Tag: Review
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Spotlight.
Tom McCarthy’s Spotlight is surely set for Academy Award success. Brilliantly simple and expertly paced, this is the cinematic interpretation of a true story. In 2001, the Boston Globe stood up to the power of the catholic church when a small team of investigative journalists looked into a number of child molestation cases carried out by…
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Room.
Adapted from the novel by Emma Donoghue, Room is a startling story told predominantly through the eyes of Jack, a five year old who knows nothing of what lies on the other side of the four walls in which him and his mother are confined. Kidnapped seven years earlier, his mother Joy has made the decision…
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The Worst Films of 2015.
Of course, my selection of films are not actually the worst films of the year. Research, discussion and judgement prevent me from actually having to sit through the likes of Transformers 12. My list consists of many films that merely, and severely, disappointed. Some are dull, some are amateur and some annoying. I think I only truly…
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The Best Films of 2015.
This has certainly been one of the most challenging years for me, in terms of great cinema access. I moved back to Preston for my first graduate position and found myself, for the first time in four years, living in a town with no independent cinema. Stuck between a bad Odeon and a more than…
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Krampus.
The opening sequence of Krampus is delightful. An instant, visual judgement of consumerist Christmas, wrapped up in a cynical bow. Overweight Americans thunder down the aisles of supermarkets, children sob their hearts out on Santa’s lap and others, dressed up as shepherds and angels, attempt to punch the life out of one another. In a suburban…
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The Lesson.
In a small, Bulgarian classroom a student has had money stolen from her. Their teacher, Nadya, determined to identify and punish the thief, gives the culprit numerous opportunities to own up to their crime or to at least return the money. Taking this opportunity to preach a moral message, the teacher is initially defiant in…
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Bridge of Spies.
Mark Rylance and Tom Hanks both star in Bridge of Spies, the latest from Steven Spielberg. Inspired by a true story, the film takes place during the cold war. The opening scene captures almost everything that’s great about good spy movies. A phone rings and the spy, Rudolph Abel, answers it. He paints landscapes on…
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Grandma.
Grandma opens with an end. We witness the middle and conclusion of an argument between a couple, resulting in their break up. A bad start to a very long day for Elle – a liberal, a feminist a poet and an academic – she’s also a Grandmother. As one chaotic personal problem exits, another enters. Her…
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Sunset Song.
It’s been four years since the work of Terence Davies last graced our screens, in the form of the exquisite The Deep Blue Sea. Now he returns with Sunset Song, an adaptation of the Lewis Grassic Gibbon novel of the same name. I first fell in love with Davies’ work when I saw a double…
Hannah McHaffie 