Tag: Cinema
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Dallas Buyers Club.
David France’s How to Survive a Plague was a documentary all about the power of activism which helped destroy the death sentence that came hand in hand with the diagnosis of AIDS. The film studies the protests and passion of a group of inspiring individuals who fought with governments and establishments in order to demand drugs and…
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Her.
Visually, Spike Jonze’s futuristic romantic new feature film, Her, is breathtaking. Crisp and bright, Her is bathed in pastel tints and the warm glows of a not so distant future. The film’s aesthetic remains consistently refreshing from the opening detailed close up of actor Joaquin Phoenix’s face to the closing images of a city, lit up and buzzing with…
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August: Osage County.
Following a tragic event, the Weston family children, consisting of three sisters, return to the sticky heat of their childhood home, just outside of Oklahoma. The film’s title provides the place and time of this story. The Weston sisters are parented by Beverley and Violet. They have an alcoholic poet for a father and a…
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Inside Llewyn Davis.
Doesn’t everybody know a version of Llewyn Davis? Set in 1961, Inside Llewyn Davis shows us one week in the life of a struggling folk musician. Llewyn has certainly been dealt some blows from the world. With his performance partner having recently jumped to his death from what one character claims to be “the wrong bridge”, we…
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Mary & Max.
In 2003, Harvie Krumpet won an Academy Award for best animated short film. A 22 minute Australian clay animation, Harvie Krumpet tells the heart-breaking story of one man and his battle with a lot of misfortune whilst remaining ever the optimist. Illness, war, old age, disability and loss swamp Harvie’s existence but he never allows any of this to…
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Happiness.
One hardly knows where to begin with reviewing such a film. Todd Solondz’s Happiness is many things but let’s start with the acknowledgement that it is a challenging film. It is a disgusting masterpiece that taunts its audience who tend not to know how to react to it. The sensational Roger Ebert summarised the spectator’s battle with Happiness in…
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Edinburgh: January.
After a 6 week trip back home over the Christmas break I am finally back in Edinburgh. My time at home was a busy but relaxing one. Despite working as many hours as possible behind a bar and stressfully submitting my essays I also spend some wonderful quality time with my family, friends and partner.…
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The Railway Man.
Eric Lomax’s story is one of sorrow, redemption and forgiveness. There is a sadness and a beauty in the real tale that would have made for a stunning cinematic adaptation. Sadly, The Railway Man fails, in all possible ways, to tell this story. In 1942, Lomax, who was a British army officer, found himself in a Japanese…
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The Wolf of Wall Street.
A familiar force is present in Scorsese’s latest cinematic whirlwind in the form of editor Thelma Schoonmaker. Wife of the late and great Michael Powell, one of Scorsese’s cinematic idols, Schoonmaker has edited every film of Scorsese’s since Raging Bull and it could be argued that she is equally responsible for creating that precise feeling I get…
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12 Years a Slave.
Out of this year’s nine Academy Award ‘Best Picture’ nominees it is possible that 12 Years a Slave has had the most publicity; closely followed by Gravity. Adapted from the memoirs of Solomon Northup, 12 Years a Slave tells a story of truth; a fact that makes the film even harder to watch and more tragic to accept. The injustice of…
Hannah McHaffie 