Silver Screen Queens

Reviewing movies and the culture that surrounds them.

  • Every Wednesday
  • Averages around 46 minutes

Melissa Savage and Katie Molloy met in film class, and haven’t been able to stop talking movies ever since. Each week they watch a movie and review it, stopping to make plenty of nerdy references along the way.

290: Mortal Engines

Published 12 December 2018 • 49 minutes, 53 seconds

This is one set of YA novels that had passed us by, but they didn’t pass by Peter Jackson, who handed it over to his long-time storyboarder and special effects guy Christian Rivers to direct. The plucky heroine of this series is Hester Shaw, a scarred young woman hell-bent on avenging her mother’s murder. She’s joined by a blue-eyed angel in the form of Robert Sheehan as Tom, and Anna Fang, played by K-Pop star Jihae, who is worth the price of admission alone.

289: Creed II

Published 5 December 2018 • 35 minutes, 10 seconds

CREED was the best film of 2015 that hardly anyone saw (although clearly enough people saw it to make Michael B Jordan, Tessa Thomson and Ryan Coogler into stars). The sequel loses Coogler, but we are still here for it.

288: Widows

Published 28 November 2018 • 37 minutes, 44 seconds

Steve McQueen made a heist movie starring Viola Davis, Cynthia Erivo, Elizabeth Debicki and Michelle Rodriguez and we were There For It. Packed with stars, both in front of and behind the camera, WIDOWS is also a smart, socially conscious take on an old genre.

287: Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

Published 21 November 2018 • 53 minutes, 10 seconds

Even though we enjoyed the first fantastic Beasts film in 2016, this sequel has been surrounded by trouble since its inception, something that has continued into the reviews, which are universally terrible. Still, we are die hard Harry Potter fans, maybe there will be something for us in there?

286: Suspiria (1977) and Suspiria (2018)

Published 14 November 2018 • 1 hour, 31 minutes

Suspiria is now considered a classic of both the horror genre and Italian cinema. At a recent film festival, we were lucky enough to see a remastered print. Current darling of Italian cinema, Luca Guadagnino decided to follow up the phenomenal success of Call Me By Your Name by remaking this colourful and creative piece of art.

285: First Man

Published 7 November 2018 • 40 minutes, 53 seconds

Obviously, Damien Chazelle and Ryan Gosling’s follow up to LA LA LAND is…a Neil Armstrong biopic. We have an argument about it.

284: Halloween (2018)

Published 31 October 2018 • 49 minutes, 39 seconds

For the ninth episode in the long-running franchise, Jamie Lee Curtis returns to her iconic role as Laurie Strode, in a film that is definitely a sequel to the 1978 original, but only kinda sorta a sequel to its seven other sequels. Billed as Laurie’s final* showdown with legendary slasher Michael Myers, we find her isolated from her family (daughter Judy Greer and granddaughter Andi Matichak), and needing to tap reserves of strength and preparation built up over four decades living in fear.

283: A Star Is Born (2018)

Published 24 October 2018 • 55 minutes, 24 seconds

“From director Bradley Cooper…” proclaimed the (excellent) trailer, and so it is. We had to wait a couple of weeks to see this in Australia, which only gave the hype train time to build up steam. So, does it live up to expectations?

282: Bad Times at the El Royale

Published 17 October 2018 • 39 minutes, 17 seconds

A few weeks ago we saw a sexy, neon movie poster, and immediately wanted to know more. Serendipity showed us the trailer, and informed us that this throwback thriller was directed by one of our favourite writer/directors, Drew Goddard, and from that moment on, we were hooked. With an intriguing premise and an innovative storytelling technique, we were very keen to talk about BAD TIMES AT THE EL ROYALE.

281: Venom

Published 10 October 2018 • 46 minutes, 15 seconds

Don’t mention the Spider-guy is the watchword of this Sony take on one of its Marvel properties. Tom Hardy is inspiringly cast as Eddie Brock/Venom, and joined by some talented and unexpected co-stars in this film by the director of Zombieland.