Tag: Movie
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A Most Wanted Man.
Four months after the unexpected death of Philip Seymour Hoffman, one of his final performances is being screened at Edinburgh International Film Festival. An Unwanted Man presents Hoffman as the leader of a secret team, living in Hamburg and fighting the war against terror in dangerous and highly sensitive ways. The film follows a simple plan to…
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We Are Monster.
Anthony Petrou’s We Are Monster not only explores the tragedy of racial hate and violence but also delves into what causes it, encourages it and fuels it. In March 2000, Zahid Mubarek was brutally murdered in his prison cell by the man he shared the space with. We Are Monster brings this true story to the big screen in…
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The Green Inferno.
Eli Roth knows how to satisfy his torture-porn audience. He’s good at that. I don’t rate it as a genre or as a credible type of film-making but nevertheless he is good at giving audiences ridiculous amounts of gore and filth. The first thing to say about Roth’s The Green Inferno is that this is not a…
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The Skeleton Twins.
Life doesn’t always go where you want it to. In reality, not all of the high school bullies end up flipping burgers and not all of their victims end up on Broadway. These sad and painful truths are explored in Craig Johnson’s second feature film, The Skeleton Twins. Siblings Maggie and Milo both contemplate suicide on…
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Welcome to New York.
It’s almost impossible to care about anyone, or anything, in Welcome to New York. Abel Ferrara certainly likes his nasty, corrupted protagonists. From The Driller Killer to Bad Lieutenant, this is the work of a director who’s used to working with the most vicious of lead men. His latest is Mr. Devereaux, a powerful man who works for a…
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The Anomaly.
This is Noel Clarke’s third feature film as a director. Stepping away from the grimy teen violence themes that he is associated with, The Anomaly is much more of a genre piece. Venturing into directing science fiction, Clarke brings us a futuristic thriller about one man’s attempts to figure out his dramatic change in situation, but with only nine minutes until…
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Cold in July.
Jim Mickle’s latest feature film is a slippery creature. A film that transforms into something you don’t initially expect, Cold in July deviates from its original focus and ventures down dark avenues where creepy things lurk. At the heart of all of this is Richard Dane, a hard working picture-framer, a loyal husband and a protective father. We…
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Hyena.
Opening Edinburgh’s 68th International Film Festival is Gerard Johnson’s Hyena, a film that delves into the world of police corruption, oozing with misery and gore. We are first introduced to twisted policeman Michael Logan when he, with his gang of cronies in tow, raids a nightclub. This initial sequences creates a strong sense of what Hyena is all…
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22 Jump Street.
Typically, sequels are never as good as their predecessors and nobody is more aware of this than the writers of 22 Jump Street. When 21 Jump Street came out over two years ago I wrote about how pleasantly surprised I was by it. The first instalment succeeded in making an American comedy with truly great comic writing and…
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Short Film Reviews: Lone & The First Step.
Lone. (2013) Dir. Mark Pellington Lone elegantly combines experimental film and music in an almost hour long experience that is rich in ideas, textures and visuals. Its sound is layered and complex, developing and transforming as the film continues. It has elements of Terence Malick, David Lynch, Andrea Arnold and Harmony Korine. It is at…
Hannah McHaffie 