Tag: Woody Harrelson

Film Diary: January 2018

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The month kicked off as any year usually does, with a handful of potential Oscar nominees finally hitting UK cinemas after their festival debuts the year before. Darkest Hour featured a blistering performance from Gary Oldman, though little else. Joe Wright’s drama about Churchill in the lead up to Dunkirk rested on the talents of its lead, who mostly kept things afloat even when the script faltered. As someone who disliked Pan, but loved Atonement, I’m also searching for a Wright film to match up to that. This isn’t it, though it can still be admired for what it is. Continue reading “Film Diary: January 2018” →

Review: Triple 9 (2016)

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John Hillcoat’s corrupt cop thriller boasts a talented cast, yet still manages to be a disposable misstep, weighed down by a messy, convoluted script. The film starts well, with a striking sequence involving a bank robbery establishing the various characters, five dodgy cops led by mastermind Michael (Chiwetel Ejiofor) who are blackmailed into a risky heist by the Russian mafia. Continue reading “Review: Triple 9 (2016)” →

Review: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 (2014)

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Mockingjay - Part 1

After the action-heavy drive of the previous instalments, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 is decidedly sober and contemplative in comparison, but no less thrilling. Bunkered down in District 13 after being saved from the Quarter Quell, Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) reluctantly concedes to become the face of the rebel uprising. Her reluctance quickly turns to intensity, however, as President Snow (Donald Sutherland) continues his tight dictatorship, using Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) as bait.  Continue reading “Review: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 (2014)” →

Review: Out Of The Furnace (2013)

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Out Of The Furnace

Out Of The Furnace, Scott Cooper’s follow-up to the award-winning Crazy Heart, boasts a all-star ensemble cast and accurately barbed, but not much else. This revenge thriller, if you can call it that, suffers from a conventional, extremely plain narrative that trudges along drearily, flinging cliches every which way, but never offers anything meaty enough to sustain its lengthy run time, nor its deserving-of-better cast and the qualities it emits through its production credits. Continue reading “Review: Out Of The Furnace (2013)” →

Review: The Hunger Games (2012)

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In a world torn apart by war, drought and famine, there lies Panem, a society split into a Capitol and twelve separate districts. To compensate for past rebellions, each district must annually offer up two “tributes” to take part in the Capitol’s “Hunger Games”: a televised fight to the death. When her sister is chosen as one of the “tributes”, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence), a strong-willed teenage girl, volunteers herself to take her sister’s place. Alongside her male counterpart Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson), a lowly baker’s boy, Katniss enters The Hunger Games, only for them to find themselves in a situation like no Continue reading “Review: The Hunger Games (2012)” →

Emma Stone: Hollywood’s New ‘It’ Girl

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Who is Emma Stone?

It’s a question that has an array of different answers. Asked a mere five years ago, you’d be hard pressed to find someone who had a clue. Aside from a few brief appearances in Malcolm in the Middle and the Medium, she was an unknown, studying away at acting school, doing whatever she could to get herself noticed. Asked today, however, and most people would probably reply with something along the lines of “OLIVE PENDERGHAST FROM EASY A”. Okay, maybe not Continue reading “Emma Stone: Hollywood’s New ‘It’ Girl” →