Film

Our delving into awards-bait continues. There are particular features in a film that uniformly appeal to academy voters. Does the film tackle a timely issue? Is there a lot of shameless ethical grandstanding? Was it directed by Steven Spielberg? Does ...

Ah, awards season. I know that stench anywhere. It is now the time of the year where the preliminary awards ceremonies are kicking off. These will firm up the frontrunners for the major ceremonies in February. Because the members of ...

I am sucker for a good western. Something slow-paced that can move easily between quiet moments of reflection and outbursts of searing brutality. The frontier is also a rich setting for conflict. Hostiles could have drifted into dangerously old-fashioned territory ...

This is the film that they cut Kevin Spacey out of. Following the numerous allegations of sexual assault levelled against the actor, Spacey’s scenes were excised from the film. Recasting Christopher Plummer in the role of oil tycoon J. Paul ...

Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri is a comedy addressing some bleak subject matter. Writer-director Martin McDonagh has a track record in this regard – he is responsible for dark comedies In Bruges and Seven Psychopaths – but in some ...

What did you do this Christmas? I binge-watched Ryan Murphy’s (of American Horror Story and Scream Queens fame) latest anthology series, Feud. The first series features the infamous Hollywood feud between Joan Crawford and Bette Davis, picking up on the narrative for the development of ...

Bright, the Netflix original film by director David Ayer (who really isn’t having the best year), has been dubbed the worst film of 2017. I think that’s unfair. True, Bright is not a particularly good film but I’ve seen far worse. I ...

Best of 2017 I have come to reject the idea that we have good and bad years in cinema. That view is usually cultivated amongst those who only follow the outcomes of the major awards ceremonies with their rather unadventurous ...

I’m a critic. It’s become something of a bad word. I’m a critic of stories: spanning many types of storytelling mediums – film, TV, books, comics… I love stories. I know stories – I’ve studied them extensively. I know what ...

I did not like this film. That may surprise some who have seen only the effusive gushing of the broader critical community. It will not surprise anyone who remembers my opinion of The Force Awakens. Or how Rogue One left ...