Unpacking triple j's Hottest 100 of Australian Songs

The race has been run, with 2.65 million votes tallied, and INXS' romantic waltz-turned-unofficial footy anthem Never Tear Us Apart has topped the table in triple j's countdown of the Hottest 100 Australian Songs.

The prevalence of tracks that wouldn't have been out of place on a BBQ/beer-drinking compilation album has led some to remark that the poll results are indistinguishable from a Triple M Ozzfest countdown.

But realistically, this is just further evidence that the boundaries around music are disappearing thanks to the internet and the insane amount of music now at our fingertips.

Whereas triple j once stood as a guardian of "the alternative" amid the glossy noise of "the mainstream", its key demographic of 15-27 year olds no longer sees the musical landscape in such binary fashion (18-29yos were the biggest voting demographic in the Aussie Hottest 100 by the way). 

There is just good music and bad music, just as Jimi Hendrix pointed out in 1969.

This is because the reach and strength of the gatekeepers has diminished. The power of the big record labels has all but vanished, MTV no longer deals with the M in its name, and commercial radio is a dying medium. As a result, it's harder to spoonfeed the masses their music anymore. The rise of streaming means people are more likely to seek out what they want to listen to of their own volition, rather than being split into the once-important camps of "alternative" and "mainstream".

Hence triple j leaning into pop more, leading Beyonce/Chappell Roan/Olivia Rodrigo/Gracie Abrams to become playlist regulars. But this is what its audience wants, as reflected by the voting in annual Hottest 100s. These types of acts are no longer considered "mainstream" to the youth, because that term is meaningless to young people now, and triple j gets that. Except in the case of Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran, for some reason.

So where triple j listeners would have once bristled at the likes of Farnsy, Barnesy and The Veronicas vaulting the wall that kept them in Mainstream Land and landing in the Alt Domain of triple j, they are now acknowledging that good music is good music, and that the wall doesn't really exist anymore. Old, new, commercial, alternative, pop, country, whatever, it doesn't matter. Explains why Fleetwood Mac's Dreams is still in the ARIA charts, right?

And it explains why triple j's playlist is the way it is these days, and why the Hottest 100 Aussie Songs list is the way it is.

But that's just my perspective.

Anyway, whatever. Feelings aren't facts, so let's crunch some numbers. Here's the hard data from the Hottest 100 of Australian Songs.

1. Never Tear Us Apart - INXS (1987)

Despite the OG Double J being big supporters of INXS back in the day, by the time the triple j Hottest 100 era rolled around with the All Time lists in 1989-1991, Michael Hutchence and his merry men were the epitome of mainstream, having sold millions of records in the US alone. Hence the Hottest 100 of Australian Songs being the first time any of their songs made it into a Hottest 100 (Need You Tonight was #59).

But INXS' Hottest 100 debut actually came about in the Hottest 100 of Australian Albums in 2011, where Kick landed at #5. Interestingly, 43 out of the 100 songs from the weekend came from albums that scored a slot in that Aussie Albums poll. In fact the highest ranking album on the Aussie Album list that didn't yield a song in the Aussie Song list was #12 - Grinspoon's Guide To Better Living.

One other pleasant oddity - the winner of the 1989 and 1990 All Time countdowns? Love Will Tear Us Apart. But now it seems love will Never Tear Us Apart. How times have changed.

2. The Nosebleed Section - Hilltop Hoods (2003)

With three appearances in the Aussie Song countdown, Hilltop Hoods now has 37 entries across all Hottest 100s (so that's including all the all-time/best of the decade/20 years/best albums polls they've done). That's the most of any Aussie acts, which goes nicely with their crazy 25 entries in annual Hottest 100s (also an Aussie record). 

In terms of All Hottest 100s, here's the Aussie leaderboard now:

37 - Hilltop Hoods

32 - Powderfinger

31 - Silverchair, Flume

26 - Tame Impala

23 - Grinspoon

22 - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

20 - The Living End, You Am I

3. Untouched - The Veronicas (2007)

While Untouched and 4ever were the first Veronicas' songs to make the Hottest 100, they were not the first appearances of The Veronicas in a Hottest 100. That honour goes to their collaboration with Allday for the Like A Version of Big Yellow Taxi, which made it in at #42 in 2023's LAV Hottest 100. 

The Origliasso twins, Missy Higgins, Kimbra, and Julia Stone were the only women to make it into the top 20.

4. Scar - Missy Higgins (2004)

Despite coming second in her annual Hottest 100 countdown in 2004, Missy Higgins' Scar outperformed all the annual #1s when it came time to vote for our favourite Aussie songs. Twelve of the 16 Aussie songs that have won an annual Hottest 100 countdown and were eligible for this poll (sorry Wiggles) made the grade, four did not - more on that shortly. 

But what about the runners up? There were nine #2s in the Aussie Songs countdown out of a possible 18, with Scar topping the pile. Among the nine unsuccessful #2s: Something For Kate's Monsters, Ben Lee's Catch My Disease, Amy Shark's Adore, and Little Red's Rock It.

5. Don't Dream It's Over - Crowded House (1986)

When the Hottest 100 began in 1989 it was an All Time poll - ditto in 1990 and 1991. Crowded House featured on none of those three lists, perhaps because they were too new and "mainstream" at the time. But Don't Dream It's Over's rise through the subsequent Hottest 100s it was eligible for accurately reflects its ascent to classicdom. 

In the All Time Hottest 100 of 1998, it was #76. In the All Time count of 2009, it was #50. Its parent album Crowded House was #13 in 2011. And it chimed in at #5 on the All Time Aussie Song list. Quite the rise.

6. My Happiness - Powderfinger (2000)

Of the 12 annual countdown winners that made the list, this topped the pile. But spare a thought for the four #1s that didn't get a look in - Buy Me A Pony by Spiderbait, Amazing by Alex Lloyd, Hoops by The Rubens, and Say Nothing by Flume feat. May-A. Maybe they'll get a run in 200-101 (airing on Double J on Saturday, August 2).

Powderfinger were part of an elite group of bands that scored three entries in the Aussie Song countdown - how's this for a who's who of great Aussie acts: Powderfinger, Crowded House, Hilltop Hoods, Jimmy Barnes, AC/DC, Silverchair, Midnight Oil, and Gang of Youths.

And who was the only person to get four entries? Powderfinger's Bernard Fanning of course.

7. Flame Trees - Cold Chisel (1984)
8. Khe Sanh - Cold Chisel (1978)

Sarah Blasko's sublime cover of Flame Trees, which reached #15 in the 2005 annual countdown, 100 per cent helped keep the higher ranking of the Chisel songs in the consciousness. But this Aussie Song poll was the first time Cold Chisel's rendition of Flame Trees has appeared in a Hottest 100. Different story for Khe Sanh, which appeared in the 1989 All Time poll (95) and the 1998 All Time poll (94).

Cold Chisel were also the only band that went back-to-back in the Aussie Song countdown. No mean feat, particularly when both songs make it into the top 10.

9. How To Make Gravy - Paul Kelly (1996)

Untouched was the highest placed song in this Aussie countdown that was released post-1993 but didn't make it into the annual countdown of its year. How To Make Gravy is also on that list, along with Sweet Disposition, Innerbloom, Can't Get You Out Of My Head, Torn, 4ever, I Want You, and Red Right Hand. 

How To Make Gravy is also one of 28 songs that had never appeared in any Hottest 100 song list previously. 

10. Somebody That I Used To Know - Gotye feat. Kimbra (2011)

This previous annual Hottest 100 winner is in rare company because it's one of only three songs to make the Aussie Song list, the best of the 2010s Hottest 100, and the 20 Years poll of 2013. The other two songs on that list are Big Jet Plane by Angus & Julia Stone, and Brother by Matt Corby. 

Gotye's #1 also has another claim to fame after cracking the top 10 here - it's one of only two songs to appear in the top 10 of four separate Hottest 100s. The only other song to do that is Hunters & Collectors' Throw Your Arms Around, which managed the feat in the All Time countdowns of 1989, 1990, 1991, and 1998. 

Some other random notes:

Appearing on the most lists possible

Speaking of Throw Your Arms Around Me, it has now appeared in seven out of a possible seven Hottest 100s. It remains the only song to have appeared in every All Time countdown (1989, 1990, 1991, 1998 and 2009), plus its parent album Human Frailty is on the Aussie Albums Hottest 100 of 2011 at #76. 

A close equal second is Silverchair's Tomorrow with six out of six possible appearances - the 1994 annual countdown, the 20 Years poll of 2013, the All Time lists of 2009 and 1998, and the Aussie Albums list via Frogstomp at #2, and Prisoner of Society by The Living End, which has the same results, except swap 1994 for 1997.

The old timers return

The only song aside from Throw Your Arms Around Me to appear in the Aussie Song Hottest 100 and the three OG All Time countdowns (1989, 1990, and 1991) is The Church's stone cold classic The Unguarded Moment.

And they are part of a cohort of five songs that appeared in both the original 1989 Hottest 100 of All Time and the latest Aussie Songs Hottest 100, with the other three being Khe Sanh, Power & The Passion, and Eagle Rock.

It was a very good year

Daddy Cool's Eagle Rock (1971) was also the oldest track on the list, while Amyl & The Sniffers' Hertz (2021) was the youngest. Amazing to see 50 years between the ends of the scale - serendipitous given this Hottest 100 marked 50 years of triple j.

The most represented years were 1997 (six entries) and 1987 (five entries).

The decade representation goes thusly: the '00s (27 entries), the '90s (23), the '10s (22) and the '80s (21). There were also five songs from the '70s and just two from the '20s.

And...

... there were three covers in the countdown (Black Betty, The Horses and Torn), and two Kiwis in the top 10 (Neil Finn and Kimbra) because we love to claim them.

Superman (2025)

This is a version of a review airing on ABC Victoria's Statewide Mornings program on July 24, 2025.

(M) ★★★★

Director: James Gunn.

Cast: David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, Nicholas Hoult, Edi Gathegi, Anthony Carrigan, Nathan Fillion, Isabela Merced, Skyler Gisondo, Sara Sampaio, Wendell Pierce, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Neva Howell.

"You know you're going to have to fix the sidewalk, right Mr Superman?"

I have no idea if this is a controversial opinion, but this is the best live-action Superman film of the past 50 years.

Yes, the 1978 one is iconic and integral, with great performances and some effects that still hold up to this day, but it's silly by modern standards and features one of the worst retconning plot devices of all time. It's 1980 sequel is also strong, but suffers from a goofy tone. And the less said of Superman III and IV the better.

Superman Returns was solid but ultimately forgettable except for Kevin Spacey's Lex Luthor (which isn't something to crow about these days), while Man Of Steel was a dour boring mess unworthy of Henry Cavill.

Which brings us to this rollicking ride of superhero movie. While it doesn't feel as groundbreaking or all-time classic as The Dark Knight, Iron Man, or Gunn's own Guardians Of The Galaxy, Superman is a solidly plotted story that overcomes the key problem with Kal-El - that he's an unbeatable bore - and uncovers new depths to the character.

Wisely deciding against yet another origin tale (let's face it - we all know how that goes), Superman takes flight mid-story, with the Man of Steel (Corenswet) suffering a physical defeat in the wake of interfering in an international conflict without US government authorisation, handing Superman a diplomatic defeat to go with his literal wounds.

As Superman grapples with his place in the geo-political landscape, as well as his relationship with Lois Lane (Brosnahan), Lex Luthor (Hoult) is hard at work, plotting to destroy Superman from all angles.

Corenswet is a natural in the super-suit. We don't see him in Clark Kent mode a huge amount, but his Superman is a wonderfully well-rounded character, full of frustrations and fears, with a health dash of ego and humility, yet also fundamentally good in that special Superman kind of way. Gunn has written his Man of Steel to perfection, and Corenswet brings him to life in self-assured style.

Similarly, Lois Lane feels like a real person, unlike previous renditions, and ditto for Jimmy Olsen, which is again tribute to Gunn's script, but also the performances of Brosnahan and Gisondo. Lex Luthor is also great, and full points to Hoult and Gunn for making the character genuinely smart and genuinely dangerous. Luthor feels like a threat to Superman in more ways than one, and best of all, he thinks he's in the right, which is always the best way to write a villain.

The movie leans into its comic-book nerdiness, making good use of characters and situations that might not be so well known to the non-nerds, including Mr Terrific, Metamorpho, and the Guy Gardner version of the Green Lantern. Hawkgirl is sadly underwritten, but the rest are given enough depth to make them interesting beyond their powers.

Superman moves quickly - not quite like a speeding bullet - but its pace keeps it fun, never getting bogged down. Even the film's biggest character moment, in which Clark allows Lois to interview Superman, is full of tension and drama, making it a highlight scene amid the bombast and CG destruction.

The film could do with being funnier, as a few too many laughs fall flat, but it's an interesting and intelligent take on a character we've seen plenty of times in the past half a century. The DC Universe is in good hands with Gunn at the helm. To deliver the best Superman film to date is a superheroic feat.

Who will win triple j's Hottest 100 Aussie songs of all time?

Damn this is difficult.

Usually when I analyse and forecast a Hottest 100, there are some pretty straight-forward factors to assess - vote aggregator 100 Warm Tunas, how much an artist has been played on triple j/Spotify/YouTube, ARIA chart position, Tik Tok views, and the bookies.

But compiling predictions on the Hottest 100 Australian songs of all time is much harder because it boils down to one indefinable quality - cultural cachet.

Run this poll annually, and you'll see songs rise and fall as their status and legacy are re-evaluated and re-assessed by an adoring public. Just look at the first three years of triple j's Hottest 100 when it was an All Time poll. There are 56 songs shared between the first two countdowns of 1989 and 1990, while the 1991 Hottest 100 only featured 39 songs that hadn't appeared in either 1989 or 1990. Part of the reason why triple j ditched the All Time format was because each year was going to be too similar, but it was, for a short time at least, a fascinating real-time record of cultural cachet. It was basically the national equivalent of how our favourite songs might change on any given day/week/month/year, depending on our mood and what comes to mind.

So how do we assess cultural cachet? I have no friggin' idea, but here is what I do know, which is a mix of available data, gut feeling, and intuition.

Past winners

There have been 17 of Aussie winners of annual Hottest 100 countdowns. For the record, they are:

Buy Me A Pony - Spiderbait (1996)

No Aphrodisiac - The Whitlams (1997)

These Days - Powderfinger (1999)

My Happiness - Powderfinger (2000)

Amazing - Alex Lloyd (2001)

Are You Gonna Be My Girl? - Jet (2003)

Wish You Well - Bernard Fanning (2005)

One Crowded Hour - Augie March (2006)

Big Jet Plane - Angus & Julia Stone (2010)

Somebody That I Used To Know - Gotye feat. Kimbra (2011)

Riptide - Vance Joy (2013)

Talk Is Cheap - Chet Faker (2014)

Hoops - The Rubens (2015)

Never Be Like You - Flume feat. Kai (2016)

Confidence - Ocean Alley (2018)

Elephant - The Wiggles (2021) 

Say Nothing - Flume feat. May-A (2022)

All of these songs are a pretty solid shot of making the Hottest 100 (except for The Wiggles' cover of Elephant, which is ineligible because triple j has ruled out Like A Versions, thank god).

But some are more likely than others. Songs like Amazing, Are You Gonna Be My Girl? and Hoops feel like their esteem has faded in the decades since they were voted in, while tracks such as Riptide and Somebody That I Used To Know have remained in the zeitgeist like bugs trapped in amber. Riptide has spent 14 weeks in the ARIA top 50 this year alone, for chrissake. If that's not a tick of approval, then I don't know what is.

Best of the '10s

Here are the top 10 Aussie songs from the best of the decade (2010-2019) Hottest 100 that aired in 2020 (with their actual finishing position in brackets):

1. The Less I Know The Better - Tame Impala (1)

2. Somebody That I Used To Know - Gotye feat. Kimbra (2)

3. Covered In Chrome - Violent Soho (4)

4. Innerbloom - Rufus Du Sol (5)

5. Magnolia - Gang Of Youths (6)

6. Never Be Like You - Flume feat. Kai (8)

7. Big Jet Plane - Angus & Julia Stone (9)

8. Brother - Matt Corby (10)

9. Talk Is Cheap - Chet Faker (11)

10. Riptide - Vance Joy (13)

Six of these were previous Hottest 100 winners, which goes to show that's a meaningful stat. The non-winners in this list are also pretty key, and will more than likely make the Hottest 100 Australian songs of all time. Innerbloom in particular is one to watch - the original and a remix both made it into this countdown of the '10s.

2013's Hottest 100 of the previous 20 years

From 2013's Hottest 100 of the previous 20 years, here are the top 10 Aussie songs (with where they finished in that countdown in brackets):

1. The Nosebleed Section - Hilltop Hoods (4)

2. These Days - Powderfinger (8)

3. Somebody That I Used To Know - Gotye feat. Kimbra (9)

4. My Happiness - Powderfinger (10)

5. Hearts A Mess - Gotye (12)

6. Tomorrow - Silverchair (17)

7. Prisoner Of Society - The Living End (20)

8. One Crowded Hour - Augie March (24)

9. Frontier Psychiatrist - The Avalanches (27)

10. Sweet Disposition - The Temper Trap (38)

Given that this poll covered 1993 to 2013, it's a really key one because it hits in the sweet spots for a lot of the older demographic that's likely to return to triple j for a vote. All these songs are a solid bet to make it into this poll, and I would be shocked, shocked I tell you, if these 10 don't make the 100.

The cover band version

The Horses - Daryl Braithwaite

Don't Dream It's Over - Crowded House

Khe Sanh - Cold Chisel

You're The Voice - John Farnham

Never Tear Us Apart - INXS

Thunderstruck - AC/DC

Beds Are Burning - Midnight Oil

Throw Your Arms Around Me - Hunters & Collectors

Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again? - The Angels

Down Under - Men At Work

I spent a lot of years playing covers songs in pubs, and it's quite the microcosm of musical criticism. If you ever doubt that Wonderwall really means a lot to people, go and hear it played live in a shitty pub through a shitty PA by a group of shitty musicians and see how it still hits the mark.

With that in mind, here are 10 songs that hit the pub band cover setlist/backyard BBQ playlist demographic that are a fair shot to make the list. And remember that thing I said before about cultural cachet? Well this list has a lot of it. The Horses is basically a meme, but irony is dead so it will go really high - expect it in the top 10. Don't Dream It's Over is edging towards a billion plays on Spotify and is the #1 Australian song on the ARIA charts at the moment. Thunderstruck is #2 on that same ARIA chart and has 1.8 billion plays. Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again? was a Like A Version in recent years, and Down Under got sampled and flogged on triple j recently as well. And I couldn't even squeeze Paul Kelly's How To Make Gravy in here, which got turned into a goddamn movie and has made the 21st of December into the next best thing to a national public holiday.

The Aussie albums list - can it teach us anything?

Here's the top 10 from the top 100 Aussie albums Hottest 100 that triple j did way back in 2011.

1. Odyssey Number Five - Powderfinger (2000)

2. Frogstomp - Silverchair (1995)

3. Back In Black - AC/DC (1980)

4. The Living End – The Living End (1999)

5. Kick - INXS (1987)

6. Internationalist - Powderfinger (1998)

7. Apocalypso - The Presets (2008)

8. Wolfmother – Wolfmother (2005)

9. Since I Left You - The Avalanches (2000)

10. Unit - Regurgitator (1997)

All of these bands are a shot to be in the countdown, but Powderfinger and Silverchair loom large. Powderfinger had four albums in the top 50, while Silverchair had all five of their albums within the top 70. These Days, My Happiness, Tomorrow, Straight Lines - these are the songs to watch from these two powerhouse bands.

The last all time list - 2009

It's been 16 years since triple j did a countdown of the Hottest 100 songs of all time (which Smells Like Teen Spirit won yet again), but here's every Aussie song that made the cut.

1. The Nosebleed Section - Hilltop Hoods (17)

2. These Days - Powderfinger (21)

3. Throw Your Arms Around Me - Hunters & Collectors (23)

4. My Happiness - Powderfinger (27)

5. Tomorrow - Silverchair (33)

6. Prisoner Of Society - The Living End (34)

7. Into My Arms - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (36)

8. Betterman - John Butler Trio (47)

9. Don't Dream It's Over - Crowded House (50)

10. Berlin Chair - You Am I (52)

11. One Crowded Hour - Augie March (59)

12. Thunderstruck - AC/DC (63)

13. Hearts A Mess - Gotye (77)

14. Back In Black - AC/DC (91)

15. Beds Are Burning - Midnight Oil (97)

The Nosebleed Section was #9 in its year and if you were paying attention you'll notice it's popped up on two other non-annual lists. It's a landmark track in Australian music - only 1200 Techniques' Karma precedes it as an announcement of the arrival of Aussie hip hop. But all 15 songs on this list are strong favourites to make the countdown come July 26.

Pop go the ladies 

The Hottest 100 Australian songs of all time is going to be a sausage fest, because the history of Australian music has been dominated by men. triple j has proven that if you start playing a balance of music from male, female and nonbinary people, audiences love it, and will demonstrate this love by voting for music that isn't just performed by white dudes. But this upcoming countdown is going to be a return to the white men, because that's what history is.

With that in mind, here is the female pop equivalent list of that cover band list from earlier.

Can't Get You Out Of My Head - Kylie

Untouched - The Veronicas

My Island Home - Christine Anu

Born To Try - Delta Goodrem

Sweet About Me - Gabriella Cilmi

Chains - Tina Arena

Bedroom Eyes - Kate Ceberano

Physical - Olivia Newton John

I Touch Myself - Divinyls

Torn - Natalie Imbruglia

The bookies really rate that Veronicas song, and if there's not a Kylie song or two in the countdown I'll be hugely surprised. In terms of cultural cachet, Divinyls have never gone away, nor has Kylie or Natalie Imbruglia's cover of Torn, and is it just me or has Tina Arena been having a moment in recent years? These are all things to watch out for come July 26.

The most streamed Aussie songs on Spotify

This is by no means precise, but here (to the best of my reckoning) are the most streamed Aussie songs on Spotify that have previously appeared in an annual Hottest 100.

1. Stay - The Kid Laroi feat. Justin Beiber (3.56 billion)

2. Dance Monkey - Tones & I (3.28 billion)

3. Riptide - Vance Joy (3.18 billion)

4. Somebody That I Used To Know - Gotye (2.14 billion)

5. Chandelier - Sia (2.033 billion)

6. The Less I Know The Better - Tame Impala (2.028 billion)

7. Be Alright - Dean Lewis (1.998 billion)

8. Glimpse Of Us - Joji (1.56 billion)

9. Walking On A Dream - Empire Of The Sun (1.23 billion)

10. Never Be Like You - Flume feat. Kai (0.967 billion)

"Overplayed" is totally a thing, but you can't ignore the sheer insanity of the numbers here. People aren't sick of these songs, even if you are, so watch out for some/all of these tracks to get a guernsey in the countdown. 

Sportsbet

Here are the odds from Sportsbet (WHAT ARE YOU REALLY GAMBLING WITH?) as of July 10.

1. My Happiness - Powderfinger ($2.37)

2. The Nosebleed Section - Hilltop Hoods ($3.75)

3. The Less I Know The Better - Tame Impala ($8.50)

4. Innerbloom - Rufus Du Sol ($10)

5. Somebody That I Used To Know - Gotye ft. Kimbra ($11)

6. These Days - Powderfinger ($13)

7. Untouched - The Veronicas ($15)

8. Down Under - Men At Work ($17)

8. How To Make Gravy - Paul Kelly ($17)

10. Riptide - Vance Joy ($19)

10. The Horses - Daryl Braithwaite ($19)

This is a really solid list. I'm stoked that it's close to my list, but who the hell knows, right? And remember: you win some, but you lose more.

So here are my predictions

1. These Days - Powderfinger

2. The Less I Know The Better - Tame Impala

3. The Nosebleed Section - Hilltop Hoods

4. Riptide - Vance Joy

5. Somebody That I Used To Know - Gotye feat. Kimbra

6. The Horses - Daryl Braithwaite

7. Innerbloom - Rufus Du Sol

8. Don't Dream It's Over - Crowded House

9. Walking On A Dream - Empire Of The Sun

10. Stay - The Kid Laroi feat. Justin Beiber

I feel like this takes all the bits and pieces of cultural cachet and data that I've been talking about and throws them together. I'm not super confident about The Kid Laroi, but recency bias and huge Spotify numbers get it into the top 10 for me. If I had to swap it out, I'd swap in a Flume track like Never Be Like You.

Jurassic World: Rebirth

This is a version of a review airing on ABC Victoria's Statewide Mornings program on July 9, 2025.

(M) ★★★

Director: Gareth Edwards.

Cast: Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Bailey, Mahershala Ali, Rupert Friend, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Luna Blaise, David Iacono, Audrina Miranda, Ed Skrein.

"Quiet... Spielberg is coming."

There is something repetitive and comforting about the Jurassic Park franchise. Every movie is effectively the same - Man creates Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs eat Man - but the sight of CG reincarnations of these incredible creatures never gets old.

What does get old are the plots and characters and contrivances around these CG creatures of a bygone era. And so my review of Jurassic Park #7 basically boils down to this - if you love it when dinosaurs attack, and that's all that matters, then it's three stars. If you're over it, then it's a two.

The plots, characters and contrivances this time around see a team led by gun-for-hire Zora Bennett (Johansson) and palaeontologist Dr Henry Loomis (Bailey) heading to one of the islands formerly used to clone dinosaurs to recover DNA samples from three of the biggest beasts, at the behest of a pharmaceutical company led by Martin Krebs (Friend).

Along the way they stumble upon a family on a yacht trip in need of help, and a couple of dino mutants that definitely didn't exist 66 million years ago.

The biggest problem with these movies isn't the dinos, but the people. The first third of Rebirth grinds, most notably in a scene where Johansson and Ali talk about their pasts and their problems. It feels forced and slows the film. Worst of all, it feels like a scene written into the film to accommodate the two A-list stars attached to the project.

And perhaps this gets to the issue here. Having Johansson and Ali as the surprisingly lovely and charming mercenaries means they have to be front and centre as the protagonists. But the whole thing would be better if told from the perspective of the family. It would have increased the intrigue and mystery, and added a layer beyond the film's plot of "find dinosaur, extract sample, go home". It also would have made the film about half an hour shorter.

Instead the low stakes of the mercenaries' mission overwhelms the more interesting tale of survival,  and strips the film of much of its potential tension. Fortunately the meh moments are punctuated by dinosaurs doing what dinosaurs do best.

There are a couple of great sequences here, most notably a raft ride near a T-Rex that's straight out of Michael Crichton's original novel. It's heart-in-mouth stuff. The opening scene, with its mist-shrouded Big Bad running amok, is also great, harkening back to the horror-tinged openings of the first two films, while a cliffside encounter with a Quetzalcoatlus and a surprisingly funny yet tense cameo from an old dino fave are also very welcome.

The incredible thing is that even though this is among the worst of the Jurassic Park movies, it's still okay. Rebirth is enjoyable despite its familiarity. It's formulaic and frustrating, but you're here to see some dino action, and on that point it never fails to deliver.

How To Train Your Dragon (2025)

This is a version of a review airing on ABC Victoria's Statewide Mornings program on June 26, 2025.

(PG) ★★★

Director: Dean DeBlois.

Cast: Mason Thames, Gerard Butler, Nico Parker, Nick Frost, Gabriel Howell, Julian Dennison, Bronwyn James, Harry Trevaldwyn, Peter Serafinowicz.

"Fly Cat-Bat!"

I have no problem with people remaking films, but good lord, have an actual reason to do so beyond "money".

Modernise it, gender-flip it, put it in space, explore its themes through a different lens, improve it. But don't just make the exact same movie again. And certainly don't do it with the same director.

Because that's what is going on here. And in redoing this charming 2010 CG-animated film as a CG-heavy live action film, How To Train Your Dragon loses a lot of its charm, and gains very little in return.

It's still the tale of Hiccup (Thames), the son of a Viking chieftain (Butler), who lives on an island besieged by dragons. After a run-in with the most fiercest dragon of them all, Hiccup learns these creatures aren't evil, just misunderstood, and sets about changing the destiny of his clan.

Admittedly it's been a while since I watched the original (15 years in fact), but this remake feels pretty close to a beat-for-beat retelling. There is nothing new here - the director, who co-directed the original, has even boasted of recreating sequences shot-for-shot. At least when Gus Van Sant did that with Psycho it felt like some kind of cinematic thought experiment. This just feels like an attempt to make money.

Leaving aside the remake thing for a moment, if the 2010 version of this didn't exist, on its own this film would be okay. It's weirdly flat in terms of tone and laughs, but there is no denying the beauty and power of its story, and some of the flight sequences are exhilarating and look incredible. 

The cast also does a pretty solid job. Thames is too handsome to play Hiccup, but the kid can act, and Parker is great as the star Viking teen Astrid. Butler gives perhaps the best performance of his career in the role of Stoick, which he voiced in the 2010 original, and Frost does a pretty good job at providing comic relief. The incredibly talented Serafinowicz is oddly wasted though, and the kids are largely annoying, but not enough so as to ruin the film.

But compared to the original, this live action knock-off feels oddly charmless, with nothing new to offer. It fails to recapture the spark of its predecessor, which perhaps says just as much about the nature of cinema as Van Sant's Psycho experiment. Even with all the same ingredients, sometimes a dish just doesn't taste the same.

Thunderbolts*

This is a version of a review airing on ABC Victoria's Statewide Mornings program on April 17, 2025.

(PG) ★★★★

Director: Jake Schreier.

Cast: Florence Pugh, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Wyatt Russell, Lewis Pullman, Sebastian Stan, David Harbour, Hannah John-Kamen, Geraldine Viswanathan, Wendell Pierce, Chris Bauer, Olga Kurylenko.

Peekaboo.

Is it really possible, after 36 films, to do something new and interesting in the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

How about an hilarious and action-packed deep dive into depression, loneliness, self-worth, mental health, and overcoming the darkness buried within our souls?

It's not totally new - at some point there will be punching and explosions - but the latest MCU team-up goes out of its way to do the unexpected, and not rely on the superhero subgenre's touchstones as much as its predecessors. 

The film centres on an unlikely assortment of heroes brought together for a mission that isn't what it seems. Something else that's not what it seems is Bob (Pullman), a strange man they meet along the way.

It's not a new approach - the grab-bag roster of loser-heroes is basically Marvel-does-Suicide Squad or another take on the cosmic underdog team-up that was Guardians Of The Galaxy. The only difference here is the subtext. Thematically, this is about mental health and what we all have to do to get through the day, ignoring our darkness and shame along the way. It's not your standard superhero fare.

It's also kinda refreshing that the film does its best to avoid the punching and explosions as much as it can, and still deliver a meaningful story with tension and drama. The narrative is so wonderfully entrenched in its character arcs and their excess baggage that even though the finale is wildly different to any other Marvel movie, it works.

For the hardcore Marvel-heads, this is a strong next chapter for some of the franchise's more interesting B characters. The new Black Widow Yelena Belova (Pugh) is front and centre, and in fine form. She is the film's heart and depressed soul, but is ably assisted by an equal broken one-time Captain America John Walker (Russell). Ghost (John-Kamen) is again given short shrift and is little more than her superpower, but Red Guardian (Harbour) is a very welcome addition to the bunch.

But the real stand-out is Bob (Pullman), who digs deep to give his character plenty of layers, bringing to life one of Marvel's most mercurial and mysterious yet maligned players in a fantastic way. Credit to the script from Eric Pearson and Joanna Calo, who make it all work, but Pullman is perfectly cast in an unexpected role. 

Maybe most of you have already checked out of the MCU (the box office on this sadly suggests that is the case), but this is the most inventive and interesting Marvel movie in a while. It's definitely one of the most thematically intriguing films of the franchise, if not the most intriguing. 

A Minecraft Movie

This is a version of a review airing on ABC Victoria's Statewide Mornings program on April 17, 2025.

(PG) ★★★★

Director: Jared Hess.

Cast: Jack Black, Jason Momoa, Emma Myers, Danielle Brooks, Sebastian Hansen, Jennifer Coolidge, Rachel House.

Everyone was keen for a game of "Duck or Chicken?".

 

There are two brilliant backroom decisions that help make A Minecraft Movie the hilariously idiosyncratic joy that it is; the hirings of Jared Hess and Jack Black.

Hess was the fourth director attached to his film, which spent about a decade in development hell. But it's his distinctive sense of humour that elevates this above the mindless CG mess is could've and probably should've been. While his post-Napoleon Dynamite films have been little-seen, that droll and often abstract comedy line through his career is incredibly welcome here.

And Jack Black was certainly not the first choice to star in this video game adaptation as it bounced between writers and directors - he was initially merely a voice cameo as an animated pig. But with Jack Black at his most Jack Blackest, A Minecraft Movie becomes a very particular type of comedy. Be warned: if you have no time for Jack Black, then give this a wide berth. But if you can tolerate him and even enjoy his antics, then grab the kids and great ready for the most fun family film of the year.

Black stars as Steve, a regular dude who accidentally stumbles into the Overworld (ie. the regular Minecraft world) and makes it his home until he is captured by Malgosha (voiced by House), the evil piggish queen of the hellish Nether. Into the middle of this feud stumbles siblings Natalie (Myers) and Henry (Hansen), washed-up '80s gaming legend Garrett "The Garbage Man" Garrison (Momoa), and real estate agent/petting zoo owner Dawn (Brooks).

The plot itself is nothing special - it's essentially a MacGuffin quest. But given that Minecraft is essentially a plot-less video game, the film does a good job of finding a story to cut through yet also include the lore of this immensely popular sandpit game, ensuring the diehards will get their in-jokes and Easter eggs, and the noobs will get something they can enjoy even if they've never played the game before.

In between the insane CG action sequences (and everything in this is basically insane CG), there are some great character beats, particularly for Momoa's '80s-loving douchebag, and the siblings of Natalie and Henry. It's more than enough to flesh-out their characters and make us care, which is more than a lot of other big-budget blockbusters can manage these days. The film also does a good job of making it look like these actual humans are existing in and interacting with a cubic digital world, which is no mean feat.

But A Minecraft Movie really thrives as an ode to creativity, self-belief, and having a bonkers sense of humour. Black busts out random songs, there is an absurd love-story sideline about a vice-principal and a Minecraft villager, and a kid builds a jetpack that destroys a town icon (which happens to be a potato). There is plenty of classic Hess/Black moments wrapped together, playing out against the backdrop of either the lame town of Chuglass or the eye-melting world of Minecraft, and 90 per cent of them work.

Video game movies used to be a cursed proposition, but A Minecraft Movie shows what can be done if you lean into the game's aesthetic, dig out what makes it so popular (fun + creativity), and inject the whole thing with a self-aware sense of humour that's not a million miles away from The Lego Movie. In mining for laughs, it crafts a gem of a movie.

REWIND REVIEW: Ghostbusters (1984)

(PG) ★★★★★

Director: Ivan Reitman.

Cast: Bill Murray, Sigourney Weaver, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, Rick Moranis, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts, Walter Atherton.

The garbagemen had arrived, and they were very unhappy with the mess.

Sci-fi cinema has been a thing for as long as cinema has been a things. Since Georges Méliès' 1902 short Trip To The Moon (and actually even before then), film-makers have been fascinated by showing us the impossible and improbable place where science meets fiction.

2001: A Space Odyssey brought about a new dawn of sci-fi in 1968, but it was arguably Star Wars that really sparked a revolution. Even though 2001's special effects hold up better, Star Wars created a new level of FX artistry while simultaneously cementing the blockbuster era that began just two years earlier with Jaws. Big, incredible effects, matched with symphonic sci-fi storytelling - these are the ingredients that audiences look to today when they hit the cinemas in droves. It's rarely the auteur-driven drama or star vehicle, as it was when The Godfather or Rocky or The Graduate dominated the box office.

Between 1977 and 1984, the three original Star Wars films were the biggest box office hits of their respective years, as were the Bond-goes-sci-fi-actioner Moonraker, and Steven Spielberg's boy-meets-alien charmer E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial. The only non-sci-fi chart-toppers in that time were Grease and Raiders Of The Lost Ark. This pent-up passion for sci-fi meant it was only a matter of time before someone decided to throw a big FX budget at a comedy.

Enter Ghostbusters. Based on an idea by fourth-generation paranormal enthusiast Dan Aykroyd, it was knocked into shape by director Ivan Reitman and writer/actor Harold Ramis. It was Reitman and Ramis who reined in Aykroyd's initially intergalactic/futuristic idea which "would have cost something like $200 million to make", Reitman told Premiere magazine in 2014 - those kinds of budgets wouldn't set sail until James Cameron got on board the Titanic in 1997.

In fact, Aykroyd's ability to throw out a lot of his early "darker", "scarier", "intergalactic" ideas and take on Reitman and Ramis' concepts not only made the film what it is, but says a lot about Aykroyd's creative skills as a collaborator. Reitman even praised Aykroyd's openness - lesser writers would've been less receptive, and Ghostbusters would never have been made, let alone become a classic.

Reitman and Ramis gave the film its "ghost janitors in New York" feel, but fate gave them their cast. Aykroyd had written the script with two former Saturday Night Live co-stars in mind, but Beverly Hills Cop took Eddie Murphy out of the equation and a mix of heroin and cocaine did the same for John Belushi. Instead Ramis and another ex-SNL-er Bill Murray became the stars, with Ernie Hudson taking on Murphy's significantly pared-down role.

The premise is king in Ghostbusters - it's great trick is making its paranormal subject matter normal. It's heroes are work-a-day service providers, like ratcatchers and garbagemen - they wear overalls, inhabit a fire station and drive an ambulance/hearse. It somehow helps make the whole unbelievable scenario believable.

But it's the cast that makes it work, particularly Murray. While his sleaziness has aged poorly (though it's interesting to note how his character's attitude to Sigourney Weaver's Dana changes and becomes caring when she becomes possessed, arguably showing his true colours), his motormouth improvisations are still on the money. His big personality elevates the Ghostbusting team, and thus the movie, especially alongside the goofy charm of Aykroyd's enthusiastic Ray Zantz and Ramis' nerdish Egon Spengler, who are both incredibly subdued. Hudson is unfortunately saddled with a role so underwritten, you could almost cut him from the film without it hurting the finished product - it's only that a gets off a couple of good one-liners and brings a biblical perspective that he has an impact.

Outside of Murray, the secret casting weapons are Sigourney Weaver and Rick Moranis. The pair play their duel roles in a brilliantly complimentary way that isn't spoken about enough. Weaver's Dana is wary, aloof and sharp - she's a grounding force in the movie - while Moranis' Louis is an annoying dweeb who's there for comic relief. Yet when both become possessed, they each take on animal qualities in their own way that work together perfectly. Dana is like a dog in heat, while Louis is a monkey, sniffing and testing things to see what they are. Each interpretation of possession works, and the film is all the better for it.

More than 40 years on from becoming the first big-budget comedy, Ghostbusters continues to sparkle because it remains funny and its premise still works. There are so many great lines - Murray's delivery of "Yes, it's true. This man has no dick" is one of the greatest pieces of comedy of the 20th century - and its laugh ratio is high, while many of its sci-fi FX hold up surprisingly well today. The stop-motion hellhounds of Zuul aren't great, but there is a composite shot with the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man lurching down a New York street that is immaculate to this day.

Seriously, this shot is great.

FX-driven comedy begins here and is yet to be surpassed. The following year's Back To The Future is another sci-fi laugher that probably owes a debt to Ghostbusters, but it didn't cost as much. Back To The Future 2 pushed that envelope a few years later, but arguably it would take 13 years and Men In Black to even come close to this level of big-budget blending between comedy and science-fiction.

Snow White (2025)

This is a version of a review airing on ABC Victoria's Statewide Mornings program on April 3, 2025.

(PG) ★★★½

Director: Marc Webb.

Cast: Rachel Zegler, Gal Gadot, Andrew Burnap, Ansu Kabia, Patrick Page, Jeremy Swift, Tituss Burgess, Andrew Barth Feldman, Martin Klebba, Omari Bernard, Jason Kravits, Dominic Owen, George Salazar, Andy Grotelueschen.

"'Seven dwarfs', hey? And where did that nickname come from?"

I'm going to say this slowly and clearly for the idiots up the back: it's okay to remake films. It's also okay to change things in a remake. It's even okay, 99 times out of 100, to recast roles in different races or genders. 

That's because all that matters is whether the movie is any good or not. And in the case of Disney's live action remake of Snow White... guess what? It's actually good. 

And you wanna know another thing? The OG 1937 animated classic is, yes, a masterpiece of animation, but it's also a highly flawed and antiquated piece of storytelling. And this remake, which admittedly has its own problems, actually improves on some of the issues in the original, mostly by making its main characters actual characters, with depth and emotion and all the things that make them engaging and interesting.

When all is said and done, this version of Snow White achieves what it sets out to achieve. It's true to the spirit, tone and look of the original, and is exactly as "Disney" as it could and should be. Walt himself wouldn't be rolling in his grave - he'd be lining up for a ticket, and beaming at the smiling faces of the young children who are going to delight in this film's magic.

The film is the story of Snow White (Zegler), the princess born into a loving royal family, but orphaned and left in the "care" of a jealous stepmother (Gadot), whose reign as the new Queen brings sadness and poverty to the land. Not content to treat Snow White as a servant, the Queen decides things would be better if Snow White was killed, and has her taken into the woods so the deed can be done. 

Whatever "Disney" is, this is Disney. It positively swims in its warm and syrupy Disney-ness. It's twee and cute and charming and bashful and dopey and all the other dwarves. Cute animals abound amid the uplifting melodies that help the medicine go down. There's a hissable villain with a classic Disney villain song, undone not through violence but their own hubris. Webb nails the brief, capturing the summery magic hour look of the dwarfs world as beautifully as he does the Queen's dark transformation.

Where this version surpasses the original is in its characterisations and relationships. The 1937 original is a technical triumph and a stunning display of animation, but Snow White and her charming prince are plot devices, not people. The remake gives them depth and personality, though it doesn't go as far as giving Snow White flaws - she remains an untouchable, immaculate Disney princess.

The performances are also wonderfully Disney-ish. Zegler is perfect as the optimistic and virtuous princess, while Gadot is great as the evil Queen. Her presence is suitably chilling and vainglorious, and Gadot sinks her teeth into her big musical number with aplomb.

Sadly it's not perfect, and the biggest problem is its littlest characters. Disney was forced into a "damned if we do, damned if we don't" situation with the dwarfs - there was no right answer in the choice between CG and real-life dwarfs - but they stand-out so much that you have to make a conscious decision to ignore how they look in order to enjoy the movie. The dwarfs appear to do their mining in Uncanny Valley, and look unnerving as a result. Also, Dopey appears to have been modelled on Mad magazine's Alfred E Neuman for some reason. And, much like in the original, some of the dwarf sequences feel like padding.

The film also falls a little short in its attempt to give the film a strong thematic base. Is this a secret political parable? It tells of kindness being vanquished from the land by vanity and cruelty and the hoarding of wealth, and of generosity and the sharing of wealth being seen as a weakness, while the poor are left to scrabble for potatoes and live in the forest, It would be great if this hit a little harder, but  we never get a real sense of life in the kingdom under the evil Queen, something also lacking from the 1937 version. 

It could be funnier, it could be less kidsy, and its dwarfs could be less weird-looking, but this is Disney to its core. Relax into the Disney-ness and go with the hi-ho flow. 

The Electric State

This is a version of a review airing on ABC Victoria's Statewide Mornings program on March 20, 2025.

(M) ★★★

Director: Anthony & Joe Russo.

Cast: Millie Bobby Brown, Chris Pratt, Stanley Tucci, Ke Huy Quan, Woody Norman, Giancarlo Esposito, Jason Alexander, Martin Klebba, Anthony Mackie, Woody Harrelson, Jenny Slate, Alan Tudyk, Brian Cox.

Chris Pratt didn't know it, but he was about to get yeeted.

What do you get for US$320m these days? In filmic terms, the answer is The Electric State. Or, in more general terms, a shit-ton of CG and Chris Pratt being Chris Pratt.

It's always baffling that an imperfect script attracts this amount of money. But what's even more baffling is when a streaming service pays this amount of money for a movie. Leaving out ad revenue and lower level sign-ups, Netflix needs 12.8 million new or ongoing premium subscriptions to pay for The Electric State alone. Is anyone signing up to Netflix just for The Electric State? This is exactly the kind of film that a never-ending stream of new email addresses and seven-day trials are for.

Leaving aside the question of whether it's worth $320m (it's not), The Electric State is an "almost" film. It's almost funny, it's almost emotional, it's almost clever, it's almost exciting. In places, it's almost great. But instead, it's a big-budget mess that's also happens to be a sporadically enjoyable slice of alt-history stuffed full of cool robots and baffling plotholes. 

Based very loosely on a highly praised picture book, the film takes place in a version of 1994 where humanity has fought and won a global war against robots, thanks to billionaire tech genius Ethan Skate (Tucci). The remaining sentient machines have been sent to a walled-in exclusion zone in Texas, and the victorious humans now enjoy predominantly living in a virtual reality network, also provided by Skate. 

But when troubled teen Michelle (Brown) finds a rogue robot wandering around in her yard, it sparks a journey that will send her in search of the brother she thought was dead, and up-end the whole of society as she knows it.

The Electric State, as is common with so many blockbusters, is either two rewrites short of perfection, or has had two rewrites too many. It's hard to tell which, but the result is akin to a robot that performs its set task, but you know it could have done it so much more efficiently and effectively.

The themes are there - the most obvious being that everyone wastes their lives plugged in and gawping at a screen - and the story is there, but the plot (ie. how it all happens) falls short frequently. Some dialogue stinks, plenty of it is fine, and some of it even sings. Some moments fall incredibly flat, but other sequences are incredible, notably an entire deserted mall inhabited by robots and the final battle. The emotional bits are also hit and miss - a much-touted reunion between humans is so-so, but the death of a quirky robot hits in the feels. There are some laughs but there could have been so many more.

The performances are fine, but nothing amazing. Brown and Pratt are okay, the latter just does what he does in every movie. Quan is largely wasted, and Tucci and Esposito are reliable without being exceptional. Alexander is the most memorable but has only a handful of scenes.

The robots are the bigger standout. Mackie, Harrelson, Slate and Azaria bring life to some wonderfully designed and animated droids, and the cyborg aesthetic is part of The Electric State's biggest strength - its production design. The setting looks incredible and believable, the robots are stunning, and it's this eye-for-detail that creates an immersive world that elevates everything else. It's this world that makes you get to the end of The Electric State, fully realise it's flaws, yet somehow think, "yeah I could probably watch that again one day".

Ultimately The Electric State is okay. There are plotholes big enough to manoeuvre a convoy of cross-country truck-driving robots through and parts of it land with a groan and a thud, but it mostly works, it's largely entertaining, and it looks a million dollars. But not necessarily US$320m.

Captain America: Brave New World

(M) ★★★

Director: Julius Onah.

Cast: Anthony Mackie, Harrison Ford, Danny Ramirez, Shira Haas, Carl Lumbly, Xosha Roquemore, Giancarlo Esposito, Tim Blake Nelson.

It was the time of year when the cherry blossoms were in bloom and asses needed whoopin'.

Some films are finely tuned instruments. Some are scalpels, capable of delicate incisions and leaving a very precise mark. Others are Swiss army knives, able to do many things, all with equal levels of skill. And others are nailguns, high-powered devices taking old actions to new heights.

Captain America: Brave New World AKA Cap IV is a blunt instrument. It's basically a hammer, good for little more than hitting things until all the things are hit. It is not about finesse, or sculpting something beautiful. It just hits, in unsubtle but effective ways, until all the nails have been hammered home.

But this is the 35th (!) film in the MCU, and there have been an incredible number of scalpels, Swiss army knives and nailguns there for Cap IV to be judged against. On its own, it's a so-so blockbuster you would quickly forget except for the fact Harrison Ford turns into a giant red rage monster. As part of the MCU, it's bottom-tier stuff, sitting in the lower five or 10 films of the franchise, only noteworthy for having Harrison Ford turn into a giant red rage monster.

Story-wise, it stands alone surprisingly well, despite referring all the way back to the second MCU film (The Incredible Hulk), with pit stops on every major MCU event along the way. For the diehards it picks up after the enjoyable TV series The Falcon & The Winter Soldier, which sees Sam "The Falcon" Wilson (Mackie) assume the mantle of Captain America.

Meanwhile Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross (formerly played by William Hurt, but here it's Ford) has become US President, picking up the real-life idea that no amount of stupid shit you do can stop you getting elected President. Ross claims to be a changed man, but his past is lurking in the wings as he prepares to negotiate a treaty over a new "island" that has emerged (see the events of The Eternals).

Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of Cap IV is the missed opportunity - it's literally about having a black man take on the ultimate representative role of a country that re-elected a six-time bankrupt, twice-impeached, convicted felon as president over a black woman. Yet race gets barely a mention here. It's the angry red elephant in the room. And yes, I know filming wrapped on this midway through last year, but it's fair to say race relations in America have been an issue for a while, and this could've been the MCU film to have a real dig into that. Remember when Cap used to punch Nazis? 

Leaving politics aside, and Marvel's unwillingness to get a bit of dirt on its hands, Cap IV is fine. It's a familiar mystery punctuated by some fun action sequences - an aerial battle over the Indian Ocean is pretty great, and watching Red Hulk cut loose is undoubtedly enjoyable. It maintains an upbeat tone thanks to Mackie and relative newcomer Ramirez keeping things light in between the deadly serious  and somewhat OTT dialogue, while Ford brings gravitas to the late Hurt's role. Lumbly is one of the real highlights, as is an underused Nelson.

If this had come out in the early 2000s, ie. pre-MCU, maybe we would have thought it was a lot cooler.  Elements of the plot already make it feel like a second-run at Captain America: The Winter Soldier - sleeper agents, Cap on the run from the government, an unknown villain pulling strings from the shadows - but this lacks the sharp tone or panache of that excellent MCU entry. Cap IV never fully nails its thriller aspects, but when it's throwing punches and blowing things up, it's a good time.

Again, we've been spoilt by the MCU. Cap IV pales in comparison to much of what has come before, but having said that there are far worse superhero movies around. 

The Last Journey

This is a version of a review airing on ABC Victoria's Statewide Mornings program on March 6, 2025.

(PG) ★★

Director: Filip Hammar & Fredrik Wikingsson.

Cast: Filip Hammar, Lars Hammar, Fredrik Wikingsson, Tiina Hammar.

Gramps was dead-set on a Vegas road trip for his buck's party.

Getting old sucks. Being made to do things you don't want to do also sucks. If you put both these sucky ideas together you would have The Last Journey, the highest-grossing Swedish documentary of all time.

Not that The Last Journey totally sucks. It is annoyingly contrived and often uncomfortable to watch, but its heart is in the right place and it does offer up some sweetly sentimental moments. However, the whole thing is an awkward and unfortunately answerless discussion on ageing.

Swedish TV star Filip Hammar is struggling to deal with his 80-year-old dad Lars' decline into old age, and surprises him with a trip to the south of France - the location of their past family holidays - in an effort to spark some life back into the old man.

With his buddy and fellow Swedish TV star Fredrick Wikingsson squeezed into the back of a Renault 4, the trio set about recreating Lars' past glory days on the Mediterranean and revitalising his life.

The Last Journey, like its star Filip, is well intentioned but ultimately misguided. The doco is occasionally successful at hitting you in the feels, but in between it can be a tough watch.

In the early part of the film, Filip's efforts to drag his father along on this final vacation are ill-conceived and even ignorant. While Filip and his mother agree it's the best medicine for Lars, his health and in-built pessimism make it painful to watch him passively try to back out of the project, all the while Filip is manipulating him into staying in. 

Some of these awkward vibes continue through-out the doco. Filip is obviously doing this as much for himself as he is doing it for Lars, but there is no self-awareness or revelation for Filip by movie's end. Instead, it feels very self-serving or self-congratulatory when he and Fredrich's contrived plans come together. And Filip regularly seems oblivious to the physical ravages of age, urging his dad to play guitar or chop vegetables or walk without his walker more often than is comfortable to watch.

That's not to say The Last Journey is a waste of time. It has a lot of heart in among the prank show-style set-ups, and the trip genuinely seems to reinvigorate Lars, although it would have been nice to get an understanding of how much pep it put in his step via a more detailed post-script.

But for the most part, it feels about half an hour too long, and gives us no real answers to the questions it poses about living our last days in the best ways.

Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy

This is a version of a review airing on ABC Victoria's Statewide Mornings program on February 20, 2025.

(M) ★★★★

Director: Michael Morris

Cast: Renée Zellweger, Mila Jankovic, Casper Knopf, Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Leo Woodall, Colin Firth.

Some nights, they could sit and watch the UFOs for the hours.

I honestly don't know if I've seen a Bridget Jones film before. I feel like I have, and watching the inevitable polaroids of past movies flash up amid the credits gave me a sense of deja vu. And it's possible I reviewed one or two of them back in the day. But maybe I haven't seen them. The first film was certainly so zeitgeisty, so embedded in the pop culture consciousness, that maybe I absorbed it by osmosis without ever actually watching it.

Zellweger's Bridget is such an eminently understandable and relatable character - the ultimate everywoman - that she is part of the fabric of cinema now. You know her without having seen (or remembering if you've seen) any of her films. And that also means you don't need to have seen the previous Bridget Jones movies to be wooed by this one.

But watching Mad About The Boy (the fourth instalment in the series) makes me want to watch the rest of them. It's a fun, sparky rom-com with an utterly charming lead, but it's also a beautiful meditation on grief and the ups-and-downs of parenting and mid-life living.

The fourth film finds Bridget as a single mother-of-two, grappling with all the things that come with being a single mother-of-two in 2025. When a much-younger man meet-cutes his way into her world, she wonders if this is exactly what she's been waiting for. 

Mad About The Boy's best bits are the surprisingly poignant explorations of grief that swirl throughout Bridget's often chaotic and comedic existence. Yes, it's funny, yes, it's charmingly silly, and yes, Bridget is endearing and easy to identify with. But there is some truly magical writing in here that manages to distil so much about loss into some sparkling and home-hitting dialogue.

And when it's not finding ways to carry on in the face of the ultimate heartache, it's got some sweet things to say about living your best life in the face of modern middle-class pressure. Which brings me to the biggest problem with the film: parts of Bridget's life are too comfortable and good things come to her too easily. Mad About The Boy digs up regular embarrassments to keep Bridget on our level, but when she decides to turn her life around, it doesn't take much for that to happen.

But if you're not here for the life lessons, there are plenty of laughs. Grant returns as her caddish ex-suitor-now-best friend Daniel, and adds spark every time he's on the screen, and Thompson makes the most of her cameo moments. 

Zellweger seems effortlessly at home in Bridget's skin. A world away from her last big-screen performance as Judy Garland in 2019's Judy, it's another reminder not only of Zellweger's comedic skill but of her chameleonic abilities. This is the fourth time in the role, and maybe it's all the easier for the repetition, but Bridget Jones never feels anything less than a real and wonderfully adorkable person.

  

Rom-coms are an oft-derided genre but sometimes they capture something beautiful about the human condition amid the schmaltz. And Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy manages to have the lolz and the love, while also giving us something thoughtful about life.

Conclave

This is a version of a review airing on ABC Victoria's Statewide Mornings program on January 22, 2025.

(PG) ★★★★

Director: Edward Berger.

Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, Sergio Castellitto, Isabella Rossellini, Lucian Msamati, Carlos Diehz, Brían F. O'Byrne, Jacek Koman, Merab Ninidze.

At any moment, a well-choreographed dance routine was about to break out.

Sometimes a movie makes you feel like you're prying into a world you're not supposed to see.

Such is the case with Conclave, a "political thriller" that's unlike any other political thriller you can probably think of - its politics are unique, and its thrills are mostly lowkey, but no less thrilling for this fact. 

The film takes us inside the decision-making process that selects a new pope. It's like the election for a high school class president, but with weirder costumes and more Latin. And it's endlessly fascinating, not just for its peak into a world most mere mortals will never see, but for its considerations about the Catholic Church's strange position trapped between its traditions and the modern world.

While it's thematically about politics, popularity and power, it's very much about the Church - it's about faith, doubt, a higher calling, and the limitations and expectations of tradition, and how all of that rubs up against the very human traits of ambition and greed.

Central to the story is Cardinal Thomas Lawrence (Fiennes), the man in charge of getting all the cardinals in one room and casting their vote for a new Pope.

Around him are a colourful array of cardinals vying for the position of top dog - Tucci's determined liberal, Lithgow's ambitious moderate, Castellito's fire-and-brimstone traditionalist, Msamati's popular conservative, and Diehz's little-known dark horse.

Peter Straughan's script, based on Robert Harris' book, throws in casual intrusions from the outside world to ensure the intrigue continues, and everything moves at a comfortable pace so you won't even notice you're on tenterhooks.

The great screenplay is heightened by some great performances, but the cinematography really helps us get into the heads of characters. There are a lot of close-ups of Fiennes, and it never ceases to amaze how he can convey so much with so little. His is not a flashy performance - a lot of it takes places behind the eyes. But Berger's camera captures that, giving us another great Fiennes turn in a very long list of great Fiennes turns. 

He's ably supported by a cast that could easily have stolen the show, were it not for Fiennes' commanding yet comfortable performance. Tucci, Lithgow and Rossellini are no slouches, and as great as you'd expect, while Castellito, Msamati and Diehz are also excellent.

Volker Bertelmann's score is quite powerful in places, subtle in others, and does a stellar job of enhancing the mood throughout. Also, major kudos to the team that turned Cinecittà Studios into a replica Vatican - you wouldn't know it wasn't the real thing. 

Conclave's plot has moments that may tip you out of the reality of the film. The final act will definitely test some people's suspension of disbelief, especially the ending, but it remains fascinating and thought-provoking nonetheless.

All in all, a fascinating sermon on the state of the Church and its place in the world, with a Fiennes performance worthy of being put on an altar.

Amen.