Based on David Mamet’s play Sexual Perversity In Chicago, Steve Pink’s About Last Night – also a remake of the 1986 rom-com starring Rob Lowe and Demi Moore – attempts to provide a modern spin on the trials and tribulations of romantic relationships for 21st century audiences. Yet instead of saying anything new or interesting, the film rehashes every single cliché known to man – and not even in a way that’s mildly distracting. Continue reading “Review: About Last Night (2014)”
A Long Way Down, the unnecessary and inexcusably maudlin film adaptation of Nick Hornby’s best-selling novel, turns a darkly funny story about four downbeat individuals – Martin Sharp (Pierce Brosnan), a disgraced TV presenter; Maureen (Toni Collette), a worn out carer to her disabled son; JJ (Aaron Paul), a failed musician; and Jess (Imogen Poots), the compulsive daughter of a politician – who form a suicide pact into a hackneyed, tasteless excuse for a comedy Continue reading “Review: A Long Way Down (2014)”
Successfully reintroduced in The Muppets, Jim Henson’s loveable puppet creations are back for Muppets Most Wanted, a sequel that’s every but as fun and brisk as its predecessor, even if it does skimp on the heart. Capitalising on their newfound success, the Muppets embark upon a world tour. Soon after, Constantine, an evil frog, escapes from prison, only to swap places with Kermit and use the Muppets’ worldwide tour as cover for a series of elaborate crime heists. Continue reading “Review: Muppets Most Wanted (2014)”
Praised for his sharp comedy work that made the likes of Juno and Up In The Air such successes, director Jason Reitman makes an awkward shift to darker, solemn material with Labor Day, a respectable, but not quite there adaptation of Joyce Maynard. Left despondent by the breakdown of her marriage, single mother Adele (Kate Winslet) has become trapped by her own unwillingness, leaving son Henry (Gattlin Griffith) to pick up the slack. Continue reading “Review: Labor Day (2014)”
Declaring the arrival of former Skins stars Jack O’Connell with a ferocious, star-making performance, Starred Up is an outstanding and unflinching prison drama from director David Mackenzie, whose career sparks new life after a string of middling efforts. Prematurely transferred to the same prison as his estranged father (Ben Mendelsohn), teenage offender Eric (O’Connell) soon attracts the unwelcome attention of the prison wardens when he fails to curb his foul behaviour. Continue reading “Review: Starred Up (2014)”
Of all the Marvel properties to make it to the silver screen so far, Captain America is perhaps the least appealing of the lot, massively outshone by occasional allies Iron Man and Thor. It’s a surprise, then, to see him firmly entrenched within one of Marvel’s best films, Captain America: The Winter Soldier – a direct follow-up to The Avengers that’s as much part of the overall MCU as it is its own rooted and entertaining entity. Continue reading “Review: Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)”
Lust, sex, violence and death coalesce superbly in French director Alain Guiraudie’s tense, unnerving and erotically-charged thriller Stranger By The Lake. Franck (Pierre Deladonchamps) spends his summer lapping up the sun and sea at a cruising hotspot, where he strikes up a harmless friendship with hermit Henri (Patrick D’Assumçao) and becomes infatuated with Michel (Christophe Paou) Continue reading “Review: Stranger By The Lake (2014)”
Liam Neeson continues his bizarre transition from Oscar-winner to action star with Non-Stop, a ludicrous, yet undeniably entertaining mile-high thriller that re-teams Neeson with Unknown director Jaume Collet-Serra. Bill Marks (Neeson), a Federal Air Marshall with a troubled past, is forced to spring into action when he starts to receive text messages threatening passengers aboard his transatlantic flight from New York to London. Continue reading “Review: Non-Stop (2014)”
Five year’s since the release of The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus, Terry Gilliam returns with the intriguing, yet much too scattered sci-fi fantasy The Zero Theorem. Set in a dystopian, tech-obsessed future, it starts well and boasts a strong performance by Christoph Waltz as computer hacker Qohen Leth, who loathes the chaotic environment of ManCom and so is relieved when Management (Matt Damon) assigns him to a different task: determining the Zero Theorem. Continue reading “Review: The Zero Theorem (2014)”
The fact that Jonathan Glazer hasn’t made a film since 2004’s Birth makes sense considering the massive undertaking adapting Michel Faber’s opaque novel Under the Skin proved to be. Years in the making, the film – starring a truly captivating Scarlett Johansson in the lead role – tracks an alien feigned in human skin as she prowl’s city streets in search of vulnerable men. What unfolds, as the alien assimilates bit-by-bit to her new surroundings, is a unique and unforgettable piece of cinema that won’t be to everyone’s taste. Yet those willing to work with Glazer’s deliberately sparse approach, rather than in opposition to it, will find a stirring and quite often delicate inspection of loneliness and sexuality that’s constantly heightened not only by the primitive visual style, but also by Mica Levi’s unnerving score and Scarlett Johansson’s unwavering, captivating and haunting lead performance.
Empty Screens 