Johnny Depp stars in a scene from the movie “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald”. Photo: Warner Bros/CNS. By John Mulderig For a film about magic, 2016’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was strangely lacking in enchantment. So it’s welcome news that the follow-up, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (Warner Bros) is sharper and more engaging, though defects rem...

Ava (Erin Bethea) and Benjamin Morton (Jonathan Patrick Moore) on their wedding day. Photo: Supplied. By Theresia Titus Through a simple storyline, New Life tells the audience of a subtle Christian message about how the smallest light of hope is always there even in the most unbearable situations. Directed by Drew Waters, a television actor who makes his directing debut with the re...

Mackenzie Foy, Keira Knightley, Eugenio Derbez and Richard E Grant star in a scene from the movie “The Nutcracker and the Four Realms”. Photo: Disney/CNS. By John Mulderig German author ETA Hoffmann’s tale The Nutcracker and the Mouse King has proven a remarkably rich bit of source material since its initial publication in 1816. Translated into French by Alexandre Dumas the elder, it g...

Gwilym Lee and Rami Malek star in a scene from the movie “Bohemian Rhapsody”. Photo: Fox/CNS. By John Mulderig Rami Malek gives himself completely to the role of Freddie Mercury in “Bohemian Rhapsody” (Fox), director Bryan Singer’s biopic of the lead singer of the rock group Queen, with impressive artistic results. The moral status of Singer’s film, as scripted by Anthony McCarten, how...

Brenton Thwaites as Paul Asher and David Strathairn as ‘The Man’ in “An Interview with God”. Photo: Astute Films. By Peter Sheehan This American film develops an intriguing plot line about a crisis-ridden journalist who returns home after covering the war in Afghanistan, and then conducts a series of interviews with someone who claims he is God. The journalist, named Paul Asher (played...

Jamie Lee Curtis stars in the movie “Halloween”. Photo: Universal/CNS. By John Mulderig One of modern Hollywood’s most enduring horror franchises turns 40 this year. To mark the occasion, director and co-writer David Gordon Green presents us with Halloween (Universal), a direct sequel to the eponymous 1978 original. Neither the anniversary nor the picture intended to salute it is an...

Ryan Gosling stars in a scene from the movie “First Man”. Photo: Universal/CNS. By John Mulderig By turns the intimate portrait of its elusive subject’s inner life and a lavish look back at the sometimes tragic, ultimately triumphant race to the Moon, First Man (Universal), director Damien Chazelle’s multi-dimensional profile of astronaut Neil Armstrong (1930-2012), is a splendid piece of...

Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (Lady Gaga) and Bradley Cooper feature in a scene from the movie “A Star is Born”. Photo: Warner Bros/CNS. By Kurt Jensen The third remake of that sturdy warhorse A Star Is Born (Warner Bros) pays occasional homage to its forebears, particularly the 1954 version starring Judy Garland and James Mason, which only serves to indicate that its formulaic “stan...

Reid Scott, Michelle Williams and Tom Hardy star in in a scene from the movie “Venom”. Photo: Sony/CNS. By John Mulderig Whatever you do, don’t call that alien who has taken up residence in your body a parasite. The polite term, it seems, is “symbiote”. Such is the dubious lesson in etiquette conveyed by the sci-fi-driven, Marvel Comics-based bit of nonsense Venom (Columbia). Direct...

Kodi Smit-McPhee stars in a scene from the movie “Alpha”. Photo: Sony/CNS. By Theresia Titus Set in Europe, Director Albert Hughes latest blockbuster Alpha dates back to 20,000 years ago, when hunting was still the main occupation of men. The film brings to life the imagination of Hughes, telling a story of friendship between man and his furry friends. The film opens with a group of...