paul Goldman and the film’s writers have no desire to give us a revisionist version of the past.
- by Sandra Hall
★★★★
Review
Inspired, witty and full of warmth, June Squibb’s Thelma steals the show
Writer-director Josh Margolin has a deft and tender touch when it comes to the tricky relationship between farce and poignancy.
- by Sandra Hall
★★★
Review
Never trust a tycoon with a private island, even when they’re played by Channing Tatum
Zoe Kravitz’s Blink Twice is an energetic horror satire that uses Tatum’s looks and charm to make an unlikely villain.
- by Sandra Hall
★★★★
Review
The surfer who can’t see the waves he is surfing
The Blind Sea follows para-surfing champion Matt Formston on his quest to conquer the “Everest of waves” in Portugal.
- by Sandra Hall
Cinema’s most gruesome creature has a frightening new bag of tricks
Alien: Romulus takes place in the period between Ridley Scott’s 1979 original and James Cameron’s 1986 sequel.
- by Sandra Hall
★★½
Review
When romance becomes abuse: Blake Lively’s new film treads a dangerous line
Packed with erotic cliches and based on a best-selling novel, the film adaptation of It Ends with Us postpones the bad news until the romantic possibilities have been milked for all their worth.
- by Sandra Hall
★★★½
Review
De Niro plays yet another grumpy old man – but this time it works
Rose Byrne and Bobby Cannavale play the parents of a nine-year-old with autism in this engaging drama.
- by Sandra Hall
★★★★
Review
Russell Crowe has never allowed vanity to dictate his career – and that’s why he’s great
In the noir thriller Sleeping Dogs, Crowe proves again what an exceptional character actor he is when he plays a retired detective with Alzheimer’s disease who is revisiting an old case.
- by Sandra Hall