Sean Coates

Regular MovieBabble readers must be growing tired of every review from yours truly opening with a sermon-esque pontification bemoaning the state of contemporary studio cinema, desperately trying to find some light at the end of…

As a cynical film reviewer with a chronic case of cape fatigue frustrated and concerned with the current state of Hollywood cinema, it takes a lot for me to muster up any excitement for superhero…

Nadav Lapid’s Synonyms caused quite a stir when it unexpectedly took out the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival in 2019. The film loosely based on Lapid’s own life about an Israeli man who flees…

Under the bright glistening haze of blue and pink lights, Ritwek Pareek’s vibrant debut feature opens on 40-something drunkard Thakur Lal. His internal monologue spouts vague philosophical musings before mounting his motorcycle and going for…

After a number of standout supporting roles over the last half a decade, Riz Ahmed‘s wiry unpredictability and genuine pathos he injects into his performances has seen him evolve into a leading man with an…

Cinema has given us many incarnations and interpretations of the vampire mythos since F.W Murnau’s Nosferatu almost a century ago. We’ve seen them portrayed as everything from baroque aristocrats, mindless parasitic monsters, mysterious outsiders in…

It was November of 1970. Dennis Hopper, hot off the success of his counterculture masterpiece Easy Rider and deep into post-production of his second feature, The Last Movie travels from Taos, New Mexico to Los Angeles…

Cast your minds back five years ago to August of 2016. After two successive movies of superhero allies fighting each other over clashing ideologies with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Captain America: Civil…

Taylor Sheridan emerged as an exciting new screenwriting talent in the mid-2010s. A long-time TV actor who appeared on shows like Sons of Anarchy and Veronica Mars, Sheridan’s first screenplay for 2015’s Sicario introduced the world to…

As far as I am concerned, there are three certainties in life; death, taxes, and film adaptations of video game franchises always being bitterly disappointing or just plain bad. Over the years, so many great…

It’s a tale as old as sport itself and one that is forever etched into sporting history; the comeback. Once successful athletes who are down and out that come from the clouds, like a phoenix…

One of the most fascinatingly odd Hollywood trends of the past decade has been the remolding of the action genre. With superheroes and comic book characters becoming the popular action stars for the new generation,…

Welcome to the second installment of The Babble Down Under. This month,  I thought I’d change it up a little bit and not just review one film, but give a brief overview of the very…

I am autistic and I am tired. I was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome when I was 8 years old. Although I have always had a love of film, it was not until my late teens…

Being an Australian writer for a US-based website, I have always strived to review and promote Australian cinema ever since I started at MovieBabble. And now, Our wonderful CEO has given me my own special…

Recently screened online at North Bend Film Fest as part of Nightstream, Abduction is a new Australian science fiction short from director, Paul Komadina. The film follows a young woman that wakes up in a field after…

The Global Film community has been hit hard by COVID-19. Productions stalled, cinemas closed, release dates postponed. Even as cinemas are now gradually starting to reopen, several safety and security concerns with physical exhibition still…

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…