Sandra Hall
Film critic
Sandra Hall is a film critic for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
★★
Review
Tennis provides background noise in Zendaya’s pointless love triangle
Director Luca Guadagnino does everything he can to distract you from the game in this fast-paced, time-tripping drama.
- by Sandra Hall
★★★
Review
Civil War began as a work of fiction, then it almost became fact
Kirsten Dunst stars as a photojournalist in this grimly candid portrait of the US ruled by a dictator in the White House – and a society under collapse.
- by Sandra Hall
★★★★
Review
Horror addicts and nostalgia buffs will relish this spooky Aussie film
Inspired by Don Lane, the American who dominated the Australian chat show in the mid-’70s and early ’80s, Late Night with the Devil hits the right notes.
- by Sandra Hall
Even Martin Scorsese can make a bad film, and this one’s his worst
The filmmaker’s 2002 epic is the cinematic equivalent of a tabloid paper.
- by Sandra Hall
★★½
Review
This film was a critical and festival hit. I can’t understand how
Part biopic, part polemic, Ava DuVernay’s new film Origin has an undeniably powerful moment, but it’s hardly revelatory.
- by Sandra Hall
★★★★
Review
This film shows the horrific truth behind the journey of asylum seekers
Nominated for a Best International Film Oscar, and based on real-life stories, Io Capitano is a coming-of-age story that finds hope among the desperation.
- by Sandra Hall
★★★★
Review
Olivia Colman is brilliant in this glorious, foul-mouthed comedy
Wicked Little Letters is a fictionalised version of a celebrated legal case that transfixed 1920s Britain.
- by Sandra Hall
★★½
Review
Sydney Sweeney as a nun? Say a prayer for this predictable fright fest
In Immaculate, the star of Euphoria and The White Lotus runs the gamut of sweet-natured optimism to blood-stained desperation in less than 90 minutes.
- by Sandra Hall
★★★½
Review
Kristen Stewart’s new psychological thriller is Thelma & Louise on steroids
Stewart is a woman unravelling under the pressure of a violent father and a girlfriend set on revenge in the ultra-violent black farce, Love Lies Bleeding.
- by Sandra Hall
Series
Oscars
Oscars 2024: What our critics thought of the best picture contenders
Read what our reviewers thought of all the films nominated for best picture at this year’s Oscars.