Heath Ledger - the Joker

Heath Ledger - the Joker

Heath Ledger's final screen turn is as a complex fiend battling both the Dark Knight and his demons

Matt Norman - Salute

Matt Norman - Salute

Ruth Hessey chats to Matt Norman about Salute, the film he has made to honour his uncle, Australian Olympic silver medalist, Peter Norman

Film News

Film News

All the news on Sydney's celluloid

Sydney's Top 10 Cinemas

Sydney's Top 10 Cinemas

No matter what your taste in movies, we have the motion picture experience for you

Ten Empty - Interview with Brendan Cowell & Anthony Hayes

Ten Empty - Interview with Brendan Cowell & Anthony Hayes

Best mates Anthony Hayes and Brendan Cowell talk about their joint effort

Film Shorts

Film Shorts

In Sydney film news this week we have canoes, mice, East Timor, and mullets!

Sydney Film Festival - Time Out Table

Sydney Film Festival - Time Out Table

The latest Time Out Table, cooked up specially for the Sydney Film Festival's international guests, proved a triumph of the art of dinner partying

Questioning Authority

Questioning Authority

Documentary filmmaker maverick Errol Morris queries every query as he chats to Ben Kenigsberg

Film News

Film News

Don't get caught short without this latest Sydney film news

Mike Leigh

Mike Leigh

Only some of the Poms are whingeing these days, says director Mike Leigh. He spoke to Ruth Hessey about Happy-Go-Lucky

Final Cuts

Final Cuts

Shorts on the latest in Sydney film.

Unfinished business

Unfinished business

During the course of this interview actor/writer William McInnes goes for a walk, buys coffee and is nearly hit by a truck

M. Night Shyamalan

M. Night Shyamalan

In an exclusive interview, The Sixth Sense director tells Saroni Roy that The Happening is the easiest scary movie he's ever made

Trop a Cannes

Trop a Cannes

Vincenzo Cosentino knows a thing or two about remakes. His whole career is one.

Sell your shorts for a living!

Sell your shorts for a living!

Have a hankering to enter a film in a competition like Vincenzo? Here's some local film comps and what you might win.

The need for Speed

The need for Speed

Ben Walters marvels at the visual magic of Speed Racer, the kinetic new film from The Matrix directors

Sergei Bodrov: Director, Mongol

Sergei Bodrov: Director, Mongol

Ruth Hessey chats to Sergei Bodrov the Russian director of the epic Mongol

Sydney Film Festival Highlights Week #2

Sydney Film Festival Highlights Week #2

Highlights from the Sydney Film Festival as chosen by our critics

Film News

Film News

All the news that's fit to film

Sydney Film Festival

Sydney Film Festival

It's the jewel in Australia's cinema crown

Metal on Metal

Metal on Metal

Sacha Gervasi started in the entertainment biz as a roadie for Toronto-based almost-weres Anvil

Vincent Ward

Vincent Ward

One of New Zealand's most successful exports, Vincent Ward has directed international stars and big budget epics

Sonic Temple

Sonic Temple

Julien Temple is an unlikely expert on Sydney - the punk film director who dreamed and directed The Eternity Man

Follow Leigh

Follow Leigh

The summery opening night film for Sydney Film Festival, Happy-Go-Lucky, was directed by famous British auteur, Mike Leigh.

Sex on Tape

Sex on Tape

A surefire hit of Sydney Film Festival, The Complete History of My Sexual Failures is also a brilliant comedy.

War & Peace

War & Peace

Jeremy Podeswa, a Canadian director of hit US television, chats to Ruth Hessey about his very sensitive feature film, Fugitive Pieces

The inner child

The inner child

Ruth Hessey chats to Guy Maddin, director of one of the Festival's most enchanting and weird films

From Shrek to Narnia

From Shrek to Narnia

After years spent in the company of Shrek and in the wilds of Narnia, NZ director Andrew Adamson is ready to experiment

This charming Prince

This charming Prince

Ruth Hessey interviews Ben 'Prince Caspian' Barnes, and finds him charming

Indianas in Pyjamas

Indianas in Pyjamas

After seeing the first Indiana Jones film in 1982, three mad boys recreated it. This is their incredible story...

Karen Allen

Karen Allen

The sparky female lead of the first Indiana Jones movie is back, three sequels later. She spoke to Ruth Hessey

Film Buzzard

Film Buzzard

The latest film news

Excellent adventure

Excellent adventure

This week, it's the 10 best action adventure films of all time.

Lights up!

Lights up!

Indigenous Australians have challenged and radically transformed our screen culture. Ruth Hessey profiles a few of the brightest lights in Australian Cinema

Whiteout: Blackfella in Aussie films

Whiteout: Blackfella in Aussie films

Time Out charts the journey of Blackfellas on Aussie screens from white ignorance to film bliss

Film Buzzard

Film Buzzard

The latest in film news

Literati to glitterati

Literati to glitterati

It should be simple, right? Take a great book and make a great film. If only. Jonathon Rodgers finds out why it's rather more complicated than that

Throw the book at 'em!

Throw the book at 'em!

A book that's a film? Millie Stein looks at the evolution of graphic novels, and why Hollywood continues to loves them

The pen is mightier

The pen is mightier

Graphic Novel to film? Here are some recent examples

The great shark hunt

The great shark hunt

Ruth Hessey chats to Rob Stewart the Sharkwater pin-up boy in Sydney to premiere his documentary

Film Buzzard

Film Buzzard

This week's Australian film news

Making it faking it

Making it faking it

When it comes to sex on screen, Australian films often disappoint. The aptly-named Jonathon Rodgers gets down and dirty to find out why

Create Sound effects

Create Sound effects

Ever wanted to know how to make the sound of penguins dancing, one hand clapping, or brains exploding?

Film Buzzard

Film Buzzard

This weeks film industry news

Moving violations

Moving violations

Director Jasmine Yuen-Carrucan explores the modern Aussie male in a road movie.

QA Bryan Brown

QA Bryan Brown

Bryan Brown looks tough, but he's a softie at heart

Laurent Tirard

Laurent Tirard

Moliere in Love? Jason Catlett chats to the director of a new film about the French genius

Iron the prize

Iron the prize

While Robert Downey Jr ran circles round the press with puppy dog-ish enthusiasm, Ruth Hessey slipped down the hall to grill Jon Favreau, the director of Iron Man

A set style

A set style

Who decides what a film looks like? Ruth Hessey chats to three Sydney production designers about how they put style into movies.

Q&A: John Curran - The Painted Veil

Q&A: John Curran - The Painted Veil

John Curran was a Sydney based commercials director when he made Praise, in 1998, one of the best Australian films ever.

The horror renaissance

The horror renaissance

Be afraid. Be very afraid. Horror is back! Jonathon Rodgers reports

Australian Horror

Australian Horror

Want to try some Australian horror flicks? Here are some of our favourites.

Drawing his conclusions

Drawing his conclusions

Bruce Petty's particular brand of sharp edged whimsy has proved too lively to contain on the printed page.

We are not amused

We are not amused

Why aren't Australian films funny? Ruth Hessey talks to comedians and filmmakers about what it takes to make us laugh

Finding the right girl

Finding the right girl

Australian ad director Craig Gillespie has crossed over in the US in every way, including making great movies.

Reviews

Love Story 2050

Love Story 2050

But even a pink teddy bear with bright blue hairdo from 2050 cannot salvage a staid love story - which we have to endure twice.

Batman - The Dark Knight

Batman - The Dark Knight

We review the latest episode in the Batman legend, featuring Heath Ledger as the Joker in an incredibly powerful and disturbing performance.

Ten Empty

Ten Empty

A quiet, modest film about suburbia and suicide is not what you expect from the hottest talent in town.

The Love Guru

The Love Guru

Be warned. Mike Myers new escapade has more potty humour than a kindergarten.

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Wanted

Wanted

Wanted keeps artificially pumping your adrenal glands with mindless, malnutritional sensations, only to leave you crampy and cranky minutes later.

Children of the Silk Road

Children of the Silk Road

Jonathon Rhys Meyers is a distinctive star with a powerful presence. In Children of the Silk Road, however he is tragically miscast

Standard Operating Proceedure

Standard Operating Proceedure

A hooded man stands on a box. A prisoner cowers from a barking dog. A grotesque pyramid of naked Arab men.

Get Smart

Get Smart

In taking Maxwell Smart out of the Cold War into a new millennium, the writers have softened Max almost beyond recognition.

Happy-Go-Lucky

Happy-Go-Lucky

Mike Leigh, director of Happy-Go-Lucky, can coax humanity from the most torturous circumstances, and warmth from a rock

The Happening

The Happening

M Night Shyamalan has had trouble maintaining his box office advantage since The Sixth Sense made him an international star.

The Bands Visit

The Bands Visit

The Egyptian Ceremonial Police Orchestra arrives in Israel to help celebrate the opening of an Arab Cultural Centre, but no one is there to greet them.

Kung Fu Panda

Kung Fu Panda

Kicks, punches, pratfalls, head smacks, tumbles and free falls galore: a parade of pain dominates Kung Fu Panda

Unfinished Sky

Unfinished Sky

Unfinished Sky began life in Holland where a film called The Polish Bride sought to tackle the issue of forced prostitution among women in post Soviet Eastern Europe.

Speed Racer

Speed Racer

To say that Speed Racer is colourful would be as misleading as claiming that it's quiet and meditative.

Mongol

Mongol

Nomadic culture, squabbling tribes, the never-ending struggle against a climate so harsh only the hardiest and most intrepid survive.

Pete Seeger The Power of Song

Pete Seeger The Power of Song

Folk giant Pete Seeger has been honored for his contribution to protest music.

Lou Reed's Berlin

Lou Reed's Berlin

Reed's 1973 concept opus remains a dark affair.

Hunger

Hunger

Hunger takes place in a political wing of Northern Ireland's Maze prison

Standard Operating Proceedure

Standard Operating Proceedure

Standard Operating Procedure never offers concrete answers; it lets perpetrators explain themselves.

Silent Light

Silent Light

A tragic drama of love, routine, adultery and God's will

Quiet Chaos

Quiet Chaos

This Italian effort examines the grieving process of Pietro, a new widower.

The Band's Visit

The Band's Visit

This first feature from Israeli director Eran Kolirin wisely resists comments on Arab-Israeli relations and blunt political allegory.

Happy-Go-Lucky

Happy-Go-Lucky

Sally Hawkins is a real delight in Mike Leigh's new film as Poppy, a 30-year-old Londoner with a bubbly nature and an ever-present laugh

Anvil - Test your metal

Anvil - Test your metal

If you stumbled across Anvil! without knowing anything else, you would almost certainly dismiss it as a second-rate attempt at This Is Spinal Tap.

In Bruges

In Bruges

In Bruges is basically a tragicomic two-hander, with the casting of Farrell alongside Gleeson enabling a pleasing Irish inflection

Persepolis

Persepolis

A delightful, curious film that indulges in both the personal and political and provides a potted history of modern Iran

Sex and the City

Sex and the City

Sex and the City was the kind of show that actually improved over time and not just for us straight guys tuning in for girlie gossip

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

Given director Andrew Adamson's background in family-friendly fare (Shrek), how odd is it that his strength as a director lies in managing long battle sequences?

Shine a light

Shine a light

Cinema has licked the boots of the Rolling Stones so many times that Scorsese's new doc about the band struggles to say anything new

Indina Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Indina Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

He's back, and expectations are so high, it's a good thing the new Indiana Jones is the perfect example of an old school thrill ride.

Rats and Cats

Rats and Cats

What's wrong with Rats and Cats?

Shutter

Shutter

J-horror remake Shutter is little more than a mish-mash of random and increasingly blatant references disguised as a movie.

Love in the Time of Cholera

Love in the Time of Cholera

Or 51 years, nine months and four days of suffering.

Un Secret

Un Secret

This is the sort of film about WW2 which the French love: a beautiful woman, a dash of adultery, and good Galls saving desperate Jews by the dozen

The Counterfeiters

The Counterfeiters

Its Oscar for Best Foreign Film confirms that this is the sort of film about WW2 that Hollywood loves.

Black Water

Black Water

The Aussie crocodile thriller is practically a genre itself these days.

Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day

Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day

What a cast - everyone from Ciaran Hinds to Frances McDormand. And what a giddy tale.

Smother

Smother

This darkish comedy about the scary mother syndrome, dominated by a yucky olive palette, is just too chartreuse to be funny.

Iron Man

Iron Man

In case you haven't noticed, the need for a new American superhero has become kinda urgent, folks.

The Edge of Heaven

The Edge of Heaven

The Edge of Heaven, filmed in both Turkey and Germany, won best screenplay at the Cannes Film Festival last year

Deception

Deception

Who would want to go to this sleazy film?

Smart People

Smart People

A sweet little indie film without much punch, but a top cast.

After him (Apres Lui)

After him (Apres Lui)

She has outlasted many of her onscreen contemporaries but Catherine Deneuve still has to live up to the expectations created across five decades and over 100 films.

Lars and the Real Girl

Lars and the Real Girl

Lar's girlfriend arrives in a box, but he insists Bianca is a good Christian girl

Special screenings

Faith on Film Festival

Faith on Film Festival

Ruth Hessey reviews films from the current Faith On Film Festival

The Opera Series

The Opera Series

Opera classics come to life

Grand Canyon in 3D - Greg MacGillvray

Grand Canyon in 3D - Greg MacGillvray

The latest 3D IMAX adventure is about saving water. Ruth Hessey asks Greg MacGillivray why

Faith on Film Festival

Faith on Film Festival

It's the perfect time to shelter in the cinema while you wonder what place both religion and belief have in our lives.

Oasis

Oasis

Sydney's not all glamour and decadence. Ruth Hessey reports on a film that lifts the lid on what's really going on in the netherworld between the suburbs and the city

Waiting To Turn Into Puzzles

Waiting To Turn Into Puzzles

A colourblind musician and his adventurous colleagues fiddle on the threshold of sound art and music

Long shorts have fat chance

Long shorts have fat chance

It's a tough call judging The Dendy Awards. Meet the contenders

Seen or heard - Accessible Cinema

Seen or heard - Accessible Cinema

Sydney Film Festival is holding Accessible Cinema screenings for the deaf and blind

The new spool

The new spool

Popcorn? Single screen? Old school! Film's future is interactive

We like short shorts

We like short shorts

Newtown Flicks has become one of the city's pre-eminent festivals catering to Sydney's booming short film biz.

Reconciliation cinema

Reconciliation cinema

What is coming up in film about reconciliation?

ReelDance: Move-Me Booth

ReelDance: Move-Me Booth

Perfect your moves and then shoot your own film

Popcorn taxi

Popcorn taxi

The eccentric director of the much loved Donnie Darko explores the dystopian world of the future in Bondi junction.....

Film fiesta

Film fiesta

The Spanish film industry has given Hollywood stars like Penelope Cruz, Antonio Banderos and Javier Bardem, and directors like Almodovar and Bunuel, to the world.

Movie matchmaker

Movie matchmaker

A lost art for almost a decade, the programming of back-to-back classics is about to enjoy a renaissance

Shorts this week

Shorts this week

Latest short screenings in Sydney

Your car's Cactus!

Your car's Cactus!

A new Aussie thriller about a kidnapping that goes turkey up holds delights for car lovers

Win a double pass to Cactus!

Win a double pass to Cactus!

To celebrate the release of Cactus, in cinemas May 1st, Time Out and Hoyts Distribution have 50 in season double passes to giveaway!

Arab film festival

Arab film festival

Confused about the clash of civilisations dominating global village chatter?

Young at Heart Festival

Young at Heart Festival

Research says that the older baby boomer generation knows more about film than most - and they're more openminded.

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