★★☆☆☆ American filmmaker Derek Cianfrance (Blue Valentine) begins his latest effort, The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), with a majestic long take, following Ryan Gosling’s tattooed motorcycle stunt rider Luke Glanton as he works his way through a crowded small town fairground towards his assembled fans. Unfortunately, this isn’t quite Continue Reading
★☆☆☆☆ Joseph Kosinski’s dire new sci-fi Oblivion (2013), starring Tom Cruise, was made for an estimated budget of $120 million. Whilst this certainly isn’t the pinnacle of filmmaking excess, the gargantuan sums spent on Hollywood blockbusters are often impossible to justify. Occasionally, however, a movie will have just enough redeeming Continue Reading
★★★★☆ Simon Killer (2012), the second film from Antonio Campos (Afterschool), is a bracing, darkly comic glare into the abyss. Beneath its stylish veneer is pure grit; a tangle of depravity and violence skilfully manipulated by Campos into something mysterious and disorientating. Co-produced by Martha Marcy May Marlene’s Sean Durkin, Continue Reading