Liam Maguren

Auckland

Content Manager and Writer at Flicks

Writer for Flicks (NZ/AU/UK). Māori (Ngā Rauru) Pākeha (Irish) animation filmmaker for himself. I'm on Threads as @liammaguren.

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Articles

Review: ‘Demolition’ is an Entertainingly Intriguing Character Study

2 days ago | flicks.com.au | Amelia Berry |Rory Doherty |Dominic Corry |Liam Maguren

You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone. That might mean your wife. And that might make you realise that you don’t give a shit about your marriage. That’s the issue Davis (Jake Gyllenhaal) faces as he remains emotionally numb to the fact while everyone else mourns like a ‘normal’ person.
Review: ‘Lights Out’ Has Some Fun Staging Peek-a-boo Shock Scares

5 days ago | flicks.com.au | Amelia Berry |Rory Doherty |Dominic Corry |Liam Maguren

It wasn’t hard to picture the big screen possibilities when the original Lights Out short went viral a few years ago. The resulting film, written by Eric Heisserer (Final Destination 5, 2010’s A Nightmare on Elm St remake), isn’t the most interesting extrapolation of the short imaginable, but its central hook remains effective enough to keep the movie afloat for its brisk running time.
Scrublands: Silver moves to a new Australian small town, stacked with fresh secrets

1 week ago | flicks.com.au | Steve Newall |Tony Stamp |Liam Maguren |Craig Mathieson

In its new season, Scrublands: Silver picks up the story a year later, with Bella Heathcote’s Mandy accused of murder most foul and her investigative reporter partner out to clear her name. Stephen A Russell does some investigating of his own. Streaming Soon - 17 April Most folks know you should never go on holiday with Miss Marple or Hercule Poirot. Wherever they unwind, at least one poor soul (probably a good few) winds up dead.
Pick this year’s Oscar winners correctly and celebrate your own big win

1 week ago | flicks.com.au | Steve Newall |Stephen Russell |Tony Stamp |Liam Maguren

Pick the winners of the 97th Academy Awards and get ready to celebrate your status as the world’s #1 Oscar expert. This year’s Oscars are almost upon us, and once more Flicks is encouraging you to prove your superiority over fellow cinephiles. Choose the most winners of this year’s 97th Academy Awards correctly, and you could be proclaimed the champion of your region (Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia).
how Thelma & Louise redefined the road movie

1 week ago | flicks.com.au | Steve Newall |Tony Stamp |Liam Maguren |Craig Mathieson

More than three decades after its release, Ridley Scott’s roaring feministic road trip Thelma & Louise has lost none of its bite. Luke Buckmaster revisits this amazing movie—in particular (spoiler alert) it’s very famous ending. Is this not the greatest movie ever made about driving off a cliff? And not just driving but really putting your foot down and fanging it.
Review: ‘Suicide Squad’ is a Huge, Aggravating, Misfire

2 weeks ago | flicks.com.au | Amelia Berry |Rory Doherty |Dominic Corry |Liam Maguren

What’s made it to the screen as Suicide Squad could not have happened without Marvel. This DC property has prior super-pics all over it as it strives to achieve similar results. At its core, there’s a Dirty Dozen cannon-fodder mission movie, and a focus on villains that hasn’t been explored elsewhere.
Review: ‘Kubo and the Two Strings’ is Laika’s Most Beautiful Film Yet

2 weeks ago | flicks.com.au | Amelia Berry |Rory Doherty |Dominic Corry |Liam Maguren

Laika Entertainment is an animation studio to be adored. From Coraline to ParaNorman to 2014’s stupendous The Boxtrolls, they are continually pushing themselves as well as cinematic stop motion art in general. This trend hasn’t changed; Kubo and the Two Strings is the most beautiful film Laika has created. As with the studio’s previous films, Kubo has a maturity that caters to older kids without going overboard. It can be scary but it’s never too scary. There is violence but it’s never too violent.
Severance’s existential prodding made season two richer and, quite frankly, more loveable

3 weeks ago | flicks.co.uk | Rory Doherty |Eliza Janssen |Steve Newall |Liam Maguren

Clarisse Loughrey’s Show of the Week column spotlights a new show to watch or skip. This week: Severance wraps up its second season. In the 80s, Richard C. Schwartz developed a psychoanalytical model termed the Internal Family Systems Model, created in response to what he perceived was a distinct set of subpersonalities in his patients, created through experience and trauma, each with their own outlook and intent.
Is Pixar’s first TV series, Win or Lose, Rashomon for kids?

3 weeks ago | flicks.com.au | Clarisse Loughrey |Steve Newall |Liam Maguren |Dominic Corry

Pixar’s long-awaited first original TV series, Win or Lose, captures the emotional perspectives of various characters associated with a softball team. Luke Buckmaster unpacks its connections to a classic film from Akira Kurosawa. Is Pixar’s first original TV series, Win or Lose, Rashomon for kids?
The one great thing about The Electric State

3 weeks ago | flicks.com.au | Clarisse Loughrey |Steve Newall |Liam Maguren |Dominic Corry

Netflix’s robot-themed sci-fi The Electric State is attracting many eyeballs, as well as a vicious response from critics. Luke Buckmaster joins the pile-on, with one important caveat… After monstering mainstream cinema, hack directors Anthony and Joe Russo—of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame fame—bring their brand of blockbuster goop to Netflix, zapping whatever’s left of our brains cells.