Victoria is the latest European indie film to have critics raving. It has the added bonus of an intriguing – aka gimmicky – production: the entire film takes place in one shot. If nothing else, you have to admire an ...
Read More »Ready Player One: Going outside is highly overrated
This novel, Ernest Cline’s bestselling debut, is a strange one. Obviously pitched at fellow geeks, the narrative makes reference to every imaginable cult property – video games, films, music, comics, books, and celebrities. While, for the most part, the book ...
Read More »10 Cloverfield Lane: I know what you’re doing. I see everything
Here’s an oddity. It is a semi-sequel to a popular independent kaiju found-footage film that started out life completely separate from the property to which it has later become attached. Frankly, you do not need to have seen Cloverfield to ...
Read More »Batman vs Superman: A train wreck from start to finish
This film had been through hell and back before it was even released. Trailers were released and the resounding opinion was ‘Booo! You suck!’ DC’s decision to have Zack Snyder helm the film after the disaster that was Man of ...
Read More »Eddie the Eagle: The important thing is not to win, but to take part
There’s no denying this film is trying to recapture the feel-good glory of Cool Runnings – the events it ‘depicts’ (in the loosest of terms, there’s much of the film that is invented or altered for dramatic reasons) even happened ...
Read More »High Rise: Looks like the rot’s set in
What an opulent life the future holds. The first tower of a new high rise complex in London offers state of the art elevators, in-built gym, pool and squash facilities, and includes a supermarket stocked with the biggest brands and ...
Read More »Anomalisa: Our time is limited, we forget that.
If Anomalisa is not in my top 5 films of the year by the conclusion of 2016, it will have been a damn good year. Put together over three years by indie auteur Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich, Eternal Sunshine…) ...
Read More »The Shannara Chronicles: Predictable tale of good vs. evil
We are seeing more and more science fiction and fantasy on both the big and slightly smaller screens these days. Finally studios have acknowledged the audience for genre work – but is that really such a good thing? The flood ...
Read More »The Assassin: The way of the sword is without compassion
Release me from your soporific claws, vile tedium beast! Cease your barrage of pointlessly lingering shots, clumsy exposition and perfunctory side characters. No! You won’t take me! You won’t make me fall asleep in this measly 105 minute run time, ...
Read More »Nostalgic Impulse: The Lost Weekend
Five shocking days in the life of an alcoholic While Wilder’s 1945 Oscar winner, The Lost Weekend, was not the first big-screen look at alcoholism, it was one of the earliest to take such an honest and unrelenting approach. Though ...
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