Philip Adler explores the lates offering shown by Phoenix Films at the Union Films cinema at Southampton University, Monsieur Lazhar.
“Which is the greatest action movie ever?” Andrew Ovenden puts up an impassioned case for Die Hard.
Though not quite as accomplished as some of the legendary Studio Ghibli’s finest works, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind remains a triumph in animation that helped to put the studio and director Hayao Miyazaki on the map. Composer Joe Hisaishi provides a typically sweeping and masterful score complimenting the epic nature of the story…
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…
This is a very different film to the other Dracula title selected as part of the 100 Discs of Christmas last month. That one was made by Hammer. This, however, is a Universal horror film. In the 30s, Universal was a pioneer in the horror genre, making scares a legitimate mainstream form of entertainment. Their…
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…
Anonymous tells a ‘what if?’ story about Shakespeare. Apparently he didn’t write his plays. They were authored by the Earl of Oxford (Rhys Ifans), and Shakespeare (Rafe Spall) was actually a stupid promiscuous and gullible idiot who was paid to put his name to them. The plays and poems were then all proof-read and edited…
In my opinion, The Village is one of the most beautiful films of recent times. It was tragically misunderstood on its release, which earned it a reputation of being a disappointment and not scary enough. My advice to new viewers would be to treat it like a love story, not a horror movie. Bryce Dallas…
This week at Union Films the focus is on action, and lots of it!
This French triumph, originally titled Á la folie… pas du tout, was the director Laetitia Colombani’s first full-length endeavour. Audrey Tautou, best-known for her role in Amélie, plays the love-sick student Angélique. He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not is a highly original film that, on reflection, is a far-cry from a typical love story.…
New animated feature Frankenweenie hits cinema next week with The Edge ready to get behind the scenes.
Odds are, you’ll know who I mean when I say the name Peter Jackson. The behemoth that is The Lord of the Rings trilogy has ensured that the New Zealander will forever be remembered for his services to film, but that doesn’t mean he started off on such an epic scale. Long before he ventured to Middle-Earth,…
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…
John Patrick Shanley brings his award-winning stage show Doubt to the big screen with brilliant effect in this fine film adaptation. Meryl Streep is terrifically brittle in the role of nun Sister Aloysius, who accuses the school priest of sexually abusing an altar boy. But she hasn’t any proof to back up her accusation (apart from the uncertain musings…