You cant say Union Films don’t accommodate for everyone and this week just goes to show, we cover all bases. We begin the week with Moonrise Kingdom on Tuesday and it’s your classic Wes Anderson movie. Followed by Snow Flower and the Secret Fan on Wednesday as Phoenix’s world cinema screening. To top it all…
I shall save my full thoughts on the film Frankenweenie for my general review. This feature shall be devoted to a description of the press conference for the film and the behind the scenes animation masterclass presentation on the day of Frankenweenie’s Gala premiere at the BFI London Film Festival. After the press screening of…
Tim Burton’s return to stop motion animation is a terrific success. I am overjoyed to say that Frankenweenie is an endearing, beautifully made, genuinely intelligent little film that will charm both children and adults. It’s made with such love and care and dedication to detail, watching it is like falling into a wondrous and macabre,…
“A love story so impossible… it must be true” is the movie promo’s incredibly dreamy tagline which perhaps quite aptly describes the dream come true. From the directors of ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ comes ‘Ruby Sparks’, an off beat romantic comedy with a touch of fantasy. Calvin’s a one time best selling novelist who’s suffering from…
Pusher started life as a Danish thriller directed by Nicholas Winding Refn. It then became a trilogy, was remade in Britain in 2010 as a Hindi language movie, and has now been remade once again, this time in English. It’s directed by Spanish filmmaker Luis Prieto, and relocates the drug-dealing and violent confrontations to the…
I wouldn’t be a good companion for a Kerouac-esque road trip. Instead of enjoying the promiscuity, the late-40s drugs scene, the fast driving, the extreme weather and the various other delights that came across our path, I would be forever finding fault with everything. Sex?! With EVERYONE?! Are you mad?? Do you want to get…
2008’s Taken wasn’t very good. It was enjoyable on an isn’t-this-shit-but-who-cares level, but it was poorly written and the plot would collapse under any degree of scrutiny. The sequel is worse. Whereas Taken was mildly enjoyable, Taken 2 is irritating, preposterous and the script sounds as if it’s been written by a bunch of twelve…
This week at Union Films the focus is on action, and lots of it!
Arnold Schwarzenegger kicking ass on Mars and a three-boobed hooker is the kind of unashamed fun that has helped Paul Verhoeven’s original Total Recall, released in 1990, become a cult favourite of sorts. Now comes the inevitable remake which attempts to be more grounded by keeping events on Earth. But will it prove to be as crazily entertaining as the…
Occasionally a film aimed at and about teenagers comes along that doesn’t feel sentimental, patronising and clichéd. 2010’s Easy A was a good example. This film, directed by Stephen Chbosky and adapted from his own novel, is a more serious work but it also fits into this rare category. It is a wonderful, feel-good film.…
With the world avenged and the city of Gotham saved, the money focused summer blockbuster season has come to an end. What follows is a chance for award seekers, Indie flicks and burgeoning directors to make a name for themselves during the fall period. These characteristics are something that the sci-fi neo-noir Looper has in…
Andrew Dominick is an impressive filmmaker. His debut film Chopper punched its way onto the film world’s radar with its sheer brutal brilliance and put Dominick on the map as a major talent to watch. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford saw him in charge of a major, sprawling Hollywood-funded crime…
After a foray into the world of the action thriller with 2011’s Hanna, director Joe Wright has returned to the costume drama. He made his name with the Award-magnets Pride & Prejudice and Atonement – lush British films that both starred that Marmite of the acting world, Ms Keira Knightley. I am a Keira fan,…
Disney and Pixar have set the bar so high with their animated offerings, it’s hard to be very enthusiastic about a film that is just good, rather than extraordinary, but I shall try my best. This is a sweet little picture set in glorious Scotland about a young Princess who doesn’t want to be forced…