Sean Coates

Quinn Armstrong’s Survival Skills has proved to be an audience favorite at this year’s Fantasia Film Festival. A parody of police training videos of the 1980s,  Armstrong’s film delves deeper into the outmoded teachings of these…

A renowned philosopher and swordsman of the early Edo period, the life of Miyamoto Musashi has been told onscreen countless times since the late 1920s. Most notably in Hiroshi Inagaki’s Samurai Trilogy, where the legendary…

Back in 2005, American cartoonist Matt Furie created the popular webcomic, Boy’s Club. A re-creation of his halcyon days with his college roommates, Boy’s Club was composed of deadpan comic vignettes of 4 anthropomorphic humanoid…

Genre festivals like Fantasia do incredible work in programming an eclectic variety of cinema that is proudly and unapologetically so far from the norm. Whether it’s films with bold and transgressive storytelling, films that are…

Cambodian-Australian, Allison Chhorn is an artist of many talents. A skilled photographer, painter, composer, and filmmaker, Chhorn is a bold and intriguing new voice in Australia’s artistic landscape. Her latest experimental cinematic effort, The Plastic…

There’s something about micro-budget, social realist, mumblecore adjacent independent films with an emphasis on naturalism and a kind empathy for deeply flawed and troubled characters that feels so invigorating. Canadian director, Kazik Radwanski’s deeply uncomfortable…

Read part 1 of our 2020 Melbourne Documentary Film Festival coverage here. The Wheels of Wonder Play is a very important aspect of every child’s development. It gets them moving, stimulates their imagination, and helps…

As MovieBabble’s unofficial and self-appointed Australian correspondent, it is my obligation to pounce on any Australian film that falls into the lap of the MovieBabble staff to review. My ears especially prick up when I…

This is part 2 of my 2020 Sydney Film Festival Coverage. To read Part 1, click here. Part 1 covered the narrative features, and now we are here to focus on the documentaries screening online…

Like most good things in life that were put on hold or canceled due to COVID-19, the 67th Sydney Film Festival cannot go ahead in its traditional form in 2020. But thanks to the tireless…

Melbourne and Sydney cinephiles craving cinema that is bold, subversive, unconventional, or just plain bizarre have rejoiced with the inaugural Fantastic Film Festival Australia. Over 2 weeks in late February and early March, the festival…

When it comes to films with a heavy focus on artists and art in general, it is difficult to not be a little apprehensive. It can often be a slippery slope leading into shallow self-indulgence…

The infamous Victorian Bushranger, Edward ‘Ned’ Kelly is arguably Australia’s most controversial historical figure. A 19th-century outlaw, thief, and murderer that in equal measure has been both condemned as a villain and mythologized as a…

Guy Ritchie has had quite an interesting career. Making a name for himself in the late 90s and early 00s with the critical and financial success of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch, movie-goers were…

If there is any nation on this earth that is truly overdue for awards attention due to their amazing output of quality cinema, it is South Korea. Shockingly, South Korea has never had a film…

Footballer. Advocate. Champion. Hero. Inspiration. All of these words could be used to describe former Indigenous Australian Footballer, Adam Goodes. A remarkable man whose work both on and off the football field has been an…

Click here to read Part 1. MIFF 2019 keeps on going, and so do the mini reviews. Let’s dive right in! Sorry We Missed You At the sprightly age of 83, two-time Palme d’Or winner…

If you are a film fan in the great city of Melbourne, August is the most wonderful time of the year. The Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) is in full swing and for the cinephiles…

Spontaneously going to films you know nothing about is risky, but they can be the most rewarding cinema experiences you have. Flashback to last December when I attended ParaCinemaFest, a week-long festival at my local…

The Melbourne International Film Festival is just over 2 weeks away. Celebrating it’s 68th year, the program for MIFF 2019 was unveiled last week, announcing the largest line-up in the festival’s history. Over a massive…

It’s that time of year again. The 66th annual Sydney Film Festival has just kicked off for another year. Screening from June 5-16, The 2019 program boasts an impressive lineup of over 250 of the…

After Alfonso Cuarón’s 2006 film Children of Men, the Science-Fiction Fertility Thriller is a sub-genre rarely seen in cinema. But leave it to the mistress of the cinema of the body, Claire Denis to tackle…

This is Part 2 of MovieBabble’s French Film Festival coverage. If you missed Part 1, click here to read. The 30th annual Alliance Française French Film Festival is now in full swing. Here are a…

In its 29th year, the Melbourne Queer Film Festival has become an institution as the largest queer film festival in the Southern Hemisphere. The festival continues to grow with over 120 features and shorts, panels,…

2019 marks the 30th anniversary of the Alliance Française French Film Festival, bringing the best of contemporary French-language cinema to Australia since 1990. Screening at Palace Cinemas locations all across Australia, this year’s festival hosts…

Expectations are very interesting to examine when it comes to film. Seeing a filmmaker’s name attached to a movie often gives you an idea of what you’re in for. However, whenever you see the words…

It can be very frustrating as a die-hard film fan living in Australia. Distribution in the land down under is all over place and waiting for films you desperately want to see requires a lot…

A lot of people fell in love with The Greatest Showman upon its release in 2017. It took many on an emotional rollercoaster with its pop music and charming cast, leading to an extended theatrical…

Are you are a fan of 70s exploitation films, inept serial killer stories and incredibly tense, darkly comic erotic thrillers? Then I just might have the movie for you. The following review will be spoiler…

10 years after the release of Taken, anytime you see Liam Neeson on a poster with a killer’s stare and the word ‘revenge’ in the tagline, you know what you’re in for: an over-the-top action…

Two films that feature titles synonymous with large frozen masses and starring Mads Mikkelsen released just weeks apart? What are the odds? Polar and Arctic will undoubtably become the source of much confusion among audiences, despite being completely…

Poor Colin Trevorrow. You really have to feel sorry for the guy. No matter what he does in future, he’ll always be remembered as either one of two things; The filmmaker that got famously fired…

Two weeks ago, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences unveiled the shortlists for nine categories of the Academy Awards. This included Visual Effects, Make-Up and Hairstyling, Original Song and Score, the Shorts and…

It seems that I am now MovieBabble’s go-to guy for correspondence on very controversial motion pictures. Films that disgusted and angered critics and audiences now seem to be my specialty. After the LSD-induced, neon-drenched nightmare…

Back in 2013, both Steve McQueen and Alfonso Cuarón made two incredible films, competing against each other at the Academy Awards. McQueen’s 12 Years A Slave was an incredibly moving period piece about the greatest injustice in…