Choke
Chuck Palahniuk owned the late 90s. From the moment FIGHT CLUB splattered into popular consciousness, he stood in the cyclone-eye of our every swirling subcultural anxiety.
It seemed inevitable that we'd be bombarded with so many Palahniuk film adaptations that we'd finally have to learn how to spell his name - and yet it's taken this long to see CHOKE hit cinemas, translated into a dirty indie comedy with delusions of grandeur.
Standard Operating Procedure
Deep breath. Okay. STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE is a horror film first and documentary second.
Too many documentaries are mediocre films on amazing subjects. But Errol Morris, critical darling of the doco-scene for decades, is a master - and now puts those held responsible for the prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib under his microscope.
Performance + Deliverance
Classic cult movies, like books, are the ones everyone knows, but haven't necessarily seen before. Then when you stumble upon one on Fox Classics or in a friend's DVD collection one rainy Sunday after fifteen too many beers and some ill-advised tequila shots the night before, the penny drops.
You discover how [insert film industry legend here] earned their stripes, and you learn where heavily pop-culture referenced shows like THE SIMPSONS get their material.
The Orphanage
Is there anything better than nervous laughter spreading slowly through a cinema? Old-fashioned Spanish ghost story THE ORPHANAGE possesses the entire spectrum of scares: sudden shocks, creeping dread, and the frantic urge to shout "No! Don't! Gah!" at the screen.
Lately, horror sometimes seems like the kind of pornography that's all sex-scenes and no awkward pizza-boy set-up.
The Aura
Remember NINE QUEENS, the con-man caper flick from Argentina that lingered in small cinemas back in the early ‘00s? Director Fabian Bielinsky followed this debut with THE AURA, receiving a handful of glowing reviews and sweeping the local awards before he suffered a fatal heart attack in 2006.
Lars and the Real Girl
The Real Doll phenomenon turns the squick-factor of the Uncanny Valley into something that could be produced by Mattel's "Sexy Nightmare" division. (You can read more about Doll Love here, but maybe wait until you get home.)
LARS AND THE REAL GIRL takes this premise, drops it into a small town, and leaves poor Ryan Gosling to generate chemistry with his silicone love interest.
Dexter
We love DEXTER.
Even as he's butchering his victims and gathering his blood-trophies, you can't help but love DEXTER. He's been the star of his own series of okayish books since 2004, but now he's the bona fide heart-throb of his own unmissable pay TV series.
DEXTER has the smartest credit sequence on TV and a high concept to match: he's a serial killer, but he only kills bad people.
Random Entries:
Search our guide to Sydney
Browse our guide to Sydney by interest
Browse our guide to Sydney by keyword
Sydney Events Calendar
Select a date to see what's on in Sydney
Browse our guide to Sydney by weekly issue
Working