Joker Review - Empathy for the Devil
Joaquin Phoenix plays Arthur Fleck, a mentally unstable single white guy who is shaped by society into becoming yet another version of the Joker, a comic book villain that has existed for almost eight…
Andrew F Peirce
Andrew is the co-chair of the Australian Film Critics Association, a Golden Globes voter, author of Lonely Spirits and the King. You can find him online trying to enlist people into the cult of Mac and Me.
973 posts
Boorloo, Western Australia
Standing Up for Sunny Cinefest Oz Review - A Genuinely Hilarious Treat of a Film
Andrew F Peirce
3 min read
In Standing Up for Sunny, RJ Mitte stars as Travis, a socially isolated, perennially grumpy, guy living with cerebral palsy. He has a major gripe with the world: the fact that there are other people i…
Ten Questions for Travis Akbar - Aussie Hip Hop, West Coast Eagles, and the Misconceptions about Australia
Andrew F Peirce
6 min read
Travis Akbar has been a writer for The Curb for over a year now, and since kicking off on this here site, he's gone and written some brilliant work for IndigenousX and SBS. Travis also runs a Face…
The Naked Wanderer Review - A Bland Tourism Advertisement Gussied Up as a Film
Andrew F Peirce
5 min read
Coming hot on the heels of Breath and Jasper Jones, and getting the jump on Dirt Music, The Naked Wanderer is the latest West Australian tourism ad campaign masquerading as a film. But, unlike Breath…
Judas Collar Review - One of the Best Short Films to Come Out of Australia
Andrew F Peirce
5 min read
I don’t usually rewatch films frequently. I tend to ‘one and done’ a film, enjoying it for what it is and moving on to the next on the never ending pile. But, by choice and circumstance, I’ve experien…
Rambo: Last Blood Review - As American as a Border Wall
Andrew F Peirce
7 min read
John Rambo is as American as apple pie. Actually, maybe that’s too sweet a comparison. John Rambo is as American as a border wall. Yeah, that feels right. In the catalogue of creations that litter t…
Suburban Wildlife Review - Generation Z Angst in the Suburbs of Sydney
Andrew F Peirce
7 min read
Like a comedian recycling his own jokes, I’m going to riff on the opening of my Hot Mess review as I set the scene for why Suburban Wildlife is a good film. Hot Mess and Chocolate Oyster are the step-…
Audio Guide Review - A Promising Sign of the Future of Australian Film
Andrew F Peirce
4 min read
Short films, by their inherent nature, encourage and enforce simplicity. The challenge put forward to the filmmaker is to create a complete and concise story. Sure, some short films appear like proof…
Pimped Review - A Film Searching for a Reason to Exist
Andrew F Peirce
4 min read
This review contains discussions of sexual assault. The thin plot of David Barker’s directorial debut, Pimped, follows apparently wealthy Lewis Blake (Benedict Samuel) and his pal Kenneth Hanson (Rob…
What is This Website About? and the Importance of Supporting Critics
Andrew F Peirce
11 min read
At the end of Rachel Ward’s Directors Chair discussion at 2019’s Cinefest Oz, she was asked a question about what advice she would give her younger self. Her response, just like the rest of her talk,…
It Chapter Two Review - An Eagerly Unsettling Affair
Andrew F Peirce
5 min read
It Chapter Two kicks off twenty-seven years after the events of the first film. The majority of the Losers club have left Derry and made lives for themselves elsewhere, except for Mike (Isaiah Mustafa…
H is for Happiness Cinefest Oz Review - An Immediate Australian Classic
Andrew F Peirce
4 min read
Powered by JustWatch H is for Happiness feels like a rare film. It’s so genuine and tender with its comedy and humanity that it can’t help but feel like an anomaly in the landscape of cinema. Su…