by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent If you watched Marion Cotillard as Edith Piaf, you have a sense of her volcanic range. Now Cotillard is headed for THE BRUTALIST with Joel Edgerton and Mark Rylance as headliners. Brady Corbet is the director, having come off his last film with Natalie Portman in VOX LUX. This third outing for Corbet looks promising, especially with a title so fitting for now... From Screenmancer  LONDON: Golden Globe nominee Joel Edgerton (Boy Erased, Lo...

Boy Erased, Review: Let the gay have their way Homosexuality is not a state of mind, a disease or a matter of choice. While we are getting increasingly aware of these facts in many parts of the world, there are at least 35 states in the USA where gay conversion centres try to rid the inmates of this ‘abnormality’ through therapy and methods that are both conventional and unconventional. The memoirs of one boy who was sent to such a home form the basis of Boy Erased, directed by ac...

Gringo, Review: Enough of Judas! What about Peter? “Which is the best Beatles album?” asks the man with the gun. If your answer is ‘Sergeant Pepper and the Lonely Hearts’ Club’, you die. If you do not like the Beatles or have outgrown them, he will still kill you. Your only hope is...‘Let It Be’! Get it right and he might either let you off, or just settle for chopping your finger off. That is Gringo, a slightly confused and wayward take on an Americ...

Red Sparrow, Review: Spread-eagled Think of an American film that is 158 minutes long--probably 150 minutes in a country like India, which has a reasonably strict censorship regime—and then read the following lines, found on the 20th Century Fox website, “As for the filming of the scenes and working with her Hunger Games director Francis Lawrence, she (Jennifer Lawrence) added: We talked about it extensively, which was really important for showing up on the day and there being no ...

Black Mass, Review: Whitey’s black deeds and the FBI’s blind eye Black Mass is a term used to indicate a reverse Christian mass, the inversion of the traditional Latin Mass celebrated by the Roman Catholic Church, one that celebrates the occult. People who know this would think that a film with such a name was another supernatural horror drama. It is nothing of the kind. So, the makers toyed with the idea of changing the title, but for reasons best known to them, stuck with the or...

The Gift, Review: Simon says watch this film There’s an old-world fluidity about The Gift. Unhurried narrative, under-the-skin performances, music as an essential component, naturally rich visuals, a critical look at morals and scruples, and a nod to several classic films of the stalker/suspense genre, as well as an outstanding war epic, not to mention a tribute to a popular song. It is more British than American in tone and tenor, though the production house (Blue Tongue) and the write...

Exodus-Gods and Kings, Review: Wrath and bloodbath Exodus is the name of a long novel by Leon Uris, published in 1958, about the establishing of the modern state of Israel, and set in 1947, but this film goes back some 2300 years, to THE Exodus. It was to be titled just Exodus, but the copyright to the name was already taken, so the ‘Gods and Kings’ sub-title had to be added. Exodus-Gods and Kings is an epic on the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt 300-400 years before Chris...

GQ Australia Man Of The Year Joel Edgerton - 22nd November 2011 Ladies and gentlemen... your man of the year is wait for it... Joel Edgerton. To many Joe and Jan Doe's a year ago they wouldn't have known who Joel Edgerton was. Insiders, a spread of actors and a few journalists - yes, but others - not much chance. It wasn't because of lack of talent or good looks - things just were not going his way. ...