Anthony Carew

Leonardo Van Dijl’s exacting Julie Keeps Quiet – a study of a predatory tennis coach and his star player – marks the Belgian as a filmmaker to watch.

At best a mildly amusing time waster, HBO’s Dune: Prophecy can’t compete with the storytelling and epic vistas of the films.

Toronto International Film Festival routinely shows the leading contenders for the next Oscars and this year, an old-fashioned epic, The Brutalist, is leading the charge.

India Donaldson’s debut Good One is among the most impressive features in a packed and stimulating program at the 72nd Melbourne International Film Festival.

House of the Dragon may be more about share prices than actual storytelling, but it takes a familiar look at the dark side of political power.

While festivals very rarely have a cohesive through line, war and displacement connect several highlights of the Sydney Film Festival.

Rose Glass’s second feature film, Love Lies Bleeding, relies on the clichés of masculinity and violence that it’s supposedly interrogating.

The Boy and the Heron, released by Hayao Miyazaki at the age of 82, is a psychedelic and profound film that shows he remains a master of animation.

Ridley Scott’s epic Napoleon isn’t as bad as his worst films, nor is it as good as his best.

The second instalment of the Tom Hiddleston time-shifting series Loki proves it is the best thing from Marvel in years.

The 71st Melbourne International Film Festival delivers a dizzying range of contemporary cinema, with a focus on the spectres of authoritarian repression.

In sticking closely to the verbatim transcription of an FBI interrogation, Reality director Tina Satter has created a disturbing and powerful film.

The new animated feature Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is a dizzyingly inventive tribute to the expressive possibilities of the drawn line.

Charlotte Wells’s Aftersun is a haunting excavation of memory and loss, seen through the eyes of a young girl.

In Park Chan-wook’s unlikely romance Decision to Leave, the Korean director again plays with genre to comment on dark national histories.

MIFF boasts some treasures in the depths of its 2022 program.

Olivier Assayas’s series Irma Vep – a remake of a movie about a remake – is a deliciously witty take on contemporary screen culture.

Drive My Car director Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy is a lighter exploration of his abiding obsessions.

Everything Everywhere All at Once – a serious exploration of a wacky multiverse concept – is an instant classic.

The Batman – the latest instalment of a rapidly swelling franchise – is long, dark and exhausting.

A new film festival offers cinephiles a tranche of riches from contemporary European directors.

Fellini Forward conjures the work of the dead director in a work disturbingly attuned to the contemporary moment.

The Suicide Squad – an update of 2016’s notorious stinker Suicide Squad – is an unexpected delight.

The Melbourne International Film Festival’s streaming program – brought to the fore under lockdown – boasts unexpected gems.