2011
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Film Review: ‘Dreams of a Life’
★★★★☆ Perfectly rounding off an exceptionally strong year for documentary filmmaking in style, Carol Morley’s Dreams of a Life (2011) is a warm-hearted and deeply moving ode to Joyce Carol Vincent – a vibrant, talented young woman whose remains were discovered in her flat in 2003, three years after dying alone in front of her…
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Film Review: ‘Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows’
★★★☆☆ British director Guy Ritchie returns this week with steam-punk sequel Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011), with Robert Downey Jr. reprising his role as Holmes alongside Jude Law’s ever-dependable Dr. Watson, plus the addition of the original ‘Girl With The Dragon Tattoo’ (and star of Ridley Scott’s upcoming 2012 3D sci-fi epic Prometheus)…
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Secret Cinema: December Review
How do you review a film that you’re not allowed to talk about? New film releases are generally placed under an embargo of some sort, but Secret Cinema – the London-based film event where patrons buy a ticket without knowing what film it is they are paying to see – puts me in an entirely…
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DVD Review: ‘The First Movie’
★★☆☆☆ The First Movie (1999) is an ultimately disappointing, overly self-reverential documentary from filmmaker and journalist Mark Cousins, whose recent More4 TV series The Story of Film: An Odyssey was – adversely – an intelligently written and insightful piece of work. There’s no doubt that when it comes to Cousins’ knowledge of cinema, there’s little…
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DVD Review: ‘Conan the Barbarian’
★★☆☆☆ Conan the Barbarian (2011), starring Game of Thrones star Jason Momoa as the more brawn than brain warrior and Rachel Nichols as Tamara his prerequisite love interest, is a lacklustre reboot of the original 1982 Arnold Schwarzenegger classic. Conan (Momoa), is born in the midst of war, as his mother is killed during a…
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DVD Review: ‘The Inbetweeners Movie’
★★★★☆ The Inbetweeners Movie (2011) opens with the forever sexually-deluded Jay (James Buckley), naked but for a pair of snorkels and slithers of ham strewn inexplicably about his person, enthusiastically masturbating to European pornography. At this exquisite moment of teenage self-love, his mother walks into his bedroom and informs him that his grandfather has died.…
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DVD Review: ‘Super 8’
★★★★☆ Written and directed by J.J. Abrams and with Steven Spielberg as its producer, Super 8 (2011) tells the story of a group of young filmmakers who inadvertently capture a horrific train crash whilst filming a scene for their amateur zombie movie. The accident leads to a series of mysterious disappearances and events, and as…
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DVD Review: ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes’
★★★☆☆ One of few box office successes to stand out from a crop of misfiring summer blockbusters, Rupert Wyatt’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) may not be the subtlest of allegories but its revolutionary hero Caesar – played by mocap go-to man Andy Serkis – remains one of the finest digital creations…
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Film Review: ‘Another Earth’
★★★★☆ Winner of the Special Jury Prize at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, director Mike Cahill’s celestial cinematic voyage Another Earth (2011) is a fantastic example of how science fiction should be used – transcending the spectacle associated with the genre in search of something more metaphysical, whilst commendably remaining firmly based in the roots…
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Red Carpet: ‘Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows’ UK Premiere
Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011) received its European premiere tonight in London’s Leicester Square amidst wind, rain and the cheers of a huge, bedraggled crowd. Braving the icy weather, director Ritchie and stars Jude Law and Robert Downey Jr. took to the red carpet to present the film, which this time…