Corruption-based political thriller Broken City hails from director Allen Hughes – one half of the directorial team behind The Book Of Eli and From Hell – and screenwriter Brian Tucker and offers a murky and coarse, yet deeply scatterbrained and prosaic insight into the underbelly of untrustworthy figures in New York City, complete with all the typical neo-noir tropes, including heavy doses of sex, murder, adultery and deception. Continue reading “Review: Broken City (2013)”
Tommy Wirkola’s English language debut and follow-up to Norwegian horror-comedy Dead Snow, the questionably titled Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, lurches its way into cinemas after spending well over a year gathering dust on a desolate shelf. Its scars can be felt as the film has an almost unfinished feel to it, as if it’s trying too hard to lay the foundations for a future franchise that will, if there’s any justice in the world, never, ever come to fruition. Continue reading “Review: Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters 3D (2013)”
Four college girls – Brit (Ashley Benson), Candy (Vanessa Hudgens), Cotty (Rachel Korine) and Faith (Selena Gomez) – embark upon the ultimate spring break in Florida – sex, drugs and alcohol, included. However, when they find themselves locked up in jail and rapidly running out of money, they’re bailed out by rapper turned gangster Alien (James Franco) who promises to shower them with riches and make their wildest dreams come true. Continue reading “GFF 2013 Review: Spring Breakers (2013)”
Craig Zobel’s sophomore feature Compliance, based on the alarming reality of victimising prank calls, has built up a significant reputation since debuting at the Sundance Film Festival last year, not least due to its hard-hitting subject-matter and the significant protests that have befallen it; there were various reports of walk-outs and complaints were reported at screenings in the US. Continue reading “GFF 2013 Review: Compliance (2013)”
Steven Soderbergh’s swan song (his Liberace biopic Behind The Candelabra will air on HBO later this year) sees the esteemed director re-team with Contagion screenwriter Scott Z. Burns for a taut, artistic and unsettling psychological thriller set against the world of mental health. It is a place where abhorrent pharmaceutical industries are benefitting from modern societies increasing reliance on anti-depressants, regardless of their destructive and addictive side effects. Continue reading “GFF 2013 Review: Side Effects (2013)”
Set in the blistering, sweaty heat of 1960’s Florida, The Paperboy – Lee Daniels’ star-studded follow-up to the Academy Award winning Precious – is a pup-noir crime thriller wrapped in a web of intrigue that’s as trashy and provocative as it is alluring and enormously entertaining. Ward Jansen (Matthew McConaughey), a newspaper reporter, returns to his hometown with partner Yardley Acheman (David Oyelowo) to uncover a salacious story of murder. Continue reading “GFF 2013 Review: The Paperboy (2013)”
Sleep Tight sees Spanish writer and director Jaume Balagueró step back into the stoplight without [REC] co-director Paco Plaze with a markedly different kind of horror film – one set to a slower pace and removed of all-out carnage. The result is a masterclass in suspense that’s likely to send shudders down its baying audiences’ spines as screenwriter Alberto Marini touches on a nerve as he asks the unsettling, yet unspoken question of what happens when you’re asleep. Continue reading “GFF 2013 Review: Sleep Tight (2013)”
Director Marc Isaac’s latest documentary The Road: A Story Of Life And Death exposes the relatively unexplored lives of those immigrants who, having abandoned their homes in search of richer lives in London, now live along the A5, an old road that runs all the way from Marble Arch, London to Holyhead, Wales. Rather than simply shoving facts and figures down our throats, Isaacs lets the characters to the talking, as they speak candidly about their lives now and the hardships they’ve faced along the way. Continue reading “GFF 2013 Review: The Road: A Story Of Life And Death (2013)”
Nicholas Jarecki directs Richard Gere in Arbitrage, a competent political thriller about how wealth and power often change people for the worse, regardless of who or what damage and pain this course of action inflicts on those close to them. It’s an intriguing, timely story, yet somehow lacks the necessary bite and emotional core to engage its audience and mask the many inconsistencies contained within Jarecki’s script. Continue reading “GFF 2013 Review: Arbitrage (2013)”
It’s been two years and eight months since I took the plunge into online film writing. Back then, I wasn’t at all experienced and simply decided one day that it was something I’d like to try. So, being the confident, forward-thinker that I am (not), I sent out feelers to several film websites and, lo and behold, a couple of weeks later I was writing news posts for HeyUGuys, one of the UK’s most successful film blogs. Continue reading “Centrefolds & Empty Screens Made Cision’s Top Ten UK Film Blogs List”
Empty Screens 