Sandra Hall

Sydney

Film Critic at Sydney Morning Herald

Film Critic at The Age

Film critic Sydney Morning Herald, author of fiction and non-fiction books

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Articles

Historic bluesfest or semi-comic bloodfest? Sinners is both

1 week ago | smh.com.au | Sandra Hall

By Sandra Hall April 17, 2025 — 7.00am, register or subscribe to save articles for later. Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. SINNERS★★★CTC, 137 minutes.
Richard Roxburgh’s nervy intensity works in a film about despair in an Egyptian prison

1 week ago | smh.com.au | Sandra Hall

By Sandra Hall April 17, 2025 — 5.30am, register or subscribe to save articles for later. Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. THE CORRESPONDENT ★★★★(M) 119 minutesJournalist Peter Greste and actor Richard Roxburgh bear little resemblance to one another. Greste’s face is unlined, reflecting the calm and composed air he’s displayed in all his interviews about the 14 months he spent in an Egyptian prison because of his work for Al Jazeera.
Historic bluesfest or semi-comic bloodfest? Sinners is both

1 week ago | watoday.com.au | Sandra Hall

Historic bluesfest or semi-comic bloodfest? Sinners is bothWe’re sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. We’re working to restore it. Please try again later. By Sandra Hall April 17, 2025 — 5.00am, register or subscribe to save articles for later. Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. SINNERS★★★CTC, 137 minutes. In cinemas Thursday, April 17... Want to unlock unlimited news? Read more award-winning journalism from as little as 50c a day. Get startedAlready a subscriber?
Rami Malek is no action hero - and that’s the point in The Amateur

1 week ago | smh.com.au | Sandra Hall

By Sandra Hall April 13, 2025 — 5.00am, register or subscribe to save articles for later. Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. THE AMATEUR★★★★M, 123 minutes. In cinemasThe fact that Rami Malek looks entirely unqualified to play an action hero is the point of The Amateur. As Charlie Heller, a nerdy CIA cryptographer, he’s thrust into the role by his urge to avenge the murder of his wife – an idea that attracts loud snorts of derision from his co-workers.
Cillian Murphy in adaptation of Claire Keegan novel

2 weeks ago | smh.com.au | Sandra Hall

By Sandra Hall April 8, 2025 — 1.37pm, register or subscribe to save articles for later. Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. SMALL THINGS LIKE THESERated M98 MinutesIn cinemas April 10★★★★Sally Rooney is not the only Irish writer to find favour with filmmakers. They have a last discovered Claire Keegan, who has been accumulating literary awards for years. There’s no mystery in this.
Cillian Murphy in adaptation of Claire Keegan novel

2 weeks ago | watoday.com.au | Sandra Hall

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Where rom-com meets torture porn, this movie is a shocker

2 weeks ago | watoday.com.au | Sandra Hall

Exponential Interactive, Inc d/b/a VDX.tvCookie duration: 90 (days). Data collected and processed: IP addresses, Device identifiers, Probabilistic identifiers, Browsing and interaction data, Non-precise location data, Users’ profiles, Privacy choicesmoreCookie duration resets each session. View details | Privacy policyConsentCookie duration: 365 (days).
Where rom-com meets torture porn, this movie is a shocker

2 weeks ago | smh.com.au | Sandra Hall

By Sandra Hall April 6, 2025 — 5.00am, register or subscribe to save articles for later. Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. NOVOCAINE NO PAIN★MA, 110 minutes. In cinemas April 3To be fair, it’s possible that Novocaine No Pain was designed as a satire on the amount of violence in movies. After all, it’s billed as a comedy but the joke goes missing in the first few minutes amid the volume of blood splashed around on the screen.
Whoa, doggie! This hyperactive animal yarn left me exhausted

3 weeks ago | smh.com.au | Sandra Hall

By Sandra Hall April 2, 2025 — 1.47pm, register or subscribe to save articles for later. Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. DOG MANRated G, 95 minutes★★½DreamWorks Animation has always said it doesn’t have a house style, which is true. You’d have a lot of trouble trying to prove Shrek and the cast of Shark Tale came from the same gene pool. Nonetheless, there is a certain mood common to a lot of DreamWorks movies.
What can this thriller about a secret hidden in a barn teach us about ourselves?

4 weeks ago | smh.com.au | Sandra Hall

By Sandra Hall March 27, 2025 — 5.30am, register or subscribe to save articles for later. Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. IN VITRO ★★★½(M) 89 minutesSci-fi writers are living in interesting times. Robotics, artificial intelligence, the cloning of animals and the ethical implications of all this provide fertile ground on which to explore the question of what exactly makes us human.