Review – The Square
So often the story of a revolution is confined to history books or fragmented across news coverage. The Square is an opportunity to see an upheaval in real-time. Director Jehane Noujaim pieces together… Continue reading
Tag Archive: movies
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Review – The Great Beauty
The Great Beauty is ripe for arty Euro film bingo. Cryptic religious imagery. Tick. More bare flesh than the nude Olympics. Tick. A dwarf. Tick. Before yelling “bingo” on co-writer/director Paolo Sorrentino’s new… Continue reading
Review – Her
During the screening of Her I attended someone’s phone let out a bleep. That person had the power to turn off their mobile device but the cinemagoer couldn’t stand to be disconnected for… Continue reading
Review – The Wolf of Wall Street
Don’t confuse Martin Scorsese’s new film The Wolf of Wall Street as a serious attempt to say too much about the great American pastime of greed. Based on the memoir of real-life stock… Continue reading
Review – Dallas Buyers Club
In 1981 the United States Centre for Disease Control and Prevention published a document that reported the first case of AIDS on American soil. Medical professionals, scientists and suffers have been fighting the… Continue reading
Review – Saving Mr Banks
A therapist’s couch is replaced with Disneyland in Saving Mr Banks. Author P. L. Travers (Emma Thompson) expels a few personal demons with the help of Walt Disney (Tom Hanks) and the production… Continue reading
Review – Inside Llewyn Davis
What the American public wants in the theatre is a tragedy with a happy ending. I wish I’d thought of that line but it belongs to the author and literary critic William Dean… Continue reading
The Best Films of 2013
The opening paragraph of a best films list is usually a time for critic to muse on how difficult it is to fit all their favourites into a list or the frivolity of… Continue reading
The Best Documentaries of 2013
The format of documentary filmmaking was redefined in 2013 with exceptional directors challenging the way stories are told. There has been a really good mix of traditional ‘talking head’ docos, incredible tales of… Continue reading
Review – The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Gigantic beards, grandiose mountains and an enormous psychopathic talking dragon. It’s so good to be back in Middle Earth with The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. The noble spirit of adventure continues and… Continue reading
Review – Anchorman 2
A studio executive sprints down the halls of a Paramount Pictures and bursts into the office of the studio head and proclaims, ‘have you seen the numbers of these Anchorman DVDs?!?’ Looking down… Continue reading
Review – American Hustle
“As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster”. Wait, I didn’t mean to quote Goodfellas, I meant to quote a line from co-writer/director David O. Russell’s American… Continue reading
Review – 12 Years a Slave
12 Years a Slave is the feel terrible film of 2013, but for a very good reason. As a director, Steve McQueen doesn’t hold back from showing a grotesque period in American history.… Continue reading
Review – The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
On acting and directing duties, Ben Stiller goes on an uplifting journey through physical and fantastical worlds with The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, which also doubles as a cynic’s worst nightmare, beware,… Continue reading
Review – The Counselor
The great screenwriter William Goldman (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President’s Men, The Princess Bride) famously turned down adapting The Godfather because he didn’t want to glamorise the Mafia despite… Continue reading