Reviewed by Tim Wong

POTTED with cut-price shock tactics and gratuitous prosthetic violence, The Hills Have Eyes couldn’t be anymore robotic in its assembly of the 21st century horror film. This, an update of Wes Craven’s seventies roadtrip ordeal, is itself a retread of genre snuff trailblazers Hostel and Saw: it is not quite the torture fantasy of those films, but is pretty much as violent, senseless, and mind-numbing on all fronts.

Reviewed by Simon Sweetman

CHARLIE BURNS (Guy Pearce) is an outlaw given the film’s titular proposition; Captain Stanley (Ray Winstone) releases him while holding his baby brother Mikey (Richard Wilson) prisoner. The deal? Charlie must kill the leader of the Burns’ gang, brother Arthur (Danny Huston) or else Mikey will hang on Christmas Day. The setting is the Outback of Queensland, 1880s, but it could be America around the time of the confederates. The screenplay comes from Nick Cave, who, along with Bad Seed (and Dirty Three member) Warren Ellis also supplies the music.

Reviewed by Caleb Starrenburg

FOLLOWING on from the popularity of the first two X-Men films, X-Men: The Last Stand certainly had lofty expectations placed upon it (particularly by the Marvel community). But with a wealth of source material to draw upon, it also had the potential to be the greatest of the three installments.

Reviewed by Tim Wong

AN UNEXPECTED thrill, Woody Allen takes a chance with Match Point. It’s his most daring, reinvigorating film in years – a flight of passage across the Atlantic, where you imagine he’ll plant Kubrickian roots given the renewed critical success. His once-unshakable New York cult now seems a world away, having firmly made way for London by way of the cosseted English upper class sphere: polo, duck hunting, tea parties, lawn tennis. Such newfound leisure pursuits fall in the lap of Chris Wilton – former tennis pro turned sweetie-darling of the adorable (and exceedingly rich) Chloe. The safe, pragmatic choice, she’s his Martina Hingis; Nola, a struggling actress and one-in-a-million bombshell, is his Kournikova.