Astronomers and scientists, not to mention science fiction writers, have often considered whether Mars can be colonised by human beings. The nearest planet to Earth, Mars has a thin atmosphere, desolate landscape and a higher radiation exposure yet still the allure of having a colony persists.
The renowned science journal, Nature, has devised an interactive game to see how terraforming Mars might work. The game is short, easy to do and consists of interactive multi-choice questions. Access to the game can be found at this hyperlink: nature.com -terriform mars game
The Rays and Shadows is set in the immediate period before and during World War II and is based on the true life story of newspaper publisher, Jean Luchaire and his daughter, Corinne, a French film actress. Luchaire supports peace between France and Germany and becomes a collaborator with the German occupying forces and a member of the Vichy Government until 1945.
The plot: Jean Luchaire (Jean Dujardin) is a failing newspaper publisher who co-sponsors a peace movement with Germany. He befriends Francophile German citizen, Otto Abetz who secures additional finance for Luchaire's newpaper from German Government sources. When WWII breaks out, Abetz is appointed as the Nazi German Ambassador to the Vichy Government and continues supporting Luchaire. Luchaire's daugher, Corrine (Nastya Golubeva) is a rising star in French cinema but as the war looms her opportunities decline due to a diagnosis of tuberculosis and she increasingly becomes dependent on German support for her career. Both she and her father benefit not only from the German occupation of France but from a range of black market opportunities, embassy parties and access to the Nazi administration. The film portrays the seduction of collaboration, power and privilege extensively. After the war, Jean Luchaire, was placed on trial by the French and executed. His daughter Corrine was found guilty of collaboration but deemed to have committed a lower level offence and she spent her final years under the sentence of indignite nationale before dying from tuberculosis in 1950.
Nastya Golubeva in TheRays and Shadows
The film is expertly photographed with capable actors however with a screening time of over three hours, the film is too long and would have benefitted from sharper editing. Too many scenes are ancillary to the story and neither essential nor useful. Described as a 'sweeping drama', film director and screenwriter Xavier Giannoli could have wielded the red pen on the script and editing room 'scissors' before release.
Run time: 199 minutes
Rating [/10]: 6 out of 10
Recommended for cinema viewing: No. Recommended for streaming or subscription service viewing
Best described as sweet but very slow, this film by Japanese screenwriter and film director Hirokazu Kore-eda falls within the sci-fi genre covering the very topical issue of AI and robotics in a very human context.
Plot: Set in the near future, couple Otone (Haruka Ayase) and her husband Kensuke (Daigo Yamamoto) are mourning their young son who has died in mysterious circumstances. Turning to an AI/Robotics company, REbirth, they are supplied with a state-of-the-art humanoid replicantion of their lost son, Kakeru (Rimu Kuwaki). Although initially the humanoid has limited communication, over time this interaction improves despite Kensuke's dismissive references to a 'Tamagotchi' or a 'Roomba'. The couple are astonished to discover that memories of their past life with their son are surfacing from the humanoid. Memories that it should not have.
Rimu Kuwaki in Sheep in the box
The film is very slow moving with long scenes containing little activity or dialogue. It's non violent film generally and has elements of sentimentality especially when the humanoid Kakeru links up with other humanoid and human orphan children to depart for a special forest to make a home for themselves. Acting and cinematography meets the professional standard in film-making and its a pleasurable viewing experience although the film is too long at 126 minutes.
The subject of child abuse and its' impact on a family is the central focus of Gentle Monster.
Plotline: Famous concert pianist, Lucy (Lea Sedoux), her husband Philip (Laurence Rupp) and their young son move to the countryside as Philip is suffering increasingly from burnout. They settle in a country house outside of Munich into a calmer life and all seems idyllic until one morning the police arrive and seize Philip's electronic equipment and remove him for questioning. As the film progresses, Lucy questions if she knows the man she married and moment by moment comes to the realisation that Philip is guilty of trafficking child pornography for money. Lucy seeks a way forward to protect her son and herself while Philip continues to try and save the marriage. She initially supports her husband but following his confession to her and mounting evidence including that photos of their own son had been used, it becomes clear to her that the only option is to leave.
The film is tastefully photographed and veers away from sensationalism with measured performances from the cast. The film does have some structural problems. The flashbacks used to portray images of the previous happy family life and Lucy's various concert performances are not seamless but rather muddled, distracting and seemingly dropped into the film. There are various substrata tensions with various characters alluding to other personal issues that appear unnecessary for the overall story itself.
Lea Seydoux superbly portrays a woman experiencing a range of emotions from shock, devastation, anger to optimism. Catherine Deneuve is cast as her emotionally distant mother who makes it plain that she never approved of her daughter's marriage but provides her with limited but useful support. Writer and film director Marie Kreutzer has created a powerful and morally complex film traversing a highly emotive topic.
It's difficult to find a high point aspect of this feature film other than it is just over an hour and half in duration. Viewers looking for a very funny comedy about couples relationships, sex parties, open marriages while avoiding the prodigious use of the "F"word will be disappointed by what appears on the screen.
The plot: The film is set in San Francisco in the apartment of Joe (Seth Rogan) and Angela (Olivia Wilde), best described as two tightly knit individuals with tension in their marriage. Angela invites their neighbours (Edward Norton and Penelope Cruz) from upstairs over for dinner. The neighbours are attractive, free spirited individuals who experiment with other relationships in their marriage. This makes for a tension filled evening as the couples dance around meanings and descriptions with each other.
The Invite
The scenes for the film are various rooms in the apartment where Joe and Angela live, giving rise to the impression that these performances would be better as a live stage theatre production rather than an on-camera effort. In summary, the film largely consists of Seth Rogan venting then subsiding like a volcano, Olivia Wilde trying different versions of wide incredulous eyes, Edward Norton perfecting smirking and Penelope Cruz simply trying to appear sublime and seductive around the chaos. It has the feel of an actor's workshop for experimenting with improvisation rather than a series of refined, sharp repartee responses.
Run time: 107 minutes
Rating [/10]: 5 out of 10
Recommended for cinema ticket: No. Wait for streaming or subscription services for viewing.
The Australian government has agreed to invest almost $53 million in a north Tasmanian company that will upgrade its coal-fired kiln to burn wood “waste” and used tyres for cement manufacturing.
The Federal Minister for Climate Change, Chris Bowen, says this initiative will help decarbonise the Australian economy.
However, the science is clear: burning forest biomass, or so-called forest “waste” – which could include dead trees, understorey vegetation and fallen logs – generates large amounts of carbon emissions. It will likely also accelerate poor forest health.
The empirical evidence shows burning forest biomass to make concrete is poor climate policy, poor environmental and forest policy, and a poor use of taxpayer funds.
Why is this happening?
In line with climate change treaty commitments under the Paris Agreement, governments worldwide are working to decarbonise their economies in an attempt to limit global warming.
This includes finding alternative sources of clean energy to using fossil fuel. This is especially important for carbon-intensive, high-polluting industries, such as concrete production. While about 56% of concrete emissions come from processing clinker (the base material for cement), 39% come from using fossil fuel to generate heat, and 14% from electricity.
Unfortunately, forest biomass is increasingly being promoted as an energy source to replace fossil fuels, for example in the United Kingdom and Europe. Most forest biomass used to generate energy will likely be trees. And what is often referred to as “waste” is actually a critical part of the structure and composition of natural forests. For example, understorey vegetation and logs provide habitat for a wide range of animal species. They play an essential role in nutrient cycling, such as storing substantialamounts of carbon.
Whilst forest biomass is technically a renewable resource, as trees can be regrown after logging, it is not a source of clean energy. This is because about half of tree biomass is carbon (assuming a moisture content of 45%). Therefore, burning a tonne of wood generates roughly a tonne of carbon dioxide emissions. Importantly, up to 30% of carbon dioxide emissions are still in the atmosphere after 1,000 years.
Concrete and its primary ingredient, cement, account for up to 8% of global carbon emissions. This is because high heat is required to turn limestone into ‘clinker’.chameleonseye/Getty
The time lag between release and absorption
Critically, there is a highly significant lag time, of decades to centuries, between carbon being instantaneously released from burning forest biomass and when it is removed from the atmosphere. These removals occur either by plant growth or through carbon making its way to the bottom of the ocean.
The lag time between burning forest biomass and tree regrowth is important because the increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations causes even more climate change. This is one of the key reasons why widespread burning of forest biomass in some European countries threatens their ability to meet Paris Agreement greenhouse gas reduction targets.
Furthermore, forest biomass has a far lower calorific content relative to coal. This means large quantities of forest material has to be burned to generate an equivalent amount of energy. This high demand for wood for biomass energy can contribute significantly to poor forest health.
Notably, Australia, along with many other governments, has committed to ending deforestation and degradation by 2030. This recognises the importance of forest carbon sequestration and storage in meeting climate targets and achieving the Paris Agreement goals.
Not an isolated example
The Tasmanian plan, that would see Cement Australia burn forest “waste” to generate energy, is far from an isolated case. There are well-developed plans for Verdant Earth Industries to reopen the former coal-fired Redbank Power Station in the Hunter Valley, in New South Wales, and generate energy by burning hundreds of thousands of tonnes of “wood waste” annually.
Much of this “waste” will likely be trees from forest and woodland regrowth, which are fundamental to the integrity of those ecosystems. This regrowth also provides habitat for a vast array of species, including a range of threatened species.
Biomass burning is frequently supported by native forest logging advocates because of structural issues in the industry. These issues include attempts to extract some financial return from an industry that is largely unprofitable. The native forest sector produces primarily low-value, high-volume commodities such as [woodchips and paper pulp], whereas plantation forest sector dominates high-value sawn wood products.
Similarly, state government forestry agencies have been unable to get market certification for wood products such as woodchips and pulpwood from bodies such as the Forest Stewardship Council. This is partly because the areas logged to produce wood products are often are home to a diverse range of plants and animals that may be threatened by logging.
Decarbonisation matters
We fully acknowledge the efforts being made to explore how emissions-intensive industries can be decarbonised, such as reducing the clinker content in cement.
However, Australian governments must stop using taxpayer money to subsidise projects that entail large-scale burning of forest and woodland biomass for industrial energy.
Alternative forms of energy, including concentrated solar power, will be important in this regard. Unlike forest biomass burning, these are both renewable and clean sources of energy.
The return to Germany in 1949 of Nobel Prize winning writer, Thomas Mann is the subject of this first rate directed, acted and photographed film by acclaimed Polish director Pawel Pawlikowski.
The Plot: Mann (Hanns Zischler) had left Germany in 1933 following Hitler's rise to power and his first visit to his homeland, since the end of WWII, accompanied by his daughter Erika (Sandra Huller), is to receive the Goethe Prize. Photographed in black and white, the film conveys the images of a Germany in ruins with shortages of most consumer items and limited public services. Welcomed warmly by the Mayor of Frankfurt, Mann must contend with threats labelling him as a 'traitor' and 'communist scum' from the wider community. In various social cocktail parties, Mann's former colleagues are at pains to mitigate or deny their cooperation with the former Nazi regime. He will have none of it. Mann also receives an invitation to visit Weimar in the Soviet occupation zone where he is also to receive another Goethe award. His road trip in his black Buick through the zones and finally to Weimar provides a contrast between the US and Soviet occupations. A personal family loss adds to the pressure of this trip.
Sandra Huller and Hanns Zischler in Fatherland
A film with a profound story of family, loss and guilt in a time of extreme turmoil.
Winner of the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival 2026
Winner of the Jury Prize at the Sydney Film Festival 2026
Best described as a complex, urgent and ultimately provocative film by the master Russian film director, Andrey Zvyagintsev, Minotaur confronts both personal crises and societal ones simultaneously. Set in Russia in 2022, the backdrop of the Russia-Ukraine war is an ever constant in this thriller.
Plotline: A successful businessman, Gleb (Dmitriy Mazurov) is living in an idyllic, expensive waterfront home with his wife Galina (Iris Lebedeva) and their young son. The usual stresses of life appear to the same as for most normal families. But these are not normal times. Gleb's staff are resigning and disappearing and he is under pressure to assist with filling recruitment quotas for the Russian Army. News reports show Russian citizens heading for the borders with other countries and Gleb finds he is facing another distraction as he fears his wife is having an affair. After hiring a private detective, his worst fears are confirmed and a suspect lover is identified. He now must face two challenges of trying to protect his staff from being drafted and dealing with his wife's lover. Fateful decisions are made to resolve both matters.
Dmitriy Mazurov in Minotaur
With well paced scenes, selected locations and meaningful dialogue matched with precision atmospheric cinematography, Minotaur is a taunt thriller.
