It’s Such A Beautiful Day (2012)
* Dir: Don Hertzfeldt Duration: 62 minutes (2012) (US) Wasted talent and wasted time on unnecessarily grim animation feature where the techniques and execution of the animation are the only … Continue reading
Gimme The Loot (2012)
**** Dir: Adam Leon Duration: 79 minutes (2012) (US) Escapades a-plenty in this refreshing shaggy dog tale and debut from Adam Leon. Could the mainstream studios wake up for a … Continue reading
Sundance London: A Diary – Days 3 and 4
Seeing as Sundance is about to fade into a fond memory, it makes sense to distil the second half of the festival into one single entry. I am sure I … Continue reading
Sundance London: A Diary – Day 2
The second day of Sundance brought a more limited experience for this writer (days 3 and 4 brought an abundance of panel discussions and films, so please bear with me). … Continue reading
Sundance London: A Diary – Day 1
Robert Redford and his indie centric group have once again taken up residency of London’s O2 for the welcome return of Sundance London. Returning for a second year, the festival … Continue reading
Trance (2013)
**** Danny the Champion of the World? Olympic opening ceremony hero returns with pulsating thriller to rock your socks off and dazzle your senses. Dir: Danny Boyle Duration: 101 mins … Continue reading
Robot & Frank (2012)
*** Dir: Jake Schreier Duration: 130 mins (2012) The shape of things to come? Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid for the new millennia? A meditation on old age, dependency and … Continue reading
Broken (2012)
**** Dir: Rufus Norris Duration: 90mins (2012) How much misery can one audience take? This belligerently sombre drama will depress even the most hardened Eastenders fans. Be prepared. A simple … Continue reading
The Digest. Short Review: Zero Dark Thirty (2012)
**** Dir: Kathryn Bigelow Dur: 157 mins (US) (2012) Tracking the 10 year hunt for the poster boy and figurehead of Al Queda, Osama Bin Laden. As the dust settles on … Continue reading
Django Unchained (2012)
*** Dir: Quentin Tarantino Dur: 154 mins (US) When the lights are burning bright and you think they are stars – turns out it is merely electricity lighting up the … Continue reading
Life of Pi (2012)
**** Dir: Ang Lee Duration: 127 minutes (US) (2012) Life of (the) Pi(ous); adaptation of the ‘unfilmable’ book. Can visual ingenuity mould an engaging tale? Or is this merely a … Continue reading
Review: Jack Reacher (2012)
**** Dir: Christopher McQuarrie Duration: 130 mins (US) (2012) Reach(er) for the stars? Tom Cruise stretches diminutive frame to fill the shoes of a modern literary action giant. Does he … Continue reading
Review: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)
**** Dir: Peter Jackson Duration: 159 mins (US) Carry On Camping. The epic 1st part of this new Tolkien trilogy. Seeing as Peter Jackson is ‘doing a Lucas’, is this his Phantom … Continue reading
Review: Sightseers (2012)
**** Dir: Ben Wheatley Dur: 88 mins (UK) ‘If you should go down to the woods today….’ Comedic highs and bludgeoning blows in this rampaging caravanning holiday. The caravanning … Continue reading
Review: Amour (2012)
**** Dir: Michael Haneke Duration: 127 mins (France/Austria/Germany) How do you come to terms when the person you love descends into an irrevocable state of ill health? The heart breaking … Continue reading
Review: Rust and Bone (2012)
**** Dir: Jacques Audiard Duration: 123 mins (2012) (France/Belgium) Spirits set to self-destruct. Audiard turns a spotlight on two flawed individuals in unsentimental love story. Can we ever tame something … Continue reading
Review: Spike Island (2012)
*** Dir: Mat Whitecross (2012) Fool’s Gold? Or What The World Is Waiting For? Spike Island revisited as a Stone Roses themed love note frames a coming of age tale … Continue reading
Review: Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012)
*** Dir: Ben Zeitlin Duration: 93mins (2012) (US) Film preoccupied with death. Salvation. Innocence. Purity. Love and anger. Through the eyes of a 6-year-old. This first feature from director Ben … Continue reading
Reviews: Everyday (2012), The Delay (2012)
Everyday ** Dir: Michael Winterbottom Duration: 90 mins (2012) (UK) Father in prison, wife and mother home alone to raise the children. Over the course of 5 years, Michael Winterbottom … Continue reading
Review: Crossfire Hurricane (2012)
*** Dir: Brett Morgan Duration: 118 mins (2012) Can you sometimes get exactly what you want? The Rolling Stones turn the clock back on 50 years and open up the vaults. … Continue reading
Review: The Angel’s Share
**** Dir: Ken Loach Duration: 97 mins (2012) Whiskey in the jar: A film of two halves as one of Britain’s finest directors moulds his own crime caper set in … Continue reading
Review: This Is Not A Film
***** (This is not a rating) Dir: Mojtaba Mirtahmasb, Jafar Paranhi Duration: 75 mins (2011) A window into the oppressive state of a nation, as documented by Iranian film maker. … Continue reading
Review: Once Upon A Time In Anatolia
**** Dir: Nuri Bilge Ceylan Duration: 150 mins (2011) Transience. Impermanence. Life. Death. All explored over the course of a single night’s criminal investigation in the Anatolian foothills. Directed by … Continue reading
Review: Page One – Inside the New York Times
*** Dir: Andrew Rossi Duration: 96 mins (2011) Documentary film-maker chronicles a year from within the walls of the New York Times as it comes face to face with the … Continue reading