Film reviews and more
★★★☆☆ Jonathan Holiff’s engaging debut, My Father and the Man in Black (2012), benefits greatly from its third party storytelling, as he strives to discover what drove his father, Saul – the former manager of country legend Johnny Cash – to suicide. Holiff instantly sets a bleak tone by depicting a man chasing […]
★★☆☆☆ We’ve certainly been heavily dosed with geriatric action thrillers in recent years, with Arnie taking on The Last Stand, Sylvester Stallone heading up The Expendables and Bruce Willis popping up in anything his agent prescribes. However, none can boast the hospital waiting room worth of talent of Red 2 (2013). Helen Mirren, […]
★★★★☆ It’s fitting that as My Neighbour Totoro celebrates its 25th anniversary, Studio Ghibli’s From Up on Poppy Hill (2011) hits UK shores. A tiny film about tiny things, it seems like a slight addition to the Ghibli catalogue, but under the surface lies a big heart. It starts, as all good things […]
★★☆☆☆ Bringing Austrian director Ulrich Seidl’s painfully naturalistic Paradise trilogy to a somewhat dismal dénouement, Paradise: Hope (Paradies: Hoffnung, 2013) sees Melanie (Melanie Lenz) – daughter of Love lead Teresa – packed off to fat camp to shed some excess pounds. Drawn in to a troubling relationship with the camp’s director, Seidl once […]