Month: February 2011
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Film Review: ‘Howl’
★★☆☆☆ The hybrid Allen Ginsberg biopic/re-enactment/interview/adaptation Howl (2010) is a curious little picture. Written and directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, the film debuted at last year’s Sundance Film Festival to somewhat mixed reviews. Some reviewers praised the imaginative visual treatment of Ginsberg’s infamous poem, while others criticised a rather staid approach to the dramatic…
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Film Review: ‘Waste Land’
★★★★☆ There’s always a niggling feeling when you watch a film like Lucy Walker’s Waste Land (2010) that you’re going to be guilt tripped into sorting through your rubbish, essentially paying for a feature length advert on the benefits of recycling. Although it’s true that you’ll probably end up being a bit more self-conscious about quite…
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Special Feature: On style, taste and formalism
The director of a film is usually the person who is identified as the author (or auteur), because they decide primarily how the film should look. After all, film is a visual medium; the look of it is paramount. While some directors favour particularly noticeable techniques (the heightening artificiality of Todd Haynes, or the lengthy…
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Ghost hunting with Paranormal Activity 2
On a cold, dark London evening, I had the chance to experience Tod Williams’ Paranormal Activity 2 (2010) – released on DVD this coming Monday (28 February) – in the scariest environment imaginable: the downstairs of a South London pub. This special screening of the film was preceded by a spooky stroll around London’s shadow-filled streets.…
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Special Feature: ‘Eclectic Electric All-Nighter’
The Electric Cinema – the oldest cinema in London – will be celebrating its 100th birthday this Saturday (26th February) with the ‘Eclectic Electric All-Nighter’. The venue will be screening a selection of films from the Cinema Club’s 1970s programmes, and is set to be guest curated by Peter Howden.Screenings begin at 11pm with Michael Powell’s recently…
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DVD Review: ‘The Living and the Dead’
★★★☆☆ Adapted by Josip Mlakic from his award-winning novel of the same name and directed by Kristijan Milic, The Living and the Dead (2007) tells the tale of two bands of soldiers who fight under exact same circumstances and in the same location, yet with half a century between them. Originally screened at the Sarajevo Film Festival…
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DVD Releases: ‘Despicable Me’
In an attempt to establish themselves as genuine rivals to the sublime Pixar, Universal Pictures offers up its debut 3D animation in the form of Despicable Me (2010), directed by Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud.With an output of unprecedented consistency and visual resplendence over recent years, it may seem an almost impossible task to take…
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Film Review: ‘Inside Job’
★★★★☆ Nominated for Best Documentary at this year’s Academy Awards, Charles Ferguson’s Inside Job (2010) may not be the most enjoyable watch of those featured in the category but it is certainly the most horrific; which, considering the toxic nature of GasLand (2010) and the brutal insights of warfare shown in Restrepo (2010), is no…
