Film Review
The Ides Of March
In The Ides Of March …, Ryan Gosling takes on the role of Stephen Meyers, a junior campaign manager for a seemingly fresh and idealistic Governor (George Clooney), who slowly becomes disillusioned and corrupted by the Machiavellian scheming of campaign politics. Directed by Clooney and based on the play Farragut North, the film is thematically
Anonymous
Enunciate, enunciate! Overacted? Yes. Bombastic? For sure. Effective? In parts. If the jarring knowledge of Roland Emmerich (director of such understated literary works as Independence Day & 2012……among many others) tackling Shakespeare hasn’t been enough to stop you getting past the door, then you’ll likely notice the, at times, panto-like performances of the actors
We Need To Talk About Kevin
Director: Lynne Ramsay
Cast: Tilda Swinton, John C Reilly, Ezra Miller
Rating: 16
Duration: 112 mins
“Just because you’re used to something doesn’t mean you like it. You’re used to me”. …
A small child fixes his despairing mother with a look that would send a chill down the most steely of spines. It’s no spoiler
Perfect Sense
Perfect Sense… then. Does it even make perfect sense? An at times bizarre and not altogether successful look at a world in which human beings are gradually losing their senses, stands and falls (and stands again) on the decidedly mixed imparting of its sensory malfunction message. Kind of like science fiction with most of the
Drive
On first glance, with its Risky Business title font and throwback ’80s soundtrack, Drive comes across all self-consciously retro. But it’s very much set in modern-day LA, reminding you of recent treads through the City of Angels (notably Michael Mann’s Collateral and Denzel Washington’s Oscar winning Training Day…). Everything from the aerial cinematography, the
Melancholia
Dir: Lars Van Trier
Cert: 15A
135 Mins
Starring: Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Kiefer Sutherland.
“The earth is evil. We don’t need to grieve for it. No one will miss it”. …
It may be evil but it has never looked so magical. The opening sequence provides such powerful imagery it could stand alone as a
Kill List
Right from it’s bracing opening seconds Kill List… is a movie that doesn’t so much demand your attention as shove it’s primal energy down your throat.
The familial environment of Jay (Neil Maskell – truly excellent) is slowly suffocating him. Ex soldier and recently retired hitman, Jay is finding it hard to re-adjust to family
A Lonely Place to Die
Judicious cinematography of the Scottish Highlands establishes the forbidding setting into which survival thriller A Lonely Place To Die… places the audience. The fact that we are rather abruptly transported out of that setting towards the film’s close is only to say that, perhaps, remaining in the mountains might have been the better plan after
Cowboys & Aliens
Director: Jon Favreau
Cast: Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde, Sam Rockwell, Keith Carradine, Clancy Brown and Paul Dano
Duration: 116 minutes
Certificate: 15A
What came first, the plot or the film name? There could be a fair argument that Iron Man director Jon Favreau’s latest, Cowboys & Aliens,… falls firmly in the former. Sounding
Rise of the Planet of The Apes
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Cast: James Franco, Andy Serkis, Freida Pinto, Tom Felton
Running Time:107 minutes.
“Then the ape rides a horse.”
No, not a stage direction of high farce, but one of a barmy array of monkey-on-the-loose visuals in Rise…… and a reminder that rapid acceleration of the evolutionary process may have unexpectedly hilarious results.
Sarah’s Key
Sarah’s Key… is part wartime drama, journalistic inquisition, familial melodrama and intergenerational era-hopper. The fact that it is none of these to a satisfactorily powerful standard leaves it short of the kind of impact it would like to think it has.
The plot’s stepping off point is one if the most inglorious episodes in the
Project Nim
Director: James Marsh
Duration: 93 mins
Cert: 12A
Project Nim… asks questions. The balance between ethical and exploitative, nature vs nurture, and the flaws and fairness of isolating a particular species from his own. Not much about Nim Chimpsky – actual name – seems fair. But fairness is relative and by the time his life
Captain America: First Avenger
Director: Joe Johnston
Starring: Chris Evans, Hugo Weaving, Natalie Dormer, Stanley Tucci
Duration: 123 mins
Cert: PG
Another Marvel comic book action hero gets the big screen treatment as we role inexorably towards The Avengers… next Summer. That will prove an orgasmic convergence of comic book talent but will it mark an end of sorts
The Big Picture
Dir: Eric Lartigau
Cast: Roman Duris, Marina Foïs, Catherine Deneuve, Niels Arestrup, Eric Ruf, Branka Katic
Cert: 15A
Running Time: 115 minutes …
If there’s one constant irk thrown against Hollywood these days, it’s that there’s not an original idea out there and that everything is either an adaptation, a remake, a reboot or a sequel.
