Craig Mathieson
Verified- Music and Film Critic, Sydney Morning Herald
- Music and Film Critic, The Age
- Music and Film Critic, The Monthly
Melbourne
TV, music, and film critic for The Age/SMH and The Monthly. Creator of BINGE-R, which you should subscribe to right now. 📺📽️ Yes, it's on my list to watch.
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Articles by Craig Mathieson
Kiera Knightley is as badass as ever in Black Doves Season 2
Black Doves largely forgoes the tinsel and string lights in season two. Never mind, it’s still this year’s hottest anti-festive offering. And it’s a touch more evolved in its Christmas blues than your standard Grinch-flavoured cynicism or Shane Black-influenced collision of bloody violence and jingle bells, à la The Long Kiss Goodnight or Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. | 6 episodes Joe Barton’s espionage series instead places Christmas at the centre of a nihilistic cycle.
Sick of scrolling Netflix for something good? You’re not alone
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The best new TV shows to stream in November
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The best new TV shows to stream in October
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The Lizzie Borden Story gets the glossy, gory Ryan Murphy treatment
Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan, his Monster showrunner, must have thought they’d hit the jackpot with Lizzie Borden. Her alleged crimes – the slaughter of her father and stepmother with a hatchet – were committed long before our lifetimes, on 4 August, 1892. There’s no one left to take offence. | 8 episodes Her corseted world of Gilded Age high society (and, what a treat, she was young AND wealthy!) feels no more real to us than one of Edgar Allan Poe’s macabre tales.
In the mood for: 10 awesome music documentaries that hit all the right notes
From electric rock stars, to iconic film scores, to the various all-too-often unsung heroes who’ve formed the bedrock of the sounds of now – these music documentaries will keep you humming long after the credits roll. 20 Feet from Stardom (2013) Behind every great singer is an even greater voice. The backing vocalist is integral to popular music, serving as an accelerant to countless hits and live performances.
Shaun the Sheep and the power of visual storytelling
Get to your watchlist. Or sign in with your email Email AddressPassword Don’t have a Flicks account? Keep track of the movies and show you want to see + get Flicks email updates. Or sign up with your email Email AddressPasswordName By signing up, you agree to ourterms & conditionsandprivacy policy. Already have a Flicks account? Confirm below that you want to reset your password, and we’ll send a link to reset it. Don’t have a Flicks account? Remembered your password?
Last Seen breathes new life into crime genre clichés
We’re in the year of Patrick Brammall. He and his on-screen (and off-screen) partner Harriet Dyer bid adieu to their surprise-hit rom-com series Colin from Accounts just months after Brammall cropped up as Anne Hathaway’s handsomely supportive new love interest in The Devil Wears Prada 2. Now, within days of the show’s finale, a very different brand of Brammall – solemn, drained, near-ballistic – has turned up in Apple TV’s first production shot entirely in Australia, Last Seen.
Six seasons in, Slow Horses repays audiences’ investment in full
With a sixth season in merely four-and-a-half years, Slow Horses returns viewers to the slovenly, grim Slough House, the rainy streets of London, and the familiar core cast of rejected British spy agents. This time the focus has shifted from dodging deadly Eastern European and KGB agents to a mole in the British government, who threatens to expose national security secrets and the confidential identities of state employees.
Why cargo thrillers like The Weight always draw us in
Get to your watchlist. Or sign in with your email Email AddressPassword Don’t have a Flicks account? Keep track of the movies and show you want to see + get Flicks email updates. Or sign up with your email Email AddressPasswordName By signing up, you agree to ourterms & conditionsandprivacy policy. Already have a Flicks account? Confirm below that you want to reset your password, and we’ll send a link to reset it. Don’t have a Flicks account? Remembered your password?
In the mood for: 10 dark and moody thrillers to get lost in
Looking for some light-hearted laughs? You’d be in the wrong place. Escape the troubles of the everyday with these thrillers that really put their characters through the wringer. Blue Velvet (1986) The thrills in David Lynch’s big breakout feature don’t so much make you jump as they sicken you to your stomach: once Dennis Hopper’s monstrous villain Frank Booth is on the scene, we feel we’re in for something much more twisted than any other suburban noir story.
The 30 best movies to stream on SBS On Demand right now
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This gritty British crime drama gambles on a radical approach – and it’s a winner
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The 30 best movies to stream on Disney+ right now
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Cop Land is the most under-rated cop movie from the ’90s
Cop Land is certainly a cop movie; the word is even in the title. But this James Mangold-directed film, which was released to an unfairly muted reception in 1997, resists the genre’s usual bells and whistles and refuses to kowtow to convention. It’s a tough, chewy drama, with no elaborate car chases or swaggering heroes, set in a small New Jersey town riddled with corrupt police.
4 stop-motion masterpieces that led to Kiri and Lou Go Raaa!
BAFTA-winning New Zealand children’s series Kiri and Lou makes one giant leap to the big screen with Kiri and Lou Go Raaa!. Premiering at the prestigious Annecy animation film festival, the movie turns the clock back even further to show the burly adventure that brought the prehistoric duo together.
Archive of best movies on HBO Max Australia
We’ve archived these capsule reviews of titles previously on HBO Max. Find their new streaming homes via the links below! All the President’s Men (1976) Alan J Pakula’s riveting procedural about the pair of young Washington Post reporters (Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman), whose coverage of the Watergate break-in eventually brought down U.S. President Richard Nixon, is a study of institutional strength and individual fortitude. Masterful deep focus newsroom shots strikingly convey the struggle.
Elle takes Legally Blonde back to high school
The mean girl in Prime Video’s Legally Blonde prequel series Elle is a Black Sonic Youth fan (Chandler Kinney’s Kimberly). She’s outlandishly cruel, at first, to a 16-year-old Elle Woods (Lexi Minetree, filling in for Reese Witherspoon), a new arrival to Seattle after her surgeon father (Tom Everett Scott) is driven out of LA in the wake of a botched celebrity nose job.
The best movies on HBO Max New Zealand
Stacked with titles from the deep Warner Bros. archive HBO’s own catalogue of in-house movies, HBO Max has one of the deepest film offerings in the streaming market. Dominic Corry picks the best movies currently available. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) WATCH ON HBO MAX Stanley Kubrick’s sci-fi masterpiece basically invented the modern conception of the genre, inspiring everyone from George Lucas to James Cameron to go even further.
6 reasons why Beast isn’t your average sports movie
A rip-snorting, full-throttle mixed martial arts movie has arrived with Beast, which is now streaming on Stan. If you come to Beast for the blood, brawn, and bruises, stay for the all-or-nothing emotional knockout. Whether it’s Daniel McPherson’s powerhouse performance, the fact that the film was co-written by Russell Crowe, or simply that it’s a solid “underdog makes good” story, there are six great reasons to check out this cracking sports drama from director Tyler Atkins.
Loved 30 Rock? This cracker new comedy is the 2026 equivalent
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I rewatched Mrs Doubtfire. I wasn’t expecting this
Every film is a product of its time. The reason some feel “dated” lies in the tension between a work of art, locked in place, never to change – unless it was produced by George Lucas – and a society that’s constantly evolving. Saying “dated” is just a way of drawing attention to the widening gap between the cultural values of “then” and “now.” Chris Columbus’ blockbuster 1993 comedy Mrs.
Here are 15 hidden TV gems well worth bingeing
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The Death of Robin Hood gives an old legend a brutal beating
Given every new story about an old legend reflects, to varying degrees, the mood and mores of the present moment, it stands to reason that Robin Hood’s latest adventure is pretty bloody dark and pretty bloody cynical: an experience with no windows of light; no room for optimism. This makes sense given the film arrives during an era of prevailing distrust in age-old systems and institutions: democracy, government, enterprise, etcetera.
The Agency might just be the smartest spy show on television
The Agency is a spy show for people who are a little sick of spy shows. It’s slow, calculated, and devastatingly elegant in a genre that too easily relies on ticking time bomb extravagances and apocalyptic consequences. Here, in season two of Jez and John-Henry Butterworth’s adaptation of French series Le Bureau des Légendes, a mind’s thought has become as lethal as a bullet. And it’s exhilarating to watch.
Every Steven Spielberg alien movie, ranked worst to best
Steven Spielberg’s name has long been synonymous with alien movies – even though he hasn’t made all that many. There are four by my count, with his long-awaited return to the genre, Disclosure Day, now in cinemas. Yes, there are other Spielberg movies that feature aliens, like (the brilliant) A.I.: Artificial Intelligence and (the godawful) Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
Every Steven Spielberg alien movie, ranked worst to best
Steven Spielberg’s name has long been synonymous with alien movies – even though he hasn’t made all that many. There are four by my count, with his long-awaited return to the genre, Disclosure Day, now in cinemas. Yes, there are other Spielberg movies that feature aliens, like (the brilliant) A.I.: Artificial Intelligence and (the godawful) Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
Agatha Christie meets Midnight in Paris in this witty, weird new show
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Best new movies and TV series on Stan: June 2026
Get to your watchlist. Or sign in with your email Email AddressPassword Don’t have a Flicks account? Keep track of the movies and show you want to see + get Flicks email updates. Or sign up with your email Email AddressPasswordName By signing up, you agree to ourterms & conditionsandprivacy policy. Already have a Flicks account? Confirm below that you want to reset your password, and we’ll send a link to reset it. Don’t have a Flicks account? Remembered your password?
How Dylan Lewis survived and thrived on the chaotic Recovery
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A Downton Abbey star goes full horror and five more picks
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Loved Fleabag and Six Feet Under? Try this moving new drama
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A dull TV reboot of a Denzel Washington movie, plus five more picks
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The best new shows to stream in May
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The Stranger is a stone-cold masterpiece
Albert Camus’ legendary novel The Stranger was written in a famously sparse, stripped-down style, with a seeming straightforwardness that might – in theory – simplify the book-to-screen adaptation process. Beneath the surface, however, a myriad of complexities make it a very tricky text to adapt.
The big films heading to AU cinemas this May
While there are only a couple of big blockbuster titles filling the multiplexes this May, there’s an absolute smattering of cinema experiences awaiting the month ahead for horror heads, Billie Eilish fans, and whodunnit loyalists who are sick and tired of detectives being human. Read on to see what’s heading to cinemas this May. Sign up/log in to your Flicks account and add any of these films to your watchlist for a handy DM reminder when they’re about to release.
Jaafar Jackson is perfectly cast in Michael – for better or worse
You could make a whole feature film out of any one of the numerous moments that define Michael Jackson’s life and career, and any one of those will give you a drastically different movie.
Calle Málaga is a perfect take-your-mum-to-the-movies movie
Maryam Touzani, director of 2019’s Adam and 2022’s The Blue Caftan, adds a third excellent feature to her filmography with Calle Málaga. | Dir: Maryam Touzani Coming to cinemas 23 April A lively, warm, often funny, never corny movie of an older woman rejecting eviction by thriving in her neighbourhood, it’s a perfect candidate for anyone looking to take their mum to the movies.
Young Sherlock charges into action, but feels uncomfortably familiar
When Sinners and One Battle After Another both raked it in at the box office last year, I started to wonder whether the tyranny of sequels, prequels, and franchises had finally started to loosen its grip on audiences. Is that why Prime Video’s Young Sherlock isn’t being advertised as a prequel to Guy Ritchie’s 2009 movie Sherlock Holmes, despite sharing the same look and tone, while also being developed, executive produced, and partially directed by Ritchie?
A brief history on the cursed films that plagued Oscar hopefuls
Maggie Gyllenhaal made a commendable transition to filmmaking with 2021’s The Lost Daughter. Getting her to direct a fresh new take on Mary Shelley’s Bride of Frankenstein, fully loaded to a stacked cast and a blockbuster budget, felt like an ascension everyone could get on board with. But I couldn’t figure out why they added an exclamation mark to The Bride! Then I watched the film and it all made sense. The Bride! has a lot on its mind and screams everything out. At everyone. In all directions.
Bridgerton season 4, part 2 is romantic escapism at war with itself
I have a few burning questions for Bridgerton’s Queen Charlotte (Golda Rosheuvel), if she’d deign to hold communion with someone so humble as I. Is Her Majesty never frustrated by how little credit she’s given for singlehandedly ending white supremacy through her marriage to George III? And, having realised that 19th-century society was more pliable than expected, did she never think to tackle a few of the other oppressions out there—any of that misogyny, homophobia or classism?
The new Scrubs is determined to pretend that it’s still 2007
When we crave nostalgia, it’s not really for the films, the songs, or the shows themselves, is it? It’s grief over the passage of time, the loss of the younger, happier, more innocent selves that we can now only view from the rearview mirror. It’s a bone-rooted desire to somehow, even if it’s an illusion, go back to that time. | 9 episodes Streaming from 26 February Yes, the prominence of “nostalgic” art is, in part, because familiarity is an easy way to lure audiences.
The Carpenter’s Son is an under-rated Nic Cage horror movie
The most recent WTF? production from the unstoppably prolific Nicolas Cage is a brooding, under-rated horror film that grapples with everyday questions around family and kinship. Such as: am I being a good parent? And: is my child the devil incarnate? | Dir: Lotfy Nathan This rather grim possibility is morosely mulled over throughout the film by a robe-clad, despair-drenched Cage, credited only as “The Carpenter.” But there’s a silver lining.
How to Get to Heaven from Belfast is a genre-bending delight
A ghost, or something close to it, appears before the heroines of How to Get to Heaven from Belfast. And with it, they’re faced with their greatest sin: the dark childhood secret that’s added a vignette of shame to every frame of their adult lives. Yet, before you know it, they’re out the door, scarpering off to the bouncing sounds of Five’s Everybody Get Up. Well, there goes that tension.
Every wine lover should be watching Drops of God
“Wine tasting” is not a phrase that conjures images of souped-up cloak-and-dagger adventures, with globetrotting plotlines, gasp-inducing developments and cliffhanger endings. And yet that’s exactly what Drops of God delivers: a sexy, twisty melodrama that launches a high-stakes, tournament-style narrative following the death of Alexandre Léger (Stanley Weber), the world’s foremost wine expert—who, of course, was French. And rather forward-thinking.
The 10 biggest British films arriving in 2026
Be sure to add these films to your watchlist, and we’ll let you know when they land. Bad Apples Britain’s public sector education crisis is cut open with a scalpel in this anxiety-inducing satirical film, starring Saoirse Ronan as an exasperated schoolteacher. Her desperate attempts to curb the bad behaviour of the troublemaker in her class lead to temporary rewards, incredible risk, and bold critiques themed around underfunded and underperforming schools.
Lord of the Flies gets prestige TV treatment, from the writer of Adolescence
Childhood innocence meets jungle savagery in this visually thrilling new take on Lord of the Flies. Stranded on an island, forced to survive on instinct and wiles, a bunch of privileged schoolboys gradually devolve into murderous mayhem. William Golding’s famous novel Lord of the Flies—which most of us had to read for school—was written in the 1950s and yet, in its latest screen adaptation, is as relevant as ever.
Is Darren Aronofsky’s AI-generated drama On This Day…1776 innovative, or high-end slop?
The immediate response to Darren Aronofsky’s new, AI-generated drama made me think of Cersei Lannister’s public flagellation in Game of Thrones.
The big lesson Hollywood won’t learn from Markiplier's Iron Lung
Two big movies opened in Australian and New Zealand cinemas at the end of January: Send Help, the great Sam Raimi’s first original horror movie since 2009’s Drag Me to Hell, and It Was Just an Accident, lauded auteur Jafar Panahi’s Palme d’Or-winning thriller freshly nominated for Best International Film and Best Original Screenplay at this year’s Oscars. Which one topped the AU and NZ box office over the weekend? Neither.
10 shows arriving in February 2026 that we're excited about
Make Feb fab, with these 10 diverse and enticing shows arriving on streaming platforms. Add the titles you’re keen to see to your Flicks watchlist, and get a handy notification when new episodes drop. 56 Days: Season 1 Streaming from 18 February Here’s something to steam up your February, full of meet-cutes and sensuality and more than one brutally destroyed corpse. Dove Cameron and Avan Jogia star as lovers Ciara and Oliver, who fall head over heels upon meeting in a supermarket.
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