Tag: Cinema
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Nightcrawler.
As Dan Gilroy’s cinematic debut opens, our protagonist is stealing metal fencing – only to be interrupted and questioned by an officer. We will never know what happened to the man who confronts our lead character, Lou Bloom, in the opening moments of Nightcrawler. The only glaring clue as to his fate is clasped around Bloom’s…
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The Judge.
When charismatic lawyer Hank Palmer learns of his mother’s passing, he finds himself back in the town in which he grew up. Hank seems haunted by the town’s simplistic nature and its lack of change. He has happy memories of this place but they are overshadowed by his broken relationship with his father. Hank has…
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Fury.
War is ghastly. We already know this but Fury is determined to drive the message home. Its grizzly depiction of life for American soldiers fighting in Nazi controlled Germany in 1945 reaffirms the horror of war and the unfathomable trauma it leaves on those “lucky” enough to survive it. Fury continues to portray the violence and…
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The Wicker Man (1973).
It is a rare and beautiful thing when everything that is wrong with a movie is everything you love about it. It usually happens with bad films but Robin Hardy’s The Wicker Man is made great by all of its problems. Last year, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of this British horror staple, I attended a…
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The Wicker Man (2006).
There is something majestically terrible about Neil LaBute’s The Wicker Man. It is undoubtedly the worst American horror-remake to ever be made, making a conscious effort to highlight references to Robin Hardy’s sensational original but simultaneously pushing aside everything that made its predecessor so unique and artistic. The action is moved from rural Scotland to a…
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Gone Girl.
David Fincher, with all his versatility and boldness, demonstrates his cinematic mastery in his perfectly paced and equally eerie thriller, Gone Girl. Fincher’s return to the screen seems to have come out of nowhere. Gone Girl is one of those triumphant and surprising gems that often arrives unexpectedly in October, getting us all in the mood for…
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Seven.
David Fincher’s career has been a diverse and admirable one. His movies vary in style and purpose but, for the most part, remain ambitious and impressive. His portfolio isn’t perfect but it reflects a director who has explored many avenues of cinema, transforming and growing as a film-maker as a result. Many would argue that…
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Pride.
Political, hysterical and downright ruddy fun, Pride is brimming over with heart and soul. The film opens and closes at two consecutive London Pride marches. The year in between each event makes up the film’s narrative. When the unions refuse to accept donations from the gay community in support of the miners, the LGSM are…
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Magic in the Moonlight.
Throughout his body of work, Woody Allen has always dabbled with magic. There is something about the impossible and the mystical that seems to fascinate a man so obsessed with his own mortality. The common consensus seems to be that, these days, Allen’s movies rise and fall in a natural motion. His last six or…
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The Ides of March.
George Clooney’s intense political drama explores the sinister underbelly of a campaign between two presidential candidates. The Ides of March takes place in Ohio, a crucial destination to the campaign that could determine which side takes the lead and ultimately wins. With this knowledge in the minds of all those involved in the battle, tensions couldn’t…
Hannah McHaffie 