Tag: Cinema
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Free Fire.
Ben Wheatley’s back catalogue is rich in style and substance, from the dark horror and humour of Sightseers to the grit and claustrophobia of Down Terrace to the suspense and ultimate chaos of Kill List to the artistic hypnosis of the triumphant A Field in England. Despite being unconvinced by High Rise, I couldn’t help but marvel at its textured layers of satirical…
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Raw.
It’s always special to uncover a new horror film which turns the genre on its head. In recent years I’ve been delighted by the nostalgic tones of It Follows and the crafty creeps of The Babadook and have come to expect just one or two of these treats a year. What a delight it is then…
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Personal Shopper.
Olivier Assayas’ desperately flawed Personal Shopper is undoubtedly my least favourite film of the year so far. It has a script so stale you could snap it over your knee and an array of equally wooden performances to match. Kristen Stewart is at the heart of all the chaos. Having successfully broken away from the…
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Get Out.
Jordan Peele’s striking debut is a near perfect, satirical thriller. A chilling and enticing story which plays on American racial dynamics, Get Out is a smart, unique, mainstream cinema experience – a rare delight. In a theatrical world dominated by sequels and remakes, original storytelling is becoming more and more of a precious treat. Films…
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Elle.
From Starship Troopers to Showgirls, Paul Verhoeven has always been a provocative boundary pusher. He’s a Director who’s used satirical cinema to challenge his audience and has always provoked a reaction. His back-catalogue is a chaotic and versatile bag of contradictions and in many ways Elle is no different. When Michelle, the successful co-founder of…
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O.J.: Made in America.
This time last year, I was hooked on HBO’s The People vs. O.J. Simpson, despite initially only tuning in to get a peek at John Travolta’s startling transformation for his role. Only vaguely familiar with the legendary trial, which happened when I was only three or four, I found this re-imagining entertaining and engaging but…
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20th Century Women.
Disgracefully overlooked at this year’s Academy Awards is Mike Mills’ 20th Century Women. It centres around a mother and her son and a set number of individuals who enter their home and lives. Annette Bening’s performance should not be undervalued simply because she is always so consistently outstanding. Every furrow of her brow and each…
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Hidden Figures.
A film with all the right intentions, Hidden Figures is a celebration of three criminally undervalued black women and their invaluable contributions to the US space programme in the 1960s, as NASA attempts to propel a man into orbit for the first time. Hidden Figures opens with our three protagonists gathered around their broken vehicle,…
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Moonlight.
From its first intoxicating moment, to its last; Moonlight is the sensational underdog of this year’s American award season. Capturing the life and mind-set of a young boy entering adulthood in Miami, Moonlight captures the ugliness of adolescence, the agony of addiction and the frustration of growing up as a young, black, gay man in…
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Lion.
The sight of authentic Indian street confectioneries on a kitchen counter sparks a vital memory for Saroo, a university student who’s grown up in Tasmania, adopted by a loving native couple at the age of five. Now in his early twenties, he’s forgotten the first years of his life in India which resulted in being…
Hannah McHaffie 