Steve Jobs
Screenwriters can be typecast, just like actors. With Steve Jobs, Aaron Sorkin cements his reputation as the go-to guy for stories about brilliant young men with personality issues, flawed, obnoxious but dazzling wunderkinds who could, might, or in Jobs’s case actually did change
Steve Jobs
Screenwriters can be typecast, just like actors. With Steve Jobs, Aaron Sorkin cements his reputation as the go-to guy for stories about brilliant young men with personality issues, flawed, obnoxious but dazzling wunderkinds who could, might, or in Jobs’s case actually did change
Sicario
As Sicario overplays its quest to underplay itself, we arrive at a confused portrait of profound dysfunction. That may be an appropriate angle to take on another of America’s unwinnable wars (in this case the drugs and border war with Mexico)
Sicario
As Sicario overplays its quest to underplay itself, we arrive at a confused portrait of profound dysfunction. That may be an appropriate angle to take on another of America’s unwinnable wars (in this case the drugs and border war with Mexico)
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
For the first ten minutes or so there is nagging despair, even mourning. It feels like an awkward Star Wars themed high school reunion in a room littered with lifeless artefacts, with Disney and JJ Abrams strutting around bragging “lookit all
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
For the first ten minutes or so there is nagging despair, even mourning. It feels like an awkward Star Wars themed high school reunion in a room littered with lifeless artefacts, with Disney and JJ Abrams strutting around bragging “lookit all
Tomorrowland
Conflict being the essence of drama and all that, it’s not easy to pull entertainment out of a pleasant scenario, unless it’s one under threat. In this case the utopian promise of Tomorrowland is in danger of never arriving. We’re challenged by a rampant dystopia
Tomorrowland
Conflict being the essence of drama and all that, it’s not easy to pull entertainment out of a pleasant scenario, unless it’s one under threat. In this case the utopian promise of Tomorrowland is in danger of never arriving. We’re challenged by a rampant dystopia
Mad Max : Fury Road
Max is back. The story hits the road early and stays there. The elevator pitch might be “Ellen Ripley vs Boko Haram on wheels”, with Max as the benevolent Michael Biehn or Lance Henriksen character. Since the second instalment the
Mad Max : Fury Road
Max is back. The story hits the road early and stays there. The elevator pitch might be “Ellen Ripley vs Boko Haram on wheels”, with Max as the benevolent Michael Biehn or Lance Henriksen character. Since the second instalment the
The Big Sleep (1946)
Forty-something private detective Humphrey Bogart finds himself on the case in the City of Available Young Women, chasing tails and kicking arses. The biggest mistake you could make with this putative noir classic is rewinding to try and work
The Big Sleep (1946)
Forty-something private detective Humphrey Bogart finds himself on the case in the City of Available Young Women, chasing tails and kicking arses. The biggest mistake you could make with this putative noir classic is rewinding to try and work
Jodorowsky’s Dune
In this epic yarn, the filmic equivalent of Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Alejandro Jodorowsky, wild-eyed, possessed, regales us with the story of his five year mission to bring Frank Herbert’s Dune to the screen. It’s an extraordinary chronicle of
Jodorowsky’s Dune
In this epic yarn, the filmic equivalent of Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Alejandro Jodorowsky, wild-eyed, possessed, regales us with the story of his five year mission to bring Frank Herbert’s Dune to the screen. It’s an extraordinary chronicle of
What Maisie Knew
Things are poised for the worst when parents divorce, but do not unfold via the expected trajectory – unless of course you’ve read the Thomas Mann novel upon which this tragi-redemption tale is based. Initially appearing to lack the requisite gravity
What Maisie Knew
Things are poised for the worst when parents divorce, but do not unfold via the expected trajectory – unless of course you’ve read the Thomas Mann novel upon which this tragi-redemption tale is based. Initially appearing to lack the requisite gravity
Birdman
The power of the superhero, like any hero, is also a weakness, a shadow. So the hero rejects his special powers in a quest to be human, But he fails because it means he rejects part of himself and leaves his world
Birdman
The power of the superhero, like any hero, is also a weakness, a shadow. So the hero rejects his special powers in a quest to be human, But he fails because it means he rejects part of himself and leaves his world
American Sniper
American Sniper’s apparent banner message is that America needs to move on. Troops are coming home to live among civilians again; understand their experience. But a lot of the time it seems to forget this intention, or even to have one. It
American Sniper
American Sniper’s apparent banner message is that America needs to move on. Troops are coming home to live among civilians again; understand their experience. But a lot of the time it seems to forget this intention, or even to have one. It
Maps To The Stars
David Cronenberg’s Maps To The Stars presents a tragedy of corruption and inbreeding in high places, in this case the homes of Hollywood’s B-list. When cycles of abuse collide, incipient violence erupts and death steps in to clean up the entangling mess. A link isn’t entirely
Maps To The Stars
David Cronenberg’s Maps To The Stars presents a tragedy of corruption and inbreeding in high places, in this case the homes of Hollywood’s B-list. When cycles of abuse collide, incipient violence erupts and death steps in to clean up the entangling mess. A link isn’t entirely
Only Lovers Left Alive
The perenniality of the vampire genre derives, of course, from its capacity for reinvention. It’s form mimics its content in similar fashion to the zombie genre, each transcending death. In Only Lovers Left Alive, the immortality of Jarmusch’s vampire couple is a
Only Lovers Left Alive
The perenniality of the vampire genre derives, of course, from its capacity for reinvention. It’s form mimics its content in similar fashion to the zombie genre, each transcending death. In Only Lovers Left Alive, the immortality of Jarmusch’s vampire couple is a
Inside Llewyn Davis
The Coens tell a story of the man who would not be Bob Dylan with such relentless unapologetic deflation that it actually feels like something out of the end of the sixties, like Midnight Cowboy or Medium Cool or Easy Rider (all
Inside Llewyn Davis
The Coens tell a story of the man who would not be Bob Dylan with such relentless unapologetic deflation that it actually feels like something out of the end of the sixties, like Midnight Cowboy or Medium Cool or Easy Rider (all
Noah
God gets a bad rap in Noah, as Darren Aronofsky tries to construe a story that makes no physical, psychological or moral sense. A brood of hapless humans is disgorged out onto what looks like a barren coalfield with no recourse
Noah
God gets a bad rap in Noah, as Darren Aronofsky tries to construe a story that makes no physical, psychological or moral sense. A brood of hapless humans is disgorged out onto what looks like a barren coalfield with no recourse
Maleficent
For this revisionist revisitation, Disney’s 1959 Sleeping Beauty is merely a point of departure. The two relate glancingly enough that they’re almost ships in the night. The formerly mysterious and unmotivated villain Maleficent, self-proclaimed ‘Mistress of all Evil’, is this time
Maleficent
For this revisionist revisitation, Disney’s 1959 Sleeping Beauty is merely a point of departure. The two relate glancingly enough that they’re almost ships in the night. The formerly mysterious and unmotivated villain Maleficent, self-proclaimed ‘Mistress of all Evil’, is this time
Blue Is the Warmest Colour
This could be called An Ordinary Romance if it weren’t about two girls. They meet, they love, things run their unsurprising course. But not only does it work, it works for three hours straight and wins a Palme d’Or.
Blue Is the Warmest Colour
This could be called An Ordinary Romance if it weren’t about two girls. They meet, they love, things run their unsurprising course. But not only does it work, it works for three hours straight and wins a Palme d’Or.
Under The Skin
A disappointing adaptation that barely scrapes the surface of Michel Faber’s masterful and understated alien-incursion novel. The initial scenario is the same but Faber’s themes of class and industrial ethics are discarded in favour of more familiar gender politics, alien
Under The Skin
A disappointing adaptation that barely scrapes the surface of Michel Faber’s masterful and understated alien-incursion novel. The initial scenario is the same but Faber’s themes of class and industrial ethics are discarded in favour of more familiar gender politics, alien
Performance (1970)
An art movie, a drug movie, a Mick Jagger acting debut, Nicolas Roeg’s directing debut, a late, post-swinging 60’s bohemian manifesto, but underpinning all that one of the best British gangster flicks around. It features a foulmouthed, thuggish, head kicking
Performance (1970)
An art movie, a drug movie, a Mick Jagger acting debut, Nicolas Roeg’s directing debut, a late, post-swinging 60’s bohemian manifesto, but underpinning all that one of the best British gangster flicks around. It features a foulmouthed, thuggish, head kicking
Pandora’s Promise
This unabashedly pro-nuclear documentary makes a good case, or rather an already well established case, that we need to find, by yesterday, a viable alternative to fossil fuels given the current dangers to human survival presented by combustion power. The
Pandora’s Promise
This unabashedly pro-nuclear documentary makes a good case, or rather an already well established case, that we need to find, by yesterday, a viable alternative to fossil fuels given the current dangers to human survival presented by combustion power. The
Spring Breakers
Four american college girls on spring break take time out from underdressing and pouring alcohol inside and outside their bodies to engage in bouts of organised and and disorganised crime. In the latter half of the film they team up with
Spring Breakers
Four american college girls on spring break take time out from underdressing and pouring alcohol inside and outside their bodies to engage in bouts of organised and and disorganised crime. In the latter half of the film they team up with