2020-11-08 15:24
While Mangrove kicked off Small Axe – Steve McQueen’s five-part series of films centred on London’s West Indian community – with a powerful look at Black people&rsquo&hell…Read More
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Film & TV Reviews, News & Musings
2020-10-29 15:39
It’s in a wind-battered 1840s Lyme Regis that we meet Kate Winslet’s Mary Anning. She plies her trade as a palaeontologist, recovering fossils on the shore of the Jurassic Coast… Read More
2020-10-28 15:55
Acclaimed director Pedro Almodóvar’s latest The Human Voice – a short but sharp film adaptation of the theatre production of the same name – hinges on its central pe… Read More
2020-10-24 17:30
Freewheeling slacker Kun (Zhou You) is the proud new owner of a smoking, broken-down mess of a Jeep, his spirit animal in vehicular form. Whilst the car is a direct representation of Kun as… Read More
2020-10-23 09:30
Regina King’s feature directorial debut is brimming with confidence, in its staging, in its script and above all else, in its powerful performances.
The four iconic figures of unmatche… Read More
2020-10-22 10:01
Cartoon Saloon’s celebration of Irish folklore is a visual stunner, gorgeously animated and popping with colour, its characters spilling from the restraints of their outlines. But it&r&hell…Read More
2020-10-19 17:00
Harry Macqueen directs Supernova with a gentle hand, putting performance first in this story of love and loss in the face of illness. And right he is to put faith in his actors, Colin Firth… Read More
2020-10-18 11:30
American Hustle meets Napoleon Dynamite.
Old Dolio (an unrecognisable Evan Rachel Wood) is born of grifters. Her parents named her after a lottery-winning homeless man with the hope of… Read More
2020-10-17 10:00
Quietly effective Aussie horror Relic’s messaging might not be the most subtle, but it at least operates with a lighter hand when it comes to its scares – rejecting cheap thrills… Read More
2020-10-16 09:30
Hunger to Shame, 12 Years a Slave to Widows. It’s the type of run most directors would dream of; Steve McQueen’s done it in his first four films. Clearly not one to rest on his l… Read More
2020-10-15 16:22
Mogul Mowgli’s hard-hitting, deeply personal exploration of identity, Pakistani culture and family leaves a lasting impression long after the credits roll, thanks in no small part to… Read More
2020-10-15 09:15
There’s said to be a form of psychosis brought on by spending time in Jerusalem – the aptly named Jerusalem Syndrome – with past visitors to the city supposedly having fall… Read More
2020-09-24 15:00
A whopping two years on from its original release date, The New Mutants has finally been belatedly let loose into the wild. With a stop-start production hit by Disney’s acquisition of… Read More
2020-08-31 10:33
Tenet is every bit as expansive, bombastic, polished and bewildering as you might expect of a new Christopher Nolan film. A blockbuster filmmaker who’s never shy of putting faith in hi… Read More
2020-08-06 14:02
A seemingly never-ending 142 days on from last being able to catch* a new release at the cinema** (my last being Pixar’s delightful Onward), the theatre-going experience is finally bac… Read More
2020-06-09 09:23
It was 1966, smack bang in the midst of the Silver Age of Comic Books, that the idea struck. With the popularity of superheroes old and new once more skyrocketing, the opportunity to capital… Read More
2020-04-17 09:56
Of the smattering of “Originals” to launch with Disney Plus, the Mouse House’s shiny new streaming service, it’s Lady and the Tramp which stands as its headliner in t… Read More
2020-03-12 16:30
We’ve seen how tricky it can be to successfully follow the Marvel model of cinematic world-building. Universal’s Dark Universe stumbled at attempt number one with The Mummy. Guy… Read More
2020-02-02 18:24
Hark! All herald the return of writer/director Robert Eggers, back with his long-overdue follow up to 2015’s The Witch, a film which The Lighthouse shares much of its DNA with.
J… Read More
2020-01-27 10:30
A delightfully Armando Iannucci-fied take on Charles Dickens’ classic novel, The Personal History of David Copperfield tackles 19th century England’s class system and societal st… Read More
2020-01-17 13:12
Titanic: Twelve-years as the highest-grossing film of all time. Winner of eleven Academy Awards. But most importantly, the proud owner of one of cinema’s most bizarre behind the scenes… Read More
2020-01-08 18:52
Obligatory countdown incoming…because I probably shouldn’t just list Endgame ten times.
2020 is in the house! A new year, new decade and a whole raft of upcoming films to… Read More
2019-12-19 16:46
The RIse of Skywalker is a whole lot of Star Wars for one movie. Packed to the rafters with both fist-pumping highs and confounding lows, it’s a messy, emotional, frustrating and exhil… Read More
2019-11-27 13:52
“Last Christmas I gave you my heart…”
***
What Last Christmas lacks in logic it makes up for in charm. And it’s Emilia Clarke and Henry Golding that lead said char… Read More
2019-10-24 14:12
System crasher: a foster child who has repeatedly broken every given rule until the system built to support them runs out of options. Until they become un-fosterable, too young to be put in… Read More
2019-10-17 09:54
Sprawling, ambitious, beautifully performed, edited and shot, The Irishman is a welcome return to the criminal underbelly of America for Martin Scorsese.
But this is no retread of his mobste… Read More
2019-10-04 11:00
We need to talk about The Punisher. No, not Jon Bernthal’s Netflix version. Nor Ray Stevenson’s take on the character in War Zone (2008). Not even Thomas Jane’s 2004 offeri… Read More
2019-09-22 17:39
Beep beep! Roll up for a return trip to Pennywise’s twisted funhouse. Mosey on in, he only bites a bit.
27 years on from his drubbing at the hands of The Losers’ Club, Bill Skar… Read More
2019-08-23 16:06
Quentin Tarantino’s ode to Hollywood’s past might just be his most eccentric offering to date.
The writer/director’s love for 1960s era Tinseltown is writ large throughout… Read More
2019-07-31 13:23
VelociPastor: the monster movie you never knew you needed in your life.
Written, edited and directed by cinematic maestro Brendan Steere, The VelociPastor places its tongue firmly in cheek f… Read More
2019-07-27 12:00
Disney’s steely insistence on remaking every single one of its animated properties has reached peak levels of ambition with The Lion King. “Live-action” this may market its… Read More
2019-07-22 10:00
“You’ve been shot five times for your country and you can’t even afford to send your kids to college.”
***
A stellar cast though there may be here, even the likes o… Read More
2019-07-21 12:55
“I was made to help a child, I don’t remember it being this hard.”
***
Toy Story 3 remains to this day the perfect film. It’s sweet, funny, utilises each and every… Read More
2019-07-12 09:30
“People… need to believe. And nowadays, they’ll believe anything.”
***
With the emotional impact of its climax still so fresh, it was never going to be the easiest… Read More
2019-06-06 15:41
Lacking the elegant simplicity of its 2014 predecessor and the all-out fun factor of Kong: Skull Island, King of the Monsters is a major misstep for the expanding MonsterVerse. Whilst we do… Read More
2019-05-30 15:33
“Should I talk about the fact that your childhood bed is a Pikachu bed?”
***
The coffee-guzzling sleuth. The femme fatale-light reporter. The neon-soaked shadowy streets. … Read More
2019-05-22 09:27
“All of this for what, because of a puppy?”
***
Keanu Reeves steps once more into the firing line as wanted man John Wick for the third outing of this increasingly bonkers and… Read More
2019-05-10 09:17
In a tearoom in Birmingham there lived a writer: J. R. R. Tolkien. This is his story. Sadly, it’s not one equal to those told in the books that made him his name; the one biopic to rul… Read More
2019-04-25 21:34
The culmination of the 11 year, 22 film Infinity Saga. It was worth the wait.
All of the things that directors the Russo brothers got so right in Infinity War, they double down on here. Onc… Read More
2019-04-11 16:18
“Who are you people?”
***
Jordan Peele’s wild follow up to Get Out contorts from quietly creeping tension builder to all-out bloodfest, bending expectations of its direct… Read More
2019-03-14 11:39
If Marvel were ever pondering how they could improve upon their wildly successful Cinematic Universe, then I have them covered. Because everything is improved by cats.
The MCU has been gr… Read More
2019-03-11 10:50
There’s a point in Captain Marvel where our titular hero is told by a male biker to crack a smile. A suggestion which she swiftly treats with the contempt it deserves: a hard stare and… Read More
2019-02-25 10:00
Over the course of the six prior entries in this series I’ve looked to discover the core factors behind the films of Mexico’s most recent new wave, the Buena Onda to find how Mex… Read More
2019-02-24 14:00
Looking back on this Mexican Cinema Series, we’ve seen how Mexico’s national identity and cultural history was central in shaping the twenty-first century Mexican new wave (Buena… Read More
2019-02-22 14:00
What does identity mean, and what makes the concept of identity so important to Mexican culture? Throughout this post, I’ll be looking at the ways in which Mexico and Mexicans have bee… Read More
2019-02-20 14:00
The turn of the century new wave of Mexican cinema – the Buena Onda – followed in the footsteps of past heralded eras for the nation’s film industry.
From the mid-&rsqu&hell…Read More
2019-02-18 14:00
Over the course of 2000 and 2001 Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu, Guillermo Del Toro and Alfonso Cuarón released Amores Perros, The Devil’s Backbone and Y Tu Mam&aacut&hell…Read More
2019-02-15 14:00
In looking at how modern Mexican cinema has been shaped it’s important to track back through the nation’s political, cultural and filmic history. In doing so we can see how Mexic… Read More
2019-01-27 16:56
At the turn of the twenty-first century, Mexican cinema entered into a period of incredible success. A new wave, later to be dubbed the “Buena Onda”. A wealth of talented filmmak… Read More
2019-01-24 13:00
“You are a vicious snowflake.”
***
I find it difficult to write off Mandy, despite my many reservations on the film. Jóhann Jóhannsson’s ’80s inspired… Read More
2019-01-22 11:05
“I’m just waiting for the right moment.”
***
Swinging wildly from sickly sweet to outright miserable, Life Itself is a tonal mishmash of interconnected stories. It peaks… Read More
2019-01-20 13:00
“My father was a lighthouse keeper. My mother was a queen. They were never meant to meet. But their love saved the world. They made me what I am: a son of the land, a king of the seas… Read More
2019-01-18 12:00
“We are alone. No matter what they tell you, we women are always alone.”
***
Above all, Roma is a beautiful film. Writer/director Alfonso Cuarón steps up his laudable vis… Read More
2019-01-16 11:30
“So, perhaps we’ve learned when day is done, some stuff and nonsense could be fun!”
***
Mary Poppins Returns is a warm hug of a movie; comfortable, familiar and hopeful, i… Read More
2019-01-14 11:00
“Bumblebee, our war rages on. You must protect Earth, and its people.”
***
Don’t sleep on Bumblebee. Yes, it’s a Transformers movie, with all of the expected giant r… Read More
2018-12-19 18:50
2018, the year that Thanos snapped his fingers, decimated half of the universe’s population and yet somehow still left enough people to make Venom one of the year’s highest gross… Read More
2018-12-17 10:15
Into the Spider-Verse is a dizzying cocktail of vibrant colour, creative energy, action and humour. It takes the most frequently retold of origin stories and retells it in a way th… Read More
2018-12-09 11:00
Entrenched in the series’ past though Creed II may be, it ultimately stands on its own as an effective passing of the torch from Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky Balboa to Mi… Read More
2018-11-24 11:00
Just to preface this, I’ll note that Harry Potter is well and truly my jam. I was there buying the books at midnight. I lapped up each and every one of the movie adaptations. I’v… Read More
2018-11-21 13:23
“No-one thinks we have the balls to pull this off.”
***
Widows is a heist movie as far removed from the likes of Ocean’s 8 as you can get; no glitz, all dark criminal und… Read More
2018-11-20 09:30
“I’m done with running and I’m sick of hiding.”
***
Though Outlaw King tries to distance itself from 1995’s Braveheart, it’s near impossible to watch thi… Read More
2018-11-01 17:09
“I think you might be a songwriter. And don’t worry, I won’t tell anybody. But I’m not very good at keeping secrets.”
***
Funny, sweet, heartbreaking and trag… Read More
2018-10-25 15:53
Director Damien Chazelle made a name for himself with his intense breakthrough film, Whiplash. He raked in the plaudits with his dazzling follow up, La La Land. And with the beautiful First… Read More
2018-10-14 11:25
“Why did you try to kill me?”
***
Ari Aster’s feature-length directorial debut is one of the most unsettling film experiences I can recall enduring. Layered with haunting… Read More
2018-10-12 09:00
If there’s one thing that Eli Roth, director of The House with a Clock in Its Walls, is known for it’s gruesome horror. He sliced ankles in Hostel and peeled skin… Read More
2018-10-11 10:33
Reports of Venom being worse than the likes of Catwoman and Fantastic Four (2015) are wildly inaccurate. A raging disaster this is not.
The critical hit squads have been out for Sony’s… Read More
2018-10-03 12:05
Once a popcorn movie franchise, always a popcorn movie franchise.
There’s zero attempt at hiding this fact with the fourth instalment in the Predator series (excluding AvP and its… Read More
2018-09-28 10:00
“You know what we need to do? We need to build a team. We need ’em tough, morally flexible, and young enough so they can carry this franchise 10-12 years.”
***
Deadpool 2… Read More
2018-09-27 09:00
“You can’t lose something you never had.”
***
A Matthew McConaughey film so far pre-McConaissance, and so deep into his romantic comedy phase that it will make you all th… Read More
2018-09-26 12:02
“You invade my privacy, it’s nothing. I try to get it back, it’s a crime.”
***
Anon has the makings of an intriguing set up; a near-future where technology has strip… Read More
2018-08-31 17:08
Is Michael Shannon’s Curtis the ultimate doomsday prepper, and with good reason to be? Or is he suffering from paranoid schizophrenia as his mother did before him? Do his stormy vision… Read More
2018-08-26 10:03
“I killed someone! I killed someone!”
***
The cinematic landscape is awash with spy movie satire. The Spy Who Dumped Me is like the friend who’s turned up late to the… Read More
2018-08-22 14:00
“Let me ask you, when you look at me, what is it that you see? Do you see a creature that’s barely alive? Or do you see a man that’s escaped the confines of the hospital wa… Read More
2018-08-19 09:41
“May the rest of our lives be the best of our lives.”
***
Like a big slab of stilton, Mamma Mia! is unbelievably cheesy, but actually quite pleasant. This largely boils down to… Read More
2018-08-08 15:26
The original Ant-Man (2015) came as a moderate missed opportunity, not only in terms of box office earnings, where it stands at the lower end of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU)… Read More
2018-08-01 10:00
In the 2013 game that lends itself to this latest adaptation of Tomb Raider, Lara Croft embarks on a courageous journey of self-discovery and endurance on the mysterious ancient island of Ya… Read More
2018-07-29 09:00
“It’s okay, no sharks come here”
***
The warning signs are there from the off that we’re heading into rough waters with this one; odd stylistic choices, clunky dial… Read More
2018-07-26 17:44
Six movies in and Mission: Impossible is still showing no signs of slowing down. It’s the gift the keeps on giving.
The formula’s well established by now. High stakes espio… Read More
2018-07-10 08:00
“When this thing’s over, I’m going to rip your throat out like Patrick Swayze in Road House.”
***
Central Intelligence opens with a de-aged version of Dwayne Johnso… Read More
2018-07-04 15:58
“Can you charade it to me?”
***
Game Night: The film in which Jesse Plemons manages to exceed the already impressively high standards of creepiness he set with his roles… Read More
2018-06-28 08:46
The Ocean’s franchise is belatedly back from the brink with a new director and a whole new, all-female cast. And with the benefit of being 11 years removed from the most recent previou… Read More
2018-06-14 08:52
Out with the old, in with the…old?
Fallen Kingdom splits itself 30/70 between the beloved, colourful tropical home of Jurassic Park and Jurassic World’s genetically enginee… Read More
2018-05-17 09:44
*Beware all ye who enter…spoilers are afoot!*
There’s much to unpack when it comes to Infinity War. So much, in fact, that it practically necessitates repeat viewings. Because t… Read More
2018-04-19 14:51
For Guillermo del Toro, it was what lay beneath the bed, behind the curtain, or in the darkness that made him tick as a child and that inspires him creatively as a writer and director t… Read More
2018-04-12 10:20
“What if I make a documentary? And this is where you come in.”
***
A tiresomely relentless onslaught of weirdness from start to finish, Creep 2 falls short of making any improv… Read More
2018-03-19 09:00
“Lady Bird, is that your given name?”
***
On paper, Lady Bird could easily be underestimated purely as a coming of age story. Something which would no doubt be doing it a sever… Read More
2018-03-15 10:00
The Shape of Water is an impossibly beautiful exploration of love, friendship and humanity; part drama, part heist movie, part thriller, all fantasy, expertly crafted in the way that only di… Read More
2018-03-09 15:23
Guts, glory, revenge and dishonour; so is life in the gritty underworld of Naples in Gomorrah.
The third season of the outstanding Italian crime drama series Gomorrah opens in a strange… Read More
2018-02-22 11:41
Black Panther is a sprawling, often beautiful, globe-hopping, worldbuilding comic book movie that forges a real sense of place, and more importantly, of culture. It’s being hailed… Read More
2018-02-12 10:00
“In the First Amendment the Founding Fathers gave the free press the protection it must have to fulfill its essential role in our democracy. The press was to serve the governed, not th… Read More
2018-02-11 19:53
“Still no arrests. How come I wonder? ‘Cause there ain’t no God and the whole world’s empty, and it doesn’t matter what we do to each other? I hope not.”… Read More
2018-01-19 16:12
On January 22nd, 2008, acclaimed actor Heath Ledger died at just 28 years of age. 28 years he lived at double-speed, rising to Hollywood fame, pushing himself artistically and starting a fam… Read More
2018-01-17 14:42
Pixar’s Up opens with a beautiful and heartbreaking montage of life, love, loss and regret for the time slipped by. Coco opens with an elegant montage all of its own, setting… Read More
2018-01-04 12:49
“Deal with her.”
***
An assured and stylish directorial debut from acclaimed writer Aaron Sorkin, whose script is brimming with the class, wit and pacey dialogue that is t… Read More
2018-01-03 15:42
“Only a Bright can control the Power of the Wand”
Directed by: David Ayer
Starring: Will Smith, Joel Edgerton, Noomi Rapace
Synopsis: Human cop Ward (Will Smith) and his Orc pa… Read More
2017-12-17 23:32
Farewell 2017, and thank you for the movies!
It’s that time of year where we look back on the past twelve months and note how they’ve just flown by. It feels almost a lifetime ag… Read More
2017-12-14 11:57
Breathe. Just…breathe. And prepare for the most unexpected Star Wars film yet.
The Last Jedi chooses to take the paths less travelled. For those who bemoaned The Force Awakens’… Read More
2017-12-01 10:00
“Say hello to a super piglet. This beautiful and special little creature was miraculously discovered on one Chilean farm. We brought this precious girl to the Mirando Ranch in Arizona… Read More
2017-11-30 13:47
“Paddington wouldn’t hesitate if any of us needed help! He looks for the good in all of us.”
Directed by: Paul King
Starring: Ben Whishaw, Hugh Bonneville, Sall… Read More
2017-11-29 17:31
From the off the DC Extended Universe has been rushed. So I suppose it’s only fitting that the climax of its first ‘phase’ should be too.
No more so than with Batman/B… Read More
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