Disability is a tricky subject to tackle in any regard, even more so in the realms of fiction. The long-running cliché of abled-actors-taking-on-disabled-roles-almost-guaranteed-industry-award-winners is a cliché for a reason, epitomising the still-recurring treatment of those with a disability in the popular consciousness.

For the longest time, characters with disability populated middle-of-the-road weepies that, rather than try and speak truth to the experience and what it’s like to live within it, exist primarily to give abled audiences an open chance for cheap ‘inspiration’, a moment to reconsider their own lives through the most voyeuristic lens there is.

There will always be some that break away from the pack, though. Mary And Max would be one. Last year’s Kairos is another. And this film joins that shortlist.

Written around the filmmakers’ own relationship with budding actor Zack Gottsagen, The Peanut Butter Falcon is as much southern-fried contemplation as it is reworking of classic American fiction. Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz’ script plays around with age-old Mark Twainian tropes, making for a remarkable recontextualisation.

Gottsagen’s aspiring wrestler captures the pure innocence of Huck, while Shia LaBeouf takes time away from multimedia plagiarism and existence as a living meme to give a surprisingly strong performance as a loner fisherman, whose quick-thinking echoes Tom Sawyer’s street-smarts.

And along with adept performances from Bruce Dern, Thomas Haden Church and even rapper Yelawolf in the supporting cast, the main trio is closed out with Dakota Johnson as Zack’s carer, the Widow Douglas of the story, whose concern comes not from piety but from being part of the abled consensus.

Of course, this being one-to-one allegory would’ve been too easy, and the film’s reworking of the classic tale of vagabonds and their friction against what can charitably be called ‘civilization’, shows incredibly clarity. It takes the original themes of struggling to fit in with society and refocuses it through Gottsagen and LaBeouf characters, showing how the lives of the disabled and the wage slaves represent a sizeable amount of modern-day alienation.

In LaBeouf’s Tyler, the struggle to work and live can be sabotaged by those who think a shared suffering is reason enough to continue inflicting it on others, as shown through John Hawkes’ Duncan. And in Zack, it’s how even the most well-meaning of people can still be part of the same system that demeans and ultimate infantilises the disabled.

Dakota Johnson’s Eleanor may refrain from using the word ‘retard’, but that doesn’t make her any less guilty of holding Zack back as much as those who use it in earnest, an unfortunately common notion that rarely gets brought up in the larger conversation.

It’s a parable on the outsider, with a lot of healthy rumination of disability in the mix, but like the best efforts, it doesn’t make a big show of ‘daring to talk about it’. The Peanut Butter Falcon appeals for empathy and the humanity that exists in all, regardless of health, wealth or racial label, and rather than just telling everyone it’s doing so, it makes a greater impact by showing it.

A group of errant youths drinking and carousing at a remote campground are stalked by a malevolent evil, and have to fight for their lives. No, this is not a reboot of Friday The 13^th, or indeed of any of the kill-scene-check-list films that staggered around in its bloody, frivolous wake. This is Ashburn Waters, an Aussie take on the slasher genre that skitters in on a tiny budget and lots of independent spirit. The debut feature of David Pether, it thankfully avoids most of the ugly pitfalls of its US counterparts, cutting the gleeful sadism and instead injecting a little mysticism and a taste of the supernatural into proceedings.

Still stinging after a nasty relationship breakup, Brett (Kyal Scott) is convinced by his buddy Binns (Andrew Lowe) to join up with their old high school crew for a camping trip over the Easter weekend. Unfortunately, Brett’s bitchy, cheating ex, Scout (Jade Prechelt), is also coming along, with a new boyfriend in tow. The considerably sweeter Cassie (Maia Rose Michaels) provides a more pleasant distraction, but when the bodies start to mount up, romance is quickly put on the backburner.

Unlike many, many other directors who have tackled the slasher genre, writer/director David Pether knows that you’ve got to care at least a little bit about who gets killed, and sensibly makes his characters a fairly likeable lot, with Kyal Scott and Maia Rose Michaels particularly appealing in the lead roles. The identity of the stalking killer is also a refreshing change from the usual psychosexual knife wielder, and gives Ashburn Waters a real sense of difference. While the budget occasionally hurts, and the tone is a little uncertain, this Aussie underdog boasts more than enough bite.

Ashburn Waters will screen on February 5 in Melbourne and will be followed by a Q&A with writer/director David Pether. For all venue and ticketing information, click here.

It has been seventeen years since Michael Bay’s Bad Boys II exploded onto screens in a shower of broken glass, ricocheting bullets and a cheerful disregard for human life. And while you’d be hard pressed to find many people to say it was a ‘good’ movie, it was iconic and deeply unusual in fascinating ways. Even if you didn’t like the movie, it was hard to deny its impact on mainstream action cinema, best epitomised by Edgar Wright’s charming love letter to the genre, Hot Fuzz (2007). Well, since it’s 2020 and no film franchise gets to stay dead for long, here comes Bad Boys for Life and it’s… about what you’d expect, really.

Bad Boys for Life reintroduces our ageing buddy cops, Mike Lowrey (Will Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence), with the latter becoming a grandfather in the opening minutes of the film. Marcus reckons this is a sign that the bad boys should slow down, but Mike is sticking with the mantra “we ride together, we die together”. He almost gets the chance to do so, after being gunned down by the mysterious Armando Armas Tapia (Jacob Scipio) at the behest of his bad arse mum, Isabel (Kate del Castillo). A few bullets can’t keep Mike down for long, so he needs to recover, get Marcus back on board and defeat this new threat that seems somehow familiar…

The biggest change from the usual Bad Boys formula is the lack of Michael Bay as director (although he does have a moderately amusing cameo). This time Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah take the helm and the result feels very in keeping with action movies in 2020. The script by Chris Bremner, Peter Craig and Joe Carnahan also ticks a lot of modern action movie boxes: ageing protagonists, earnest monologues about the importance of family, extremely predictable plot twists and a bunch of disparate narrative threads that are clearly setting up potential future sequels and/or spin-off movies.

Will Smith is, as always, a charming and likable presence and his natural chemistry with Martin Lawrence (who is really trying hard here, bless his heart) is the highlight of the film. Less successful are the new mother and son villain team, whose motivations and behaviour are frequently baffling, and the movie somehow contains a worse one-liner than “you forgot your boarding pass” from the original Bad Boys (1995). The action, while certainly more coherent than pretty much anything Michael Bay has ever done, is also pretty lacklustre and devoid of inspiration. Which, honestly, is a statement that could be applied to the entire exercise.

Bad Boys for Life is a film no one was really asking for, but if you’re able to get over that hurdle, you might enjoy the cheerful camaraderie of the leads and the consistently adequate action scenes. If, however, you’d rather not sit through yet another attempt to reanimate an old franchise for future exploitation, you’re better off riding and dying somewhere else entirely.

The revelation that Fox News had covered-up a culture of predatory behaviour resulted in the right-wing broadcast juggernaut becoming the 6 o’clock news headline.

With the explosive drama Bombshell, director Jay Roach (a long way from his Austin Powers roots) turns his attention to championing the women responsible for bringing down Roger Ailes (John Lithgow); the former CEO of Fox News who was fired for sexual misconduct.

The 2016 Presidential Campaign would prove career-defining for Fox News journalist Megyn Kelly (Charlize Theron) – perhaps just not in the way the lawyer-turned-political-pundit would have liked for it to have been.

Contentious dealings with then soon-to-be-Republican-nominee-turned-President Donald Trump, would prove one of two battles endured by Kelly in her well-documented struggle with gender inequality.

Kelly’s relationship with Ailes, a man of great influence who commanded as much admiration as disgust, signifies the mistreatment experienced by women in the workforce. Ailes abuses his position of power to force female employees into compromising situations. The extent of this abuse was both manipulative and physical.

Legal proceedings against Ailes, led by the recently fired Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson (a soft-spoken but tough as nails Nicole Kidman), unearths the silent suffering of women employed at Fox News. Their mistreatment begging the question: how can a high-profile operation like Fox News, an organisation who at the time wore the moniker of being ‘fair and balanced’ like a second skin, could tolerate and protect toxic individuals like Ailes?

The crisscrossing of storylines, transposing from the hardships faced by Kelly with Trump and the women of Fox with Ailes, is handled with a considered touch by Roach. That said, Roach does not abstain from making political digs at the Republican party, with Bombshell hanging so sharply left that it begins to u-turn. The Trumbo director impeccably folds the various narrative strands into one another, with the ultimate effect that Bombshell’s slice of Fox News history is a microcosm for the world at large.

However comical and light the film attempts to be, as though to signify the relative ease whereby misconduct is shrugged off, Bombshell proves unflinching when portraying the traumatic experiences of harassment in the workplace. The horrifying effect coming into full bloom when Kayla, an ambitious recruit with dreams of becoming a news anchor (glowingly portrayed by Margot Robbie), encounters Ailes in arguably the year’s most confronting scene.

All cast members featured in Bombshell deliver outstanding performances, with Theron’s transformation into Kelly eerily perfect. The actor’s likeable portrayal of Kelly, allowing the audience to empathise with the troubling character, has not been without controversy. Roach undoubtedly refrains from depicting Kelly in a negative light; opting to humanise instead of demonise. By doing so, Roach keeps the focus on Kelly’s struggle, which in turn respectfully acknowledges the difficult process of speaking-up.

Roach stands amongst a new wave of reformed-comedy-directors-turned-satirists (hello Adam McKay; the script here is by The Big Short’s Charles Randolph) looking to use their engaging chops to inspire change. With Bombshell, Roach succeeds in delivering a powerful exploration of gender-politics that is bookended by dominant performances from Robbie and Theron.