Dr Luke Buckmaster
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Dr Luke Buckmaster
@lukebuckmaster.bsky.social
Guardian Australia's film critic, chief critic of Flicks.com.au and "The VR Critic" (thevrcritic.com). PHD in virtual reality. Creator of Nicolas Cage fan site The Cage Gauge: https://www.flicks.com.au/cagegauge/
Oh me oh my. No Other Choice sure is a weird (and very good) serial killer movie. Here's my review
No Other Choice is one of the strangest serial killer movies you’ll ever see
Great word-of-mouth surrounds the release of No Other Choice, a wickedly weird and darkly funny serial killer movie that defies expectations.
www.flicks.com.au
January 15, 2026 at 6:08 AM
"An observer from another galaxy would say that we know what’s causing climate change, but we’re not doing anything about it as a global civilisation."
The past three years were the world’s hottest on record
The world is likely to miss the Paris Agreement goals to limit global heating to between 1.5 and 2 degrees above the pre-industrial average, making climate adaptation and “net negative” policies incre...
www.theage.com.au
January 14, 2026 at 8:15 AM
My take on Nouvelle Vague: a super stylish, feel-good love letter to Jean-Luc Godard’s great film Breathless. Tres bien!
Nouvelle Vague and Breathless make an awesome double feature
Nouvelle Vague is a stylish, feel-good love letter to Jean-Luc Godard’s great film Breathless. Luke Buckmaster unpacks the perfect movie double bill.
www.flicks.com.au
January 13, 2026 at 2:56 AM
Netflix is great at pumping out documentaries that make you want to hold your nose and bemoan the state of humanity. Here's my take on the latest
Evil Influencer: The Jodi Hildebrandt Story is Netflix’s latest true crime curio
Netflix delivers another jaw-dropping true-crime tale, unpacking the horrific story of Jodi Hildebrandt with some surprising restraint.
www.flicks.com.au
January 9, 2026 at 12:33 AM
In the present moment of post-truth, Trump-era America, this excellent documentary about legendary journo Seymour M. Hersh lands with alarming force. My review of Cover-Up
Cover-Up is a bracing reminder of why investigative journalism matters
Now on Netflix, Cover-Up explores the career of legendary reporter Seymour M. Hersh and the battles behind publishing uncomfortable truths.
www.flicks.com.au
January 7, 2026 at 2:49 AM
This biodrama about Australian tennis legend Evonne Goolagong Cawley is well above standard, rah-rah-rah, win-at-all-costs sports fare. My review
Goolagong review – ABC drama about Australian tennis legend is deeper than most sporting biopics
Newcomer Lila McGuire is outstanding as the former world No 1, her story unfolding over three well-paced, captivating and graceful episodes
www.theguardian.com
January 3, 2026 at 9:02 PM
Brooke Satchwell is the highlight of Dear Life, delivering a painfully good performance as a distraught widow. My review
Dear Life review – Brooke Satchwell hauntingly good in an otherwise clunky drama
Playing a grief-stricken woman who traces the organ recipients of her late fiance, the actor outshines the rest of this cloying Stan series
www.theguardian.com
January 2, 2026 at 5:31 AM
Phew! This year I wrote 149 film and TV critiques - about one every two and a half days - and launched the world’s largest collection of virtual reality reviews by a single person. I'll stop writing when I'm dead. Thank you to everyone who read my work, it's greatly appreciated. Happy New Year!
December 30, 2025 at 10:44 PM
From shark mayhem to porridge-making, here's the best Australian films from 2025. My annual list for the Guardian
The 10 best Australian films of 2025
Spanning shark mayhem, Nicolas Cage and porridge-making, here are film critic Luke Buckmaster’s 10 favourite Australian movies of the year
www.theguardian.com
December 25, 2025 at 10:27 PM
Is it just me, or are we less impressed by movie special effects than we used to be? Here's where the real creative upheavals are happening.
Do eye-watering special effects still impress like they used to?
James Cameron’s latest blockbuster dazzles with glossy spectacle, but the real revolutions and creative upheavals in motion picture technology are happening elsewhere, writes Luke Buckmaster.
www.flicks.com.au
December 24, 2025 at 12:54 AM
The new Amadeus TV series is unexpectedly excellent, with a roaring pace and sizzling performances. My review.
Amadeus is back – now a juiced-up, compulsively entertaining TV series
This compulsively watchable resurrection of Amadeus is sexy, loud, and gleefully irreverent, matching the classic film’s brilliance while blazing its own trail.
www.flicks.com.au
December 19, 2025 at 12:08 AM
The new Amadeus TV series is unexpectedly excellent, with a roaring pace and sizzling performances. My review.
Amadeus is back – now a juiced-up, compulsively entertaining TV series
This compulsively watchable resurrection of Amadeus is sexy, loud, and gleefully irreverent, matching the classic film’s brilliance while blazing its own trail.
www.flicks.com.au
December 19, 2025 at 12:06 AM
Best intro to a novel of all time? I love it so much it's framed and hung on my wall
December 16, 2025 at 7:06 AM
Mr Bean may be retired, but Rowan Atkinson’s signature brand of chaos survives in this fun new series. My take on Netflix's Man vs Baby
Rowan Atkinson brings Mr Bean-ish chaos to Man vs Baby
Mr Bean may be retired, but Rowan Atkinson’s signature brand of chaos survives in this fun new series—with awkward stunts, eyebrow gymnastics, and a baby turning his life upside down.
www.flicks.com.au
December 12, 2025 at 1:56 AM
Ranking Russell Crowe's best performances was no easy task. He has an amazing ability to strip difficult characters of baggage, and find what makes them human. Great oeuvre, great actor.
Russell Crowe’s 20 best roles – sorted!
With Nuremberg out in Australian cinemas, we cast an eye over Rusty’s eclectic, varied and downright impressive oeuvre. Are you not entertained?
www.theguardian.com
December 6, 2025 at 6:16 AM
In the spirit of "best of" lists spurring conversation, I respond to Tarantino's picks for the top films so far this century. Black Hawk Down as #1? Really?!
Tarantino made a best-of-the-century film list. I made it better
Quentin Tarantino’s century-best list gets turned upside down in Luke Buckmaster’s lively, opinion-soaked re-rank guaranteed to provoke film-lover debate.
www.flicks.com.au
December 5, 2025 at 1:00 AM
Gillian Anderson's new western, the second season of Fallout, Rowan Atkinson returns and more: here's my monthly column on the biggest titles soon to arrive on streaming
Fallout season 2, a new Knives Out and Taylor Swift’s End of an Era: what’s new to streaming in Australia in December
Plus the director’s cut of Picnic at Hanging Rock, Back to the Future turns 40 and Will Forte opens a tanning salon in Sydney
www.theguardian.com
December 4, 2025 at 9:30 PM
Thank you Queensland XR Hub for having me as a guest speaker at their annual Extended Reality conference in Brisbane. Being part of a creative medium in its infancy is a strangely thrilling time. The highs, the lows, the progress, the setbacks - it's all part of the excitement.
December 1, 2025 at 9:16 AM
In the lead-up to next year’s creature feature Primate, I celebrate Monkey Shines - an amazing, psychologically scorching evil monkey movie
Retrospective: Monkey Shines is still the greatest evil monkey movie
In the lead-up to next year’s creature feature Primate, we celebrate George Romero’s 1988 horror classic—the only evil monkey movie that truly earns its bananas.
www.flicks.com.au
November 27, 2025 at 10:44 PM
Rose Byrne detonates the screen in this blistering, darkly comic character study that grips like a vise. Me on the amazing If I Had Legs I'd Kick You
The brilliance of Rose Byrne in If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
Rose Byrne detonates the screen in this blistering, uneasy, darkly comic character study that grips like a vise and refuses to let go.
www.flicks.com.au
November 20, 2025 at 11:34 PM
A beautifully composed meditation on work, wonder, and lives that slip quietly through history’s cracks. My review of Netflix's superb drama Train Dreams
Train Dreams is one of the great films of 2025
Joel Edgerton has drawn widespread acclaim for his performance in Netflix’s beautifully composed meditation on work, wonder, and lives that slip quietly through history’s cracks.
www.flicks.com.au
November 17, 2025 at 6:05 AM
Predator: Badlands turns franchise pulp into genuine worldbuilding, giving the franchise new moral terrain and unexpected softnesss. My review
Predator: Badlands is the right kind of worldbuilding
With Predator: Badlands, director Dan Trachtenberg turns franchise pulp into genuine worldbuilding—giving the franchise new moral terrain and unexpected softnesss.
www.flicks.com.au
November 12, 2025 at 8:28 PM
What if the end of the world felt…kind of lovely? My review of the genre-breaking new show from the creator of Breaking Bad
Pluribus rewrites the end of the world with a blissfully strange twist
What if the end of the world felt…kind of lovely? The new show from the creator of Breaking Bad creates a truly genre-breaking apocalypse.
www.flicks.com.au
November 11, 2025 at 9:19 AM
Netflix’s new drama dives into the messy events leading up to the assassination of U.S. President James A Garfield. With excellent performances and a cracking script, this ain’t a dry history lesson.
Death by Lightning is a wildly entertaining ride through historical chaos
Netflix’s four-part drama dives into the messy events leading up to the assassination of U.S. President James A Garfield. With excellent performances and a cracking script, his ain’t a dry history les...
www.flicks.com.au
November 7, 2025 at 12:14 AM