Film reviews and more
★★★☆☆ Another quality release courtesy of Arrow Films’ Nordic Noir stable, Kjell Sundvall’s 2011 film False Trail (a direct sequel to his 1996 outing Jägarna, aka The Hunters), is a suitably dark, snaking tale of familial secrets and lies set against the expansive Swedish pine forests. Borrowing elements from some of Scandinavia’s finest […]
★★☆☆☆ An ever so cynical, pre-award season release riffing on potential Academy Award nominee Zero Dark Thirty (2012), John Stockwell’s Codename: Operation Geronimo (aka SEAL Team Six: The Raid on Osama Bin Laden, 2012) – from the producer of 2010’s The Hurt Locker, Kathryn Bigelow’s Oscar winner – suffers from both an underwhelming, […]
★★★☆☆ American director Robert Aldrich’s 1962 psychological drama What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? celebrates its 50th anniversary in style this week with an impressive digital restoration, courtesy of Park Circus, and follows the melodramatic tale of two rival sisters clinging on to the remnants of the fame of their youth, played by […]
★★☆☆☆ In Dead Europe (2012), Australian photographer Isaac (Ewen Leslie) heads to Greece (his family’s home nation) for the first time, presenting an exhibition of his work while at the same time visiting his errant brother Nikolai (Marton Csokas). His father – an ex-communist who fled the fascist uprising – has sunk into […]
★★★☆☆ A modest yet elegantly constructed period drama, Babette’s Feast is a curiously middlebrow choice for a BFI rerelease. Winner of the 1987 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, this is just about as genteel as Oscar recipients come. Adapted by director Gabriel Axel from an Isak Dinesen short story, the narrative drifts […]