Film Review
X-Men First Class
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Cast: James McAvoy, Michael Fasbender, Kevin Bacon, Rose Byrne, Jennifer Lawrence
Duration: 132 mins
Cert: 12A
It’s been a rough few years for the X-Men series. The original trilogy ended on a whimper with Brett Ratter’s The Last Stand…, and the less said about the flapping opus that explained the origins
The Beaver
Director: Jodie Foster
Starring: Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster, Anton Yelchin, Jennifer Lawrence
Cert: 15A
Duration: 90 mins
The Beaver is the latest folly in the troubled career of Mel Gibson, but it didn’t start out that way.
Once the most sought-after script in Hollywood, The Beaver… attracted interest from the likes of Jim Carrey and
Kung Fu Panda 2
Director: Jennifer Yuh Nelson
Stars: Jack Black, Gary Oldman, Dustin Hoffman
Running time: 90 mins
Cert: PG
As a DreamWorks animation that didn’t feel like a juvenile pandering pop culture cash-grab, 2008’s Kung Fu Panda… came as a shock to many. It displayed a sincerity and craftsmanship that mirrored the work of DreamWorks biggest rival, the
Weekly Film News: The Rapture Apocalypse edition
The world is going to end tomorrow and this may well be the last thing you ever read. So will frantically reading this stream of international film news help you arm yourself against the unknown? Probably not, but thanks to Hollywood’s repeated onslaught of epic end-of-world disaster films (is there anything more epic than the…
Julia’s Eyes
Director: Guillem Morales
Stars: Belen Rueda, Lluis Homar, Pablo Derqui
Running time: 112 mins
Cert: 16
“Presented” by Guillermo del Toro – usually shorthand for ‘he turned up on set and shook a few hands one day’ – Julia’s Eyes is actually directed by Guillem Morales. But enough about him, wasn’t Pan’s Labyrinth great? Julia’s …
Insidious
Director: James Wan
Running Time: 1hr 42mins…
The horror genre has largely become a sea of remakes based on past formulas. The genre is cyclical and self-repeating: the slasher, a possessed child, some sort of demonic presence bullying a family etc etc. It’s a tough genre to be original in, but despite the odds being
Love Like Poison
Director: Katel Quillévéré.
Starring: Clara Augarde, Youen Leboulanger-Gorvil, Lio, Michel Galabru
Cert: 16
Duration: 85 mins …
This sweet and sensual coming of age drama takes place in a small and religious town in France. On her return from boarding school, 14-year-old Anna (Clara Augarde) finds her home life in a shambles. Her father has left
Weekly film news: Crash! Bang! Wallop! What a trailer…
Another Friday rolls around and the infernal wheels of Hollywood continue to spin, powered by nothing but our eternal need to see glowy pictures in a big dark room. It stops for no man, so lets get caught up in the film news from the week that was.
Avengers Assemble
Even if you’re not versed…
Cedar Rapids
Director: Miguel Arteta
Cast: Ed Helms, John C.Reilly, Isiah Witlock Jr. and Anne Heche
Certificate: 15a
Running Time: 86 minutes …
A trend is emerging, a trend that I don’t much care for. In the last film I watched, I was treated to a Ken doll crotched Toby Jones prancing around Antrim, a vision I still
Scream 4
Directed by: Wes Craven
Running Time: 111 Minutes
Wes Craven is horror royalty. The Cleveland native has directed such classics as Last House on the Left, The Hills Have Eyes and the Nightmare on Elm Street… series to name but a few films in his massive contribution to horror cinema. Around 1996 Craven endeavoured to
Thor
Director: Kenneth Branagh
Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston Stellan Skarsgard, Rene Russo, Anthony Hopkins, Idris Elba.
Rating: 12A
Duration: 114 mins …
A mythic super-hero race from the far off realm of Asgard. A soon-to-be King, the petulant, impatient and impulsive Thor (Hemsworth – decent). Odin, the wise, knowing father (Hopkins – autopilot) and
Weekly film news: A Hollywood remake, body swapping is always funny & another remake
If you’re reading this on, what hopefully shapes up later to be a sunny Good Friday (fingers crossed), eh…Are you mad!? Get those pasty bingo wings outside now. It will be sunny again. It will be.
But wait! Read this first, we can’t have you going out unequipped. Each one of these snippets of urgent,…
Arthur
Director: Jason Winer
Starring: Russell Brand, Helen Mirren, Greta Gerwig, Jennifer Garner
Duration: 110 mins
Rating: 12A
With half the planet getting sucked into a financial sinkhole, Hollywood stays tasteful as always with a remake of 1981’s Arthur…, the tale of an inheritance billionaire who spends like its going out of fashion (which it
Meek’s Cutoff
Director: Kelly Reichardt
Starring: Paul Dano, Bruce Greenwood, Michelle Williams, Rod Rendaux
Certificate: PG
Running Time: 104 min
Old Joy director Kelly Reichardt’s minimalist western Meek’s Cutoff… trundles into the IFI this week, and one suspects it will leave screens as empty as the barren landscapes it portrays. The film is torturously tedious, and shoots
