It is not uncommon to hear people moan that older actors, particularly women of a certain age, are not sufficiently provided for in terms of proper, leading roles in mainstream cinema. This complaint is not an unfair one. But The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, whilst not perfect, does try to right that wrong. It’s a…
The Blair Witch Project, Cloverfield, Paranormal Activity, Chronicle, The Devil Inside…there have been a lot of so-called ‘found footage’ movies. Studios like them – it means they can shoot or buy in a film without spending much cash, and then harvest in potentially phenomenal profits. Many of these films have been advertised to their target audiences (generally teenagers) via…
This ludicrous home-invasion thriller from Joel Schumacher failed miserably at the cinema. It isn’t hard to understand why. Although it stars A-listers Nicole Kidman and Nicholas Cage as a rich couple with a whiny teenage daughter, the film provides very little in terms of entertainment value. Some may get sadistic pleasure from watching two usually…
The moment the Risky Business-style retro pink credits appear above a glittering night-time Los Angeles pulsing with ‘80s-inspired synth-pop, you know this film is going to be stylised. Drive‘s music is of particular note: tracks such as ‘Night Call’ and ‘A Real Hero’, by Kavinsky and College respectively, provide a phenomenal soundtrack of moody electro-pop – seemingly…
This incredibly boring film, adapted from Owen Sheers’s novel, attempts to show us what life may have been like for Welsh citizens if the Nazis had successfully invaded Britain during the Second World War. Although far from an original set-up, the idea of life during the take-over of a country could have been used to…
I am not lacking in experience when it comes to sick movies. I’ve sat through some pretty nasty stuff; Hostel, the Saw films, Antichrist, Martyrs, a variety of extreme Asian torture movies – all the gore, trauma and pain has passed before my eyes either at the cinema or on the television. However, Sucker Punch has…
A workable version of the dramatic thriller, but does not reach the heights of the superb 2009 Swedish-language version.
After an arduous two decades, executive producer George Lucas and director Anthony Hemingway finally get to tell the heroic legend of the gallant and courageous Tuskegee Airmen’s gruelling struggle against the German Luftwaffe and the cruel institutional racism within the American military. Despite noble intentions, the film’s poignancy is plagued by predictability as clichés, one-dimensional…
Although snubbed in the Oscar nominations, Leonardo DiCaprio’s performance as the controversial FBI head J. Edgar Hoover is nothing short of magnificent. The film, directed by Clint Eastwood, is sadly a patchy and often turgid recount of the successes and failings of much-hated but revered man who spent over 40 years trying to keep America…
Pathetic new teen-movie Project X is released by Warner Bros. Pictures this week. The film shows a bunch of guys throwing a massive house party in the hope to increase their popularity at school. The party descends into violence, destruction and street rioting. All this is immensely cool, apparently. In my review (which you can find…
The trailer wrongly presented The Descendants as a quirky commercial for Hawaii featuring George Clooney. Alexander Payne’s film is in fact much more hard hitting and compelling as it explores themes of loss, family and adultery. I’m not going to lie; the breath-taking Hawaiian backdrop did leave me desperately wanting to pack my suitcase and…
Anyone who’s seen Joss Whedon’s cult space western hit Firefly ought to know the appeal of a story about a group of bounty hunters travelling all over the universe, finding paying contracts that lead to all sorts of intriguing escapades, all so they can earn enough to get food on the table. When one follows…
If you ask any of my friends and family, they will tell you how unbearable I am on the day of the Academy Awards. I love the celebration of cinema and stay up until 5am every year to watch the star-studded ceremony. I struggled to stay awake during my lectures on Monday, but it was…
Novelist Julia Leigh’s directorial debut is a strange and uncomfortable drama that is both beautiful and ugly at the same time. Some have taken offence to its subject matter, whereas others (such as the Daily Mail’s critic Chris Tookey) have criticised it for its slow meandering narrative. Tookey described it as ‘very, very, very boring’.…