good.film
2 years ago
This time we’re zipping through some very different worlds to taste the raunchy glamour of 1920’s Hollywood, the intense glare of the New York Times newsroom and the cauldron of pressure inside one of Australia’s favourite sports teams. And that’s just the beginning. It’s gonna be a great year for impact entertainment, we can feel it!
Feel that zingy, bubbly sensation in the air? It could be the buzz for home-grown talent Margot Robbie and her no-holds-barred performance in Oscar-winning director Damien Chazelle’s latest magnum opus, Babylon. It’s a tale of ambition and outrageous excess, tracing the rise (and fall) of multiple characters in an era of unbridled decadence: Hollywood's uneasy shift from silent films to ‘talkies’ in the late 1920s.
The film has been labelled outlandish, alive and a masterpiece, with flashes of brilliance - but a heap of the praise has been for Margot Robbie and her “inspired” performance as fictional actress Nellie LaRoy. Damien Chazelle explains why he cast the native Gold Coaster in the role: "I needed someone utterly fearless. I had a sense she would attack it. There's this sort of ravenous physical bravado to her." It’s for reasons like those that Robbie has shot up the ranks of critics predicting she could even take home the Best Actress Oscar in March.
If you’d prefer to support female empowerment of a very different kind, Maria Shrader’s powerhouse investigative drama She Said is still screening in select cinemas and has just hit streaming services to rent or buy. Based on the Pulitzer-prize winning investigation by New York Times journalists Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey, the film covers the pair as they break one of the most important stories in a generation - one that finally exposed Harvey Weinstein's history of abuse and sexual misconduct against women. It’s a story that, as IMDb puts it, “helped ignite a movement and shattered decades of silence around the subject of sexual assault in Hollywood.”
We’re all-in for journalism movies and, with newsroom buddies like All the President’s Men and Spotlight on our favourites list, She Said is in great company (it may even surpass those Oscar-winners in terms of authenticity: it’s the first ever film to shoot within the real offices in the New York Times building). After the incredible viral traction of the #MeToo hashtag, the movement became a global phenomenon in large part because of women like Jodi and Megan, and their dogged reporting. It led directly to millions of people sharing their stories and calling for greater accountability for sexual misconduct. Now that’s a story worth telling.
Paramount’s Babylon releases on January 19.
Universal’s She Said is available to rent or buy on multiple streaming platforms.
Can you hear it? The sizzling of barbeques, the watery crrrrunch of an ice-cold can being plunged into (or plucked from) an Esky, and the crack of leather on willow. Yep, it’s summer - and the undisputed king of Australia’s summer pastimes is cricket. Which makes this week’s Season 2 drop of Amazon Prime’s revealing test cricket doco series, The Test as sweetly timed as a Steve Smith cover drive.
This four-part second season dives inside the inner sanctum of the Aussie men's Test team with unprecedented access during a vital reshaping of the side. From the joy of cricket’s Everest - an Ashes series win - to the shock resignation of both captain and coach, Season 2 of The Test is a must-see for any cricket tragic or anyone who gets just how important Sports & Recreation is for individuals and communities.
Wouldn’t know a silly-mid-off if it bit you on the googly? You might prefer the off-field dramas of a different streaming hit. With its mental health and LGBTQIA focus, Euphoria has been hugely influential and successful since it landed in 2019. After 16 episodes and 2 pandemic-shot specials, Euphoria fans have been waiting with baited breath for whispers of a new series. When will it happen?! The good news is, according to Collider via Production Weekly, filming is slated to start on Season 3 any day now. The bad news? It means we probably won’t get to see the latest from Rue, Jules and the gang until this time next year. Gagh! At least that’s plenty of time to re-devour seasons 1 & 2 again while we wait…
The Test Season 2 streams on Amazon Prime from January 13.
Euphoria Season 1 & 2 is streaming now on Binge.
With Santa’s sleigh back in the shed for another year, we wanted to share a huge thank you to everyone who supported our #NoSilentNight campaign over the Christmas season! The campaign reached over 125,000 unique people across Australia, helping to normalise feelings of loneliness, and connect those going it alone over the holidays to stacks of Christmas activities.
We were touched by the many responses across our social platforms, with members of our community sharing their stories and experiences. As we learned putting #NoSilentNight together, loneliness is a truly silent epidemic… but once we got talking, people spoke up.
The start of a fresh new calendar year doesn’t just bring a truckload of awards-worthy content to our eyeballs. It’s often a time to take stock and assess what’s ahead, and what we’ve put behind us. That’s more challenging for some than others, especially if you’re on a mental health journey (and let’s be honest, after the 3 years we’ve had - who isn’t?!)
It’s why at good.film we’re taking a closer look at a stack of superb films through a mental health lens - some new, and some that changed the game back in the day. We’re diving back into some classics that got mental health topics surprisingly on point, films that changed the conversation around the neurodivergence spectrum, and getting our ‘You Go Grrrl’ on with an analysis of 3 zeitgeisty female-led flicks that all took a fresh take on mental health.
So if you’re anything like us - if the intersection of cinema storytelling and mental health awareness grabs your cerebral cortex by the collar and won’t let go - you won’t want to miss our upcoming article series.
Stay tuned for the first of our Mental Health content series coming very soon to good.film!