Oliver Stone directs this subpar biopic about Edward Snowden, the infamous NSA contractor who leaked top secret information about surveillance. Framed with scenes from Hong Kong in the days leading up to the exposé, the script – co-written by Stone and Kieran Fitzgerald – uses flashbacks to track Snowden’s career from model student to criminal. Continue reading “Review: Snowden (2016)”
The current obsession with YA franchises continues with Divergent, an adaptation of the first instalment in Veronica Roth’s best-selling trilogy that’s less Hunger Games and more Twilight. Set in what’s left of a post-apocalyptic Chicago where people are divided into factions – Abnegation (the selfless), Erudite (the smart), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful) and Candor (the honest) – based on human virtues, Beatrice “Tris” Prior (Shailene Woodley) discovers she’s Divergent, and so doesn’t fit into one set faction. Continue reading “Review: Divergent (2014)”
Best known for writing and directing films featuring strong yet confounded male figures embarking upon life-changing journeys – think Jack Nicholson’s retired soul-searcher in About Schmidt, or Paul Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church’s middle-aged hopeless romantics in Sideways – Alexander Payne makes a long awaited return with family drama The Descendants, admiringly carrying on that theme.
Here, George Clooney plays Matt King, an established Hawaiian land baron. After his wife (Patricia Hastie) suffers a horrific water-skiing accident, he’s forced Continue reading “Review: The Descendants (2011)”
Empty Screens 