★★★★ - ONE ROOM WITH A VIEW  - Elia Suleiman is trying to make a film about his native Palestine. It’ll be about the conflict, but with a focus on the people living through it, and it’ll be a comedy. To get it financed he must travel to Paris and then New York. The result is It Must Be Heaven, an…

★★★★ - STUFF  - Why this Palestinian comedy is a gem of a movie -  An extraordinarily dapper and well-preserved 60- year-old gentleman by the name of Elia Suleiman lives in the city of Nazareth, in present-day Palestine. Suleiman must travel to Paris and then to New York, where he is expected to…

★★★★½ - DEADLINE HOLLYWOOD DAILY It says a lot to proclaim Annette Bening’s portrayal of a woman in denial about her failing marriage in Hope Gap as one of the very best of her career. Yet it most definitely is. Sporting a nifty English accent, the four-time Oscar nominee hits new notes of…

★★★★ - OBSERVER  - Annette Bening’s ‘Hope Gap’ Is a Pithy, Insightful Film About Love -  Annette Bening has always been one of the acting profession’s most profound and endearing treasures. In a variety of diverse and challenging roles, she has never, in my opinion, made a false move. But as…

- THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER -  Newcomer Dixie Egerickx plays Mary Lennox in this latest version of Frances Hodgson Burnett's classic of English children’s literature, which also stars Colin Firth and Julie Walters.  "The key themes come through strongly and the first-rate visual design and…

★★★★½ - STUFF  - Why this French dramedy is one of the best movies of the year -  Any hopes St Denis’ College des Francs/Moisins’ new deputy principal Samia Zibra (Zita Hanrot) had of the academic year getting off to a quiet start are dashed by lunchtime. A playground fight breaks out in the…

★★★★ - STUFF  - Powerful, timely and heart-wrenching, The Australian Dream is a must watch -  He was one of the greatest players of modern AFL. The North Ballarat Rebel who announced his talents with six-goals in an under-18 grand final, before going to play 372 games for the Sydney Swans. Over…

★★★★★ - REGIONAL NEWS  - One of the best films of the year -  To generate empathy for a character who some would label an inhuman brute is no easy feat, but director and screenwriter Sam Kelly does just that with grace and sensitivity. Savage pulls together some of the most fleshed-out characters…

★★★★ - DOMINION POST  - Heartfelt and engaging Kiwi gang movie is a stunning achievement -  In late 1980s Wellington, Damage is the hugely feared sergeant at arms for the notorious Savages gang. But gang leader Moses' grip on power is beginning to slip, as Moses maybe takes a little too much of…

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER - Emerging actors Jake Ryan and John Tui headline Sam Kelly’s debut feature, set in the world of New Zealand street gangs -  New Zealand is, quite bafflingly, viewed as some kind of magical wonderland, covered in lush greenery and populated by happy hobbits. In reality, New…

★★★★★ - NEWSHUB  - An extraordinarily immersive big-screen spectacle -  Here it is, the most talked-about film of 2020. Tenet storms into cinemas with the heavy weight of Hollywood and movie-making resting on its big-budget blockbuster shoulders and on a mission to save the industry from…

★★★★★ - THE GUARDIAN   - Supremely ambitious race against time makes for superb cinema -  It’s up to the mighty Christopher Nolan to take the heroic, morale-boosting gamble and open his big new film in cinemas. Tenet is a gigantically confusing, gigantically entertaining and gigantically gigantic…