★★★★★ Intellectual Polish director Wojciech Marcezewski was no stranger to his country’s censors, and exploited this to the full in his absurdist comedy, Escape From the ‘Liberty’ Cinema (Ucieczka z kina ‘Wolnosc’, 1990). A film that featured in the Un Certain Regard selection at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival, it Continue Reading
★★★☆☆ When one thinks of stop motion animation, industry legend Ray Harryhausen (alongside, for Brits at least, Aardman’s Nick Park) would probably be the first name that springs to mind. Responsible for influencing some of the biggest fantasy filmmaking names in the business – and even immortalised by a specially-named Continue Reading
★★☆☆☆ If you enjoy obscure Dutch films about obscure Dutch crimes, then 21 Days: The Heineken Kidnapping (2011) may well refresh the parts other thrillers simply can’t reach. For many, however, the weak third act and cast of dislikeable characters could encourage you to file the DVD in the ‘never watch Continue Reading
★★☆☆☆ Comedown (2012), the new British indie horror from Kidulthood director Menhaj Huda, starring Jacob Anderson, Sophie Stuckey and Adam Deacon, is reminiscent (one imagines) of a bad trip – minus any of the accompanying highs. A group of teenagers including Lloyd (Anderson) and his pregnant girlfriend Jemma (Stuckey) decide Continue Reading
★★★☆☆ After a five-year hiatus, Paul Thomas Anderson follows up his Oscar-winning There Will be Blood (2007) with The Master (2012), an overly complex tale which is nonetheless magnificently acted and shot. The film begins and ends with Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix), a WWII veteran who is having difficulty adjusting Continue Reading
★★☆☆☆ Evoking The Blair Witch Project (1999) with its opening snippets of residents alluding to a local urban legend, at first glance Community (2012) appears to be yet another entry into the found footage sub-genre. However, Jason Ford’s debut feature swiftly discards such trappings, revealing itself as a modern British Continue Reading
