April 2012
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DVD Review: ‘The Wicker Tree’
★☆☆☆☆ Revered British horror director Robin Hardy returns to familiar ground with The Wicker Tree (2010), an impromptu sequel-of-sorts to his seminal 1973 cult classic The Wicker Man. Sadly, this time around Hardy can only offer up an extraordinarily trite affair that lacks the mystery and genuine horror of his original masterpiece.The Wicker Tree sees…
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DVD Review: ‘The Iron Lady’
★★★☆☆ The most striking aspect of Phyllida Lloyd’s Margaret Thatcher biopic The Iron Lady (2011) is in its treading-on-eggshells approach to dealing with the politics that made the grocer’s daughter from Grantham such a polarising figure. Whilst Lloyd has since made it explicitly clear that that was her intended approach in depicting the Iron Lady…
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Cannes 2012: ‘Lawless’ preview
Those of you who have been kept awake at night wondering what had happened to John Hillcoat’s adaptation of Matt Bondurant’s historical novel The Wettest County in the World can finally rest easy, as the film – renamed Lawless (2012) – will receive its World Premiere at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. This recent name…
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Udine Far East Film Festival 2012: ‘Vulgaria’
★★★☆☆ Ho-Cheung Pang’s Vulgaria (2012), which had its European Premiere during a packed midnight screening at the 14th Udine Far East Film Festival, stars Chapman To as fictional film producer Wai-Cheung To. From his blunt and coarse comparison of the role of a film producer to the function of pubic hair, to his phenomenal story…
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Sundance 2012: Safety Not Guaranteed review
★★★★☆ American director Colin Trevorrow’s Safety Not Guaranteed (2012) is just the type of sweet-natured, low budget indie comedy (with an all-important intelligent heart) that has slowly become synonymous with the world-renowned Sundance Film Festival. Starring rising star Aubrey Plaza, Jake M. Johnson and US mumblecore actor/director Mark Duplass, Safety Not Guaranteed is a pitch…
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Sundance 2012: Filly Brown review
★★☆☆☆ From directors Yousser Delara and Michael D. Olmos comes Filly Brown (2012), a fictional tale of a promising Latino rapper trying to make it big in LA despite numerous domestic and professional obstacles. Starring Gina Rodriguez, Chrissie Fit and Lou ‘Diamond’ Phillips, this hip hop-infused drama sadly struggles to find its voice amongst its…
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Sundance 2012: LUV review
★★★☆☆ From debut director Sheldon Candis comes LUV (2012), and unconventional crime drama set on the mean, crab-filled streets of Baltimore. Candis largely ensures the cat-and-mouse structure typical of most gangster narratives, instead choosing to focus on the relationship between 11-year-old Woody Watson (Michael Rainey Jr.) and his entrepreneurial Uncle Vincent (played by US rapper…
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Sundance 2012: For Ellen review
★★☆☆☆ Regardless of others involved, a new film starring US indie darling Paul Dano will always be an intriguing prospect. Having broken onto the scene with fine performances in Sundance favourite Little Miss Sunshine (2006) and Paul Thomas Anderson’s towering Oscar-winner There Will Be Blood (2007), Dano has since retracted into the background with a…
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Sundance 2012: Chasing Ice review
★★★★★ Easily one of the most eagerly-anticipated films to feature in this year’s inaugural Sundance London festival programme was the National Geographic-funded documentary Chasing Ice (2012). Director Jeff Orlowski has painstakingly created a fascinating and powerful movie about climate change by presenting the audience with the globally important work of photographer James Balog and his…
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Udine Film Festival 2012: ‘You Are the Apple of My Eye’
★★★★☆ Reminiscent of 2010 Thai romance A Little Thing Called Love, You Are the Apple of My Eye (2011) by Taiwanese author-turned-director Giddens Ko brings back memories of falling in love for the first time. It is a story about the glory of high-school days, when everyone struggles to navigate the ship of life through…