Burning Man opens with a shot of a bloke with his back to the camera standing over a naked prostitute, furiously and fruitlessly masturbating. Soon after, we’re taken on a hellride of chronologically scattered moments of the troubled and frenetic life of the lead character Tom (Matthew Goode), culminating in a spectacularly impressive and almost hallucinogenic slow-mo car crash shot from the driver’s perspective. The car rolls, Tom ends up upside down and bloody, with the contents of the cabin – fruit, vegetables and cuts of meat – tumbling, splitting and splatting around him. Leaking petrol ignites and a firewall rears up, encircling the car wreck and alluding quite terrifyingly to the title of the movie.

As we later discover, the masturbation and rollover scenes are metaphorical renderings of the results of Tom’s desperate efforts to cope with the downward spiral his life has taken. And I have to say, this riotous display of rapid-fire editing and filming pyrotechnics that kicks off the movie is nothing short of breathtaking. BUT… Continue reading Burning Man Movie Review →

This second feature from director Daniel Nettheim begins with representatives of some shadowy biotech company briefing mercenary Martin (Willem Dafoe) on his mission, which is to beat rival companies to capture the last remaining Tasmanian Tiger. Apparently its DNA is worth billions, although it is never made clear why. Neither is it explained why the company is so sure the legendary Tassie Tiger is still out there somewhere, one beast away from extinction, but we can forgive that. Less forgivable is the corny dialogue and the hokey feel to the scene. Uh-oh.

Well, the warning signs were there, and indeed, things don’t improve much as the movie progresses. Continue reading The Hunter Movie Review →