A man’s moral fibre is stretched to the limit in J.C. Chandor’s intoxicating, robust drama A Most Violent Year, which bears similarities to the finest crime thrillers of the 1970s even while inverting them. Abel (Oscar Isaac), a do-right businessman, has hopes of expanding his company, but at a time when corruption and violence are soaring, it proves difficult to do when playing by the book. Continue reading “Review: A Most Violent Year (2014)”
Alex Garland, who has built up a remarkable track record as both a novelist and screenwriter, makes his directorial debut with Ex Machina, a taut and scrupulously executed sci-fi thriller. Caleb (Domhall Gleeson), a coder at the world’s largest search engine, wins a competition to spend a week at the mountain retreat of his reclusive boss Nathan (Oscar Isaac), where he’s soon coerced into partaking in a classified experiment with female robot Ava (a triumphant Alicia Vikander). Continue reading “Review: Ex Machina (2015)”
Deserving of more awards attention than it’s received, Inside Llewyn Davis – Joel and Ethan Coen’s follow-up to the very different True Grit – is a very heartfelt and rich piece of cinema, perhaps even one of their best. Melancholic and somber, yet imbued with a tremendous amount of heart, insight and humour through its realistically flawed central character and soul-stirring use of folk music, this is one intoxicating parable that shouldn’t be missed. Continue reading “Review: Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)”
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