★★★☆☆ An adaptation of William Faulkner’s 1935 novel Pylon (and considered by Faulkner to be the finest of all screen adaptations of his work), Douglas Sirk’s haunting and inherently sad The Tarnished Angels (1957) has been given the Blu-ray treatment by The Masters of Cinema, a label known for cherishing Continue Reading
★★★★☆ Though you’d be forgiven for initially thinking that ‘Travis Bickle: The Post-College Life’ was playing out in front of you (with a healthy dose of Gaspar Noé thrown in), Antonio Campos’ Simon Killer (2012) soon settles into a unique and riveting psychological thriller. Simon (Brady Corbet) is a college Continue Reading
★★☆☆☆ Films such as Weekend (2012), Keep the Lights On (2012) and I Want your Love (2012) have all recently hinted at a fast-emerging new wave of queer cinema. All three films possess a naturalistic style and an interest in the routine aspects of gay relationships, embracing the real rather Continue Reading
★★★★★ Nowhere (1997) follows Totally F***ed Up (1993) and The Doom Generation (1995) as the third and final instalment in renegade filmmaker Gregg Araki’s Teenage Apocalypse trilogy. Jam-packed full of rampant, libidinous teens that exist in a multicultural, pop art, dystopian fantasy, watching Nowhere is what might happen were you Continue Reading
★★★☆☆ The first of two films this year to use the White House as its setting, Olympus Has Fallen (2013) is the latest film to adopt the time-honoured one man army vs. terrorists plot-line, and it accomplishes its task in entertaining fashion. Directed by Antoine Fuqua (Training Day), it sees Continue Reading
★★★☆☆ The Land of Hope (2012) is a delicately-paced drama, centring on the lives of a rural farming family who are affected by a nearby environmental catastrophe, set a few years after the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster. Sion Sono intended to create a film that captured how a tragedy like this Continue Reading
★★★★☆ Tobias Lindholm’s A Hijacking (Kapringen, 2012) is a refreshingly naturalistic, fictionalised tale of a Danish merchant vessel held captive by Somali pirates. Traversing the usual heightened testosterone and bravado of other hostage dramas, A Hijacking may be short on action, but more than makes up for it with an Continue Reading
★★★★☆ On 24 February, 2010, experienced SeaWorld trainer Dawn Brancheau was killed by a male orca called Tilikum during a live show. Initially, the details of the incident were unclear, with early reports that the trainer had slipped and fallen into the tank – or that the whale had grabbed Continue Reading
★★★★☆ Pulled into this year’s Film4 FrightFest shorts programme at the last minute after impressing the powers that be, Yellow (2012) is a strange, seductive and visually striking short by young director Ryan Haysom. Shot in Berlin, Yellow not only showcases the talent of Haysom and his cinematographer Jon Britt, Continue Reading
★★★☆☆ A low-concept, micro-budget British horror may not be the most enticing of premises, but thanks to two standout performances from rising stars Alice Englert (Ginger & Rosa) and Iain De Caestecker (most recently seen in Scott Graham’s feature debut Shell) Jeremy Lovering’s In Fear (2013) is a far more Continue Reading
★★★☆☆ Not to be confused with the 1996 Stallone film, Daylight (2013) is something of a team effort, boasting a trio of directors – David McCracken, Joel Townsend and Kaidan Tremain – who also divvy up a number of additional production credits as well. Taking pace in the titular town Continue Reading
