★★★☆☆ One of the most unmistakable filmmakers currently working, Wes Anderson is the go-to stylist for A.I.-generated parodies. His distinctive colour palettes, flat, lateral camera moves, diorama scene design and starry deadpan performances of witticism clipped from The New Yorker mean that most can pre-visualise his films before they even buy a ticket.
★★★★☆ When asked why he called his novel How to Be Good, novelist Nick Hornby replied because having “how” in the title boosts sales significantly. We’re all looking for guidebooks, even when we read novels or see films. The world is a scary and confusing place, and we need someone to show us the way.
★★★☆☆ American director Todd Haynes returns to the Cannes Croisette with the recently Netflix-acquired May December, a Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore two-hander that asks the question: what if Brian De Palma remade Persona but as a comedy?
★★★☆☆ Based on the bestselling novel by American author Dean Koontz, Odd Thomas (2013) comes to UK DVD after a short legal battle quashed any possibility of a theatrical release. Directed by Stephen Sommers, whose mild-horror track record has been...
★★★☆☆ Muscle Shoals, which lends its name to Greg Camalier’s doc, is an Alabama city based on the southern banks of the Tennessee River (population 12,000). Back in the fifties it was even smaller, a rural smudge on the map,...
★★☆☆☆ Largely ignored by cinema audiences both in the UK and across the pond, directing duo Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini’s Girl Mostly Likely (2012) may also struggle to find adoration on the small screen. Whilst there are occasional...
★★★★☆ A TV series such as Bates Motel, based on a film as iconic as Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960), would appear to have the odds stacked against from the off. However, this ten-parter – starring Vera Farmiga, Freddy Highmore and Max...
★★★☆☆ Touted as the final film in British filmmaker Richard Curtis’ sparse directorial career, About Time (2013) is his third and perhaps most considered feature: a sci-fi-inflected romantic comedy that very much slots into – but arguably attempts to depart...