Chilean writer and director Pablo Larraín’s thought-provoking and captivating No, which is loosely based on an unpublished play written by Antonio Skármeta, focuses on the media campaign that played a significant part in military dictator Augusto Pinochet’s downfall from Chilean rulership. It sharply brings to a close Larraín’s trilogy of Pinochet-centric films, which also includes Tony Manero and Post Mortem. Continue reading “Review: No (2013)”
Jonathan Levine, writer-director of 50/50 and The Wackness, turns the zombie movie sub-genre on its head to successful, heartwarming and humorous results with Warm Bodies, an adaptation of Isaac Marion’s best-selling post-apocalyptic novel. In a world ravaged by an unknown plague that’s left most of the population as undead, brainless corpses, R (Nicholas Hoult) is a unique specimen: a zombie who maintains a peculiar sense of humanity. R’s new-found existence, which mostly includes pacing and grunting, is overturned when he meets survivor Julie (Teresa Palmer) – and consequently falls for her. Continue reading “Review: Warm Bodies (2013)”
Short films have never had quite the same attention placed upon them as feature length films. However, with a new scheme launched by New British Cinema Quarterly, in partnership with independent distributors Soda Pictures, it seems that’s set to change in a very positive way. The Joy Of Six, a collection of six short films from up-and-coming British talent, offers a unique and innovative way for audiences to discover and potentially embrace the short film format. The six shorts, starring Peter Mullan, Judi Dench and Tom Hiddleston amongst others, range in length and quality, though Continue reading “Review: The Joy Of Six (2013)”
Without the unstoppable strength and forward momentum of Pixar, Disney have always struggled to break free of their tried and tested formulas – the ever-successful Disney Princess brand being the most obvious – and explore new, contemporary ideas. Wreck-It Ralph, however, which was masterminded and directed by Emmy-winner Rich Moore, sees the studio come crashing into the 21st century with a film that’s as stylish, colourful, sharp-minded and witty as it is bang up-to-date. Continue reading “Review: Wreck-It Ralph (2013)”
Anti-rom-com’s have become more and more popular in recent years, with films such as (500) Days Of Summer, Celeste And Jesse Forever and Going The Distance exploring relationships in a realistic way not often captured in the traditional and formulaic rom-com’s we’ve come to accept as the norm. The latest of which, I Give It A Year, hails from first-time director Dan Mazer, who’s best known for scripting Sacha Baron Cohen comedies Borat and Brüno. Continue reading “Review: I Give It A Year (2013)”
Lincoln, based in part on Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Team Of Rivals: The Political Genius Of Abraham Lincoln, sees director Steven Spielberg dramatising the 16th President of the United States’ final few months in office to varied results. In 1865, as the American Civil War nears its conclusion after four years of bloody combat, Abraham Lincoln (Daniel Day-Lewis) takes it upon himself to pass the landmark constitutional amendment and rid America of slavery: the main reason Continue reading “Review: Lincoln (2013)”
Three years after reigning supreme at the Academy Awards with The Hurt Locker, director Kathryn Bigelow and regular collaborator Mark Boal return with Zero Dark Thirty. CIA analyst Maya (Jessica Chastain) has spent years chasing falsified intelligence relating to the possible whereabouts of terrorist Osama bin Laden. Undeterred, even in light of her colleagues’ ever-weakening investment, Maya makes a breakthrough when his possible hideout is revealed, leading to a Continue reading “Review: Zero Dark Thirty (2013)”
Writer and director Quentin Tarantino enters new territory with Django Unchained, a part exploitation, part Spaghetti Western romp about slavery in the antebellum South. That’s not to say that Django Unchained is any less a Tarantino film than, say, Kill Bill or Pulp Fiction were, as it includes many of his memorable traits (explicit violence and quick-cut editing) and boasts a revenge motif as intrinsic to the narrative as any other. Continue reading “Review: Django Unchained (2013)”
Taking a break from zombies and delivery boys, director Ruben Fleischer fashions a stylised and star-studded, yet vacuous entry into the cops vs. mob genre with Gangster Squad. Disappointingly, the American director tries far too hard to recreate 1987’s The Untouchables for the modern day audience, instead of making an engaging, moody and powerful film that can stand on its own two feet as a bold statement. Set in 1940s Los Angeles, crook and mob boss Mickey Continue reading “Review: Gangster Squad (2013)”
Victor Hugo’s decades-spanning novel Les Misérables has been the subject of countless adaptations since its initial publication in 1862, the latest of which hails from The King’s Speech director, Tom Hooper. He has stripped the tale of ex-convict Jean Valjean’s quest for redemption through revolution-era France down to its core and captured the fraught emotion and difficult subject matter – poverty, prostitution, crime and corruption – through powerful, live on-set Continue reading “Review: Les Misérables (2012)”
Empty Screens 