★★☆☆☆ Chosen as the closing night film at this year’s BFI London Film Festival and starring Rachel Weisz, Simon Russell Beale and Tom Hiddleston, The Deep Blue Sea (2011) marks Terence Davies’ return from a self-imposed, 11-year hiatus, and once […]
★★★☆☆ Simon Curtis’ My Week with Marilyn (2011) is based on the true story of the uneasy six month production of Sir Laurence Olivier’s The Prince and the Showgirl (1957), and the unlikely friendship that blossomed between Marilyn Monroe (Michelle […]
Tomorrow night sees the launch night of the annual onedotzero: adventures in motion festival at the BFI Southbank in London. The event has become a regular and much-loved fixture on the film festival calendar, furnishing a strong and distinct reputation […]
With the English language film adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – the first book in the late Swedish crime writer Stieg Larsson’s bestselling Millennium trilogy – due for release in the UK on Boxing Day (26 December) […]
★★★★☆ Widely regarded as one of the most emotionally engaging films released this year, before first viewing Iranian director Asghar Farhadi’s A Separation (2011) certainly commands some high expectations. Fortunately, Farhadi’s latest effort succeeds as an intricately-woven drama that delivers […]
★★★★★ Finally released on Blu-ray this month, Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Three Colours Trilogy stars Juliette Binoche, Julie Delpy and Irene Jacob in three of the most revered pieces of European cinema ever made. Named after the colours of the French flag […]
★★☆☆☆ Horrible Bosses (2011) – the farcical comedy from director Seth Gordon – is certainly a surprise, though possibly not of the pleasant kind. With an A-list cast including Arrested Development’s Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, Jason Sudeikis, Kevin Spacey, Jennifer […]
★★☆☆☆ Deadly Blessing (1981) has the potential to be a classic, but ultimately fails to deliver what matters most in a horror film – namely horror. Terror maestro Wes Craven’s fifth directorial outing, and the first main feature for an […]
★★★★☆ ‘Pink film’ is a Japanese phenomenon that conveys complex political issues of gender and sexuality through sex and sexual violence. However, Underwater Love (2011) is a mixture of surrealist comedy, musical and softcore pornography and happily forgoes the sexual […]
★★★☆☆ Hoping to capitalise on the success of current BBC One ratings hit Frozen Planet and the Christmas home entertainment market, this week BBC Earth release One Life (2011) on DVD and Blu-ray following its theatrical run in July of […]
In a flurry of fake snow and Arctic-themed decorations, Happy Feet Two (2011) premiered earlier today in Central London. Directed by George Miller, the movie brings back the talents of Elijah Wood (Mumble), Robin Williams (Ramon/Lovelace) and Hugo Weaving (Noah […]
Spirits were high on Wednesday night as hundreds queued outside Manchester’s Town Hall for perhaps the most hotly-anticipated of this year’s Jameson Cult Film Club screenings. For one night only, the beautiful gothic surroundings of the Great Hall were transformed […]
★★★★☆ Daniel Henshall and Lucas Pittaway are both phenomenally assured in Justin Kurzel’s debut Snowtown (2011), an uncomfortably harrowing and gritty account of Australia’s most notorious serial killer (John Bunting) and the infamous ‘bodies in the barrels’ case which shocked […]
★★★☆☆ So, another successful franchise is gearing up towards its end: The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 (2011) – directed by Bill Condon, starring Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner and released this Friday – is in […]
★★★★☆ Andrew Kötting returns to screens this week with the wonderfully vivid and emotionally provoking documentary This Our Still Life (2011), courtesy of the BFI. This is a work that is not only innovative in its use of footage and […]
★★☆☆☆ After last week’s cinematic flop Trespass (2011), Nicolas Cage returns to screens this Friday to star in Roger Donaldson’s Justice (2011) (AKA Seeking Justice in the US), a film that somehow manages to set the bar even lower for […]
★★★★☆ In 1964, Ken Kesey – author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest – set off on a LSD-fuelled road trip to the New York World’s Fair. He was joined by ‘The Merry Band of Pranksters’ a renegade group […]
★★☆☆☆ Released over a year after premiering in the US, Jake Scott’s (son of Ridley Scott) Welcome to the Rileys (2010) sees James Gandolfini play Doug Riley, a mild-mannered businessman stuck in a rut. After having lost their daughter eight […]
