Ben Lewin, writer and director of Oscar nominee The Sessions, talks to Simon Miraudo about full frontal nudity, being a ladies’ man, and finally getting a big break in Hollywood (even at the age of 66). Simon wraps up the ep with a review of the much-loved Sundance Audience Award winner. Show Notes: All titles […]
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Tag Archives: john hawkes
All the president’s men – Lincoln review
February 6, 2013 
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By Simon Miraudo February 6, 2013 Lincoln is directed by Steven Spielberg and stars Daniel Day-Lewis as the 16th President of the United States. It feels sacrilegious to even type that combination of words, as if putting all that prestige in the one sentence will have the same skin-melting effect of staring into the ark […]
Continue readingTelevision Revision: Eastbound and Down – Season 1
December 4, 2012 0 Comments
Television Revision: Eastbound and Down – Season 1. Starring Danny McBride, Katy Mixon, and John Hawkes. Rated MA. By Andrew Williams. Television Revision is a weekly feature in which our tuned in TV critic trawls through the best the box has to offer, giving you a primer on some of history’s finest shows (and warning […]
Continue readingInterview: Ben Lewin (The Sessions)
November 8, 2012 0 Comments
Interview: Ben Lewin (The Sessions). By Simon Miraudo. When The Sessions (formerly The Surrogate) claimed the top prizes at Sundance earlier in the year, it wasn’t a plucky American upstart that took to the stage and basked in the applause. Instead, 66-year-old Australian writer-director Ben Lewin made his way to the podium, accompanied by wife […]
Continue readingGood intent – The Sessions review
August 7, 2012 0 Comments
The Sessions – Starring John Hawkes, Helen Hunt, and William H. Macy. Directed by Ben Lewin. By Richard Haridy. The Sessions played the Melbourne International Film Festival. It arrives in Australian cinemas November 8, 2012. The Sessions is a tender, well-intentioned examination of a disabled man exploring his sexual identity, but sometimes a film needs […]
Continue readingTrailer Debut: The Sessions
June 29, 2012 0 Comments
Ben Lewin‘s The Sessions was one of the big hits out of this year’s Sundance Film Festival, picking up the Audience Award and the Special Jury Prize for its acting ensemble. It’s now headed to cinemas, before ultimately making a run for Oscar. Formerly known as The Surrogate, it stars John Hawkes as a paraplegic man determined […]
Continue readingCult favourite – Martha Marcy May Marlene review
June 12, 2012 0 Comments
Martha Marcy May Marlene – Starring Elizabeth Olsen, John Hawkes, and Sarah Paulson. Directed by Sean Durkin. Rated MA. Originally published July 22, 2011. By Simon Miraudo. Martha Marcy May Marlene arrives on DVD and Blu-ray in Australia June 13, 2012. If Winter’s Bone was just a little too chipper for your liking, perhaps you’d prefer the decidedly darker Martha Marcy May Marlene. Although the plots of these […]
Continue readingIt’s a sick, sick, sick, sick world – Contagion review
February 29, 2012 0 Comments
Contagion – Starring Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne and Jennifer Ehle. Directed by Steven Soderbergh. Rated M. Originally published October 19, 2011. By Simon Miraudo. Contagion is the last movie you want to see with a sore throat. Or maybe it’s the first movie you want to see with a sore throat. What could possibly top the sensory, 4-D, cinema-going experience of feeling your tonsils swell […]
Continue readingCult favourite – Martha Marcy May Marlene review
January 18, 2012 0 Comments
Martha Marcy May Marlene – Starring Elizabeth Olsen, John Hawkes and Sarah Paulson. Directed by Sean Durkin. Rated MA. Originally published July 22, 2011. By Simon Miraudo. If Winter’s Bone was just a little too chipper for your liking, perhaps you’d prefer the decidedly darker Martha Marcy May Marlene. Although the plots of these films are rather different (in the former, we deal with meth-cooking Mississippians; […]
Continue readingThe 10 best male performances of 2011
December 27, 2011 0 Comments
The 10 best male performances of 2011. By Simon Miraudo. It’s the final week of 2011, so we’re sharing with you, once again, our end-of-year lists. This was originally published on December 8 2011. Acting! It’s perhaps the most subjective craft in the entire moviemaking process. What better way to celebrate its unquantifiable nature than by […]
Continue readingThe 10 best male performances of 2011
December 8, 2011 1 Comment
The 10 best male performances of 2011. By Simon Miraudo. Acting! It’s perhaps the most subjective craft in the entire moviemaking process. What better way to celebrate its unquantifiable nature than by ranking our favourite performances of the year? Look past the inherent ridiculousness of comparing dudes who play vicious murderers with those dressed in […]
Continue readingIt’s a sick, sick, sick, sick world – Contagion review
October 19, 2011 0 Comments
Contagion – Starring Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne and Jennifer Ehle. Directed by Steven Soderbergh. Rated M. By Simon Miraudo. Contagion is the last movie you want to see with a sore throat. Or maybe it’s the first movie you want to see with a sore throat. What could possibly top the sensory, 4-D, cinema-going experience […]
Continue readingPoster Debut: Martha Marcy May Marlene
August 24, 2011 0 Comments
Sean Durkin‘s slow-burn psychological thriller Martha Marcy May Marlene caused quite a stir at Sundance back in January, and has wowed Australian audiences at the Sydney and Melbourne Film Festivals. A bunch of appropriately unsettling posters have debuted online ahead of its proper release. Elizabeth Olson stars as Martha (or Marcy May, or Marlene), a […]
Continue readingPoster Debut: Contagion
August 11, 2011 2 Comments
So, ahem, PANIC! The posters for Steven Soderbergh‘s viral outbreak thriller Contagion have debuted online, and they certainly don’t instil calm. The six major character posters capitalise on the all-star cast, specifically Marion Cotillard, Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow and Kate Winslet (we’ll just have to hope co-stars John Hawkes and Bryan Cranston will get their own in the near future). To see […]
Continue readingMelbourne International Film Festival – Martha Marcy May Marlene review
July 22, 2011 1 Comment
Martha Marcy May Marlene – Starring Elizabeth Olsen, John Hawkes and Sarah Paulson. Directed by Sean Durkin. Rated MA. By Simon Miraudo. Martha Marcy May Marlene plays the Melbourne International Film Festival on Sunday 24 July and Sunday 31 July. If Winter’s Bone was just a little too chipper for your liking, perhaps you’d prefer […]
Continue readingTrailer Debut: Contagion
July 14, 2011 2 Comments
Germaphobes, look away! The trailer for Steven Soderbergh’s apocalyptic viral outbreak thriller Contagion has debuted online, and it will make you want to cut off all contact with the rest of the human race. Penned by Scott Z. Burns, the film features a cavalcade of stars dealing with a highly contagious and fatal case of […]
Continue readingJoseph Gordon-Levitt and Tommy Lee Jones join Spielberg’s Lincoln
May 6, 2011 2 Comments
Movies often come in pairs. Armageddon/Deep Impact. Antz/A Bug’s Life. This year we’ll get the No Strings Attached clone Friends With Benefits, and soon we’ll have Snow White and The Huntsman and The Brothers Grimm: Snow White competing for our attention. 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln can now join these esteemed ranks as […]
Continue readingTrailer Debut: Martha Marcy May Marlene
May 5, 2011 0 Comments
The transfixing trailer for Sundance favourite and Cannes-bound thriller Martha Marcy May Marlene has landed online. It stars Elizabeth Olson (yes, sister to the twins) as a young woman who escapes from a cult and their mysterious leader (Oscar nominee John Hawkes). The directorial debut from Sean Durkin, Martha Marcy May Marlene was one of the […]
Continue readingHard boiled – Winter’s Bone review
November 9, 2010 1 Comment
Winter’s Bone – Starring Jennifer Lawrence, John Hawkes and Garret Dillahunt. Directed by Debra Granik. Rated MA. By Simon Miraudo. Winter’s Bone reminds me of the reasons why I love cinema. A director playing around with the forms of various genres. An ensemble of talented actors crafting interesting fully formed characters. The sense of discovery […]
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