AdvertisementJake Wilson, Sandra Hall and Karl QuinnSeptember 3, 2026 — 3:22pm
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By Any Means ★★½Fall 2: Deadpoint ★★★Silenced ★★★★Maigret and the Dead Lover ★★★½
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(MA) 107 minutes
We all know the story about the black guy and the white guy who learn to get along, a durable formula that comes in a range of flavours.
It can be played for sentimental uplift, as in the Oscar-winning Green Book. But there are also the jokier, more amoral variants, such as The Hitman’s Bodyguard, with Ryan Reynolds as the bodyguard and Samuel L. Jackson as the hitman who persuades his buddy to loosen up.
Imagine those two approaches fused, and you’re in the neighbourhood of By Any Means, a luridly violent crime thriller backed by the company behind the John Wick films and directed in comic-book style by Elegance Bratton (whose one previous feature, The Inspection, was an autobiographical study of homophobia in the Marines).
(M) 97 minutes
Years ago, I shared a ride in a hot-air balloon with a man who spent the entire trip cowering beneath the rim of the wicker basket, clearly having the most miserable time imaginable.
Why did you come along, I asked him. “Because I’m afraid of heights,” he squeezed out between whimpers. “And I thought this might help me get over it.”
Judging by the squeal he let out as we crash-landed in a paddock, I don’t think it worked. But it’s a strategy that the makers of the adrenaline-pumping sequel Fall 2: Deadpoint have clearly taken to heart.
(M) 97 minutes
Sometimes a snatch of overheard conversation can conjure up the threat of violence more forcefully than any story in the media.
The thought struck me recently when I walked by a youngish man in the street who was bellowing into his phone at the woman on the other end of the line. He called her a stupid cow who’d been told “10,000 times” about the place where they were planning to meet. And 15 minutes later, I passed him again, still yelling abuse, volume undiminished.
The Australian human rights lawyer, Jennifer Robinson, found the inspiration for her career defending survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence in conversations with her grandmother who spent years working in women’s refuges and in her retirement, still agonised over the number of women at risk.
(PG) 80 minutes
Fictional detectives are expected to be eccentric – but not Inspector Jules Maigret, the tireless hero of no less than 75 novels by the equally hard-working Belgian crime writer Georges Simenon.
As originally conceived, Maigret stands out only in his normality: a respectable middle-aged fellow who smokes a pipe, appreciates his wife’s home cooking and knows Paris like the back of his hand. His genius lies in his very ordinariness, equipping him to confront the mystery of human behaviour in all its curious variety.
The Maigret books have been adapted many times for film and TV, and the character has stayed popular into the 21st century, when he’s been played by actors ranging from Gérard Depardieu to Rowan Atkinson.
If you’re heading to the cinema or just your couch, our reviewers have you covered with the new releases you need to know about each week.
And don’t forget to sign up to our Screening Room newsletter for must-see movies, interviews and the latest news from the world of film. Popcorn not included!
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