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….
Mat Whitrecross explores one of the biggest British bands of all time, Oasis. The ins and outs, the fights, the egos and a surprisingly shallow look into this music-defining band. From rehearsal footage to interviews with the band, Supersonic goes into detail about how the band was formed, some antics on the road and playing…
This is a disgustingly brutal and rather amazing film that never backs down or pulls any punches, going to some truly extreme places on a narrative and thematic level, resulting in an overall stunning piece of aesthetically ruthless exploitation cinema. I can still remember the first time I saw The Devil’s Rejects, and how utterly…
Brain appétit! The first season of iZombie arrives on DVD October 17. The new hit series stars Rose McIver (Once Upon a Time, Masters of Sex), Malcolm Goodwin (Breakout Kings), Rahul Kohli (Eastenders), Robert Buckley (One Tree Hill) and David Anders (Once Upon a Time, The Vampire Diaries). The 3-disc DVD set includes all…
I’m a huge fan of Adrian Lyne’s sexy, stylish, and provocative work in general, and Unfaithful is easily one of his best films, filled with probing psychological underpinnings and juicy star turns from Richard Gere and Diane Lane, who likely delivered career topping work with her simmering and extremely erotic performance as a suburban housewife…
Unbreakable is easily my favorite film from writer/director M. Night Shyamalan, who has had, without a doubt, one of the most fascinating, frustrating, and fantastic careers that any filmmaker has ever had. After taking the world by storm in the late summer of 1999 with his superb ghost movie, The Sixth Sense, he unleashed his…
