Heaven Can Wait is a totally charming piece of work, a film that successfully mixes tones, filled with self-reflection, playful screwball comedy, sly social commentary, with a romance that is both emotionally affecting and rewarding on a narrative level, and a bit of light suspense added in to keep you slightly on edge. C o-directed…
Sing focuses on the character of Buster Moon (Matthew McConaughey) a koala who grew up with a passion for theatre and dreamed of one day putting on his own hit show. After years of trying and failing, Buster is slowly losing customers, losing interest and losing his theatre. One last gasp attempt of salvation has…
The Big Short is currently available as a Netflix streaming option and I find myself watching it in bits and pieces on a nearly weekly basis. It’s absolutely fantastic. With stunning clarity considering the density of the material and the tendency for excessive jargon, Adam McKay’s phenomenally entertaining dramatization of the 2008 financial collapse…
A tightly wound psychological thriller that projects a dark, creepy atmosphere that reflects our protagonists mind-set. Set in present-day Hollywood, this film examines the fine line between nurturing a dream and fueling an obsession—and what happens when you cross it. After years of futile struggle on L.A.’s grueling audition circuit, would-be actress Priscilla Anders is…
Nerve starring Dave Franco and Emma Roberts revolves around a video game where people have the choice to be either watchers or players. Watchers get the joy of seeing the players do wild and ludicrous tasks to gain fans and money, at the same time the watchers also vote on what tasks the players should perform….
Allied is an old-school entertainment made with new-school aesthetics, a film that feels refreshingly out of step from the constant demands of the studios: a star-driven, non-franchise, and thoroughly polished piece of filmmaking for adults that carries the express purpose of providing a good night out at the movies. Directed by Robert Zemeckis (one of…
I have to confess, it has been so many years until I last went to the theatre. The first show that I ever saw was Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at the Manchester Palace Theatre. It’s a far distant memory as I only recall one thing that happened during the entire show; I think there was…
Courtney Hunt’s quietly electrifying debut Frozen River was everything cinema should be – thought provoking, risk-taking, strange and new, and extremely powerful. So why has it taken Hunt nearly a decade to get a second feature up on movie screens? Anchored by Melissa Leo’s Oscar nominated and totally blistering performance as a woman nearing her…
From the startling and engrossing opening Steadicam shot all the way until the absolutely perfect final image, writer/director Barry Jenkins rafts a narrative, from an original story by Tarell Alvin McCraney, which feels personal, honest, tragic, and uniquely uplifting. This film has been rapturously received by critics, and rightfully so, as it’s an important piece…
Elstree 1976 tracks down some minor actors who appeared in the original ‘Star Wars’ movie, from Darth Vader to tiny background roles, filling in their life stories both before and after their close encounter with George Lucas and his multi-billion-dollar blockbuster franchise. This unique and affectionate documentary will be available in the UK & Ireland to rent and buy on Colony. …
Arrival is cinema I crave – a thought provoking, somber yet stylish, and thoroughly cerebral piece of storytelling within one of my favorite milieus, and produced independently of the major studios, thus feeling resolutely unconcerned with satisfying endless rounds of notes and enduring creative compromises that could have potentially sabotaged the crux of the piece…
The final line of dialogue in Swiss Army Man sums up the entire viewing experience: “What the f**k?” This is one of the most visually inventive and thematically odd films I’ve seen in years, and despite the concluding 15 minutes not truly working for me, the previous 75 minutes are pure stony bliss. I’ve also…
Walter Hill is one of the manliest directors of my lifetime, or any lifetime. He’s made a career out of telling tales of gunslingers, cops, criminals, and loners, and I instinctively respond to his particular brand of tough guy cinema. Southern Comfort is one of my favorite efforts from Hill, a totally nasty and rather…
Training Day continues to be one of my favorite modern cop films. It smartly balanced entertainment value, social commentary, and genre expectations, with David Ayer’s superb script feeding into director Antoine Fuqua’s muscular visual style, aided by polished yet gritty camerawork from Mauro Fiore, and razor sharp editing courtesy of Conrad Buff. Denzel Washington delivered…
Note: The cut I watched was a pre premiere work in progress cut “press preview” The Girls Were Doing Nothing is a study of our difficulty to accept the conflicting nature of love and the human soul – our basic needs for stability, comfort and routine which clash with equality strong desires for novelty, variety…
A Bigger Splash is one of those films where the primary interest is in exploring mood, atmosphere, and style before anything else. This is a movie about textures, surfaces, and bodies, and how people give off vibes (positive or negative) just by occupying the same space as others, without having to say much at all….
