inheritance
The Power of the Dog
A heroic female director lobs a polite grenade into the middle of, or maybe a bit after the middle of, a climate of recrimination about sexual misbehaviour. Is the work championing a cause, or is the cause appropriating and filtering
The Power of the Dog
A heroic female director lobs a polite grenade into the middle of, or maybe a bit after the middle of, a climate of recrimination about sexual misbehaviour. Is the work championing a cause, or is the cause appropriating and filtering
Dune (2021)
Despite the enormous amount of air displaced by the arrival of this, the third screen-telling of the Frank Herbert saga, Dune is unremarkable. It’s not bad at all. It’s a fun, big-screen, epic watch with pleasing production design, a fine cast
Dune (2021)
Despite the enormous amount of air displaced by the arrival of this, the third screen-telling of the Frank Herbert saga, Dune is unremarkable. It’s not bad at all. It’s a fun, big-screen, epic watch with pleasing production design, a fine cast
Black Panther
Judging by its reception, Black Panther did something right. Cinematically there’s not much to get excited about, but maybe there’s a lot to think about. Black Panther is ridden with cliches and its dialogue is entirely expositional. But underneath this painful
Black Panther
Judging by its reception, Black Panther did something right. Cinematically there’s not much to get excited about, but maybe there’s a lot to think about. Black Panther is ridden with cliches and its dialogue is entirely expositional. But underneath this painful
The Florida Project
A more-than-you-can-eat pizza-slice of life, hot from the florid state – more specifically Orlando. It’s a short walk from Disneyland but a long, alligator-infested way downstream. The Florida Project features one of the most striking child performances in recent memory
The Florida Project
A more-than-you-can-eat pizza-slice of life, hot from the florid state – more specifically Orlando. It’s a short walk from Disneyland but a long, alligator-infested way downstream. The Florida Project features one of the most striking child performances in recent memory
Blade Runner 2049
Deckhard is back, Hampton Fancher is back, the rain is back, as is some of the neon, albeit faded behind some kind of airborne filth with lumps in it. Blade Runner in the eighties was a world crippled and depressed
Blade Runner 2049
Deckhard is back, Hampton Fancher is back, the rain is back, as is some of the neon, albeit faded behind some kind of airborne filth with lumps in it. Blade Runner in the eighties was a world crippled and depressed
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 an 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 presented with a rampant
Tomorrowland
Conflict being the essence of drama and all that, it’s not easy to pull an 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 presented with a rampant
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
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
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
The Place Beyond the Pines
A new Ryan Gosling vehicle that isn’t a fastback 2008 Bullitt Mustang. So is it the sequel to Blue Valentine, given this is the same director? Or is it Drive, given he’s a badass on a motorbike trying to muscle
The Place Beyond the Pines
A new Ryan Gosling vehicle that isn’t a fastback 2008 Bullitt Mustang. So is it the sequel to Blue Valentine, given this is the same director? Or is it Drive, given he’s a badass on a motorbike trying to muscle
Cloud Atlas
This three hour omnibus interweaves six stories, some of which we may have been told before as The Island or Phantom of the Opera or One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest. It’s not clear whether the stories are linked by
Cloud Atlas
This three hour omnibus interweaves six stories, some of which we may have been told before as The Island or Phantom of the Opera or One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest. It’s not clear whether the stories are linked by
Lore
Cate Shortland reprises the themes of her previous feature Somersault with another tale about another girl who came down in the last shower, a hard rain that dumps her unarmed into a world corrupted. In Somersault, Abbie Cornish’s performance as
Lore
Cate Shortland reprises the themes of her previous feature Somersault with another tale about another girl who came down in the last shower, a hard rain that dumps her unarmed into a world corrupted. In Somersault, Abbie Cornish’s performance as
Dark Shadows
Another inventive flourish from Depp, maybe a career-best performance from Eva Green, plus noticeably good cameo walk-ons from Pfeiffer, Bonham-Carter and Moretz all sadly fail to make this arch gothic panto add up to the sum of its parts.
Dark Shadows
Another inventive flourish from Depp, maybe a career-best performance from Eva Green, plus noticeably good cameo walk-ons from Pfeiffer, Bonham-Carter and Moretz all sadly fail to make this arch gothic panto add up to the sum of its parts.
This Must Be the Place
It would be nice if every movie was as different from every other movie as this one is, but in a different way. Then… wait a minute… it’s a road movie. It just took a while to get onto the
This Must Be the Place
It would be nice if every movie was as different from every other movie as this one is, but in a different way. Then… wait a minute… it’s a road movie. It just took a while to get onto the
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Fincher’s version of this curious fantasy about a young woman serial raped by father figures, first within the family and then by the state. Not quite moving on, she opts for a steamy relationship with her middle aged employer. To
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Fincher’s version of this curious fantasy about a young woman serial raped by father figures, first within the family and then by the state. Not quite moving on, she opts for a steamy relationship with her middle aged employer. To
The Descendants
Take a bleak premise about infidelity and terminal comas and drizzle with saccharine. Clooney gets an oscar nomination for one of his most laboured and least convincing performances. Maybe it was really for The American. Watchable drama about family and
The Descendants
Take a bleak premise about infidelity and terminal comas and drizzle with saccharine. Clooney gets an oscar nomination for one of his most laboured and least convincing performances. Maybe it was really for The American. Watchable drama about family and