Film reviews and more
★★☆☆☆ The financial crisis has hit Italy particularly hard and laid bare the structural defects of a country in serious need of reform, to the extent that even now it’s floundering in a triple-dip recession while other European countries slowly, […]
★★★☆☆ All good horror films construct a sense of unease by drawing on relatable fears, burrowing deep into your subconscious and unearthing a Pandora’s Box of internalised anxiety. Leigh Janiak’s genuinely unsettling debut feature, Honeymoon (2014), examines one of the […]
★★★★★ Benedikt Erlingsson’s widely acclaimed, award-winning debut feature Of Horses and Men (2013) is as unique and clever as its subject – the Icelandic horse. As well as their distinctive faces, shaggy mane and tails, these small, sturdy beasts have […]
★★★☆☆ Arrow Video has once again dug down deep into the cornucopia of neglected cult titles to unearth a gem. Thom Eberhardt’s cheaply-made but impressive-looking apocalyptic sci-fi/horror yarn, 1984’s Night of the Comet is George A. Romero-style zombie invasion infused […]
★★☆☆☆ Longing, passion and an illicit love affair should be ripe material for any romping period drama. Sadly, actor-turned-director Charlie Stratton’s adaptation of Neal Bell’s play, In Secret (2013) – which is in turn based upon Émile Zola’s 1867 novel […]
★★★★★ Celebrating the 50th anniversary with a special gold-rimmed Steelbook, it’s easy to see why Guy Hamilton’s Goldfinger (1964) remains, for many, the quintessential 007 outing. Bond’s tussle with bullion dealer Auric Goldfinger (did he get into the trade due […]
★★★★★ When we think of the American musical, our collective consciousness will immediately race to Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly, but choreographer turned director Busby Berkeley is the flamboyant, wildcard auteur of the genre. After organising military parades as an […]
★★★★★ “Illicit love! Illegitimate birth! Desertion from the army!” cried the Hollywood censors at the prospect of bringing Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms to the screen. “This is a magnificently written story and a great one but it is […]
★★★★☆ Newly released by the BFI this week ahead of its upcoming sci-fi season, the collection Outer Space – encompassing three classics from the Children’s Film Foundation, directed by Harley Cokeliss, Guy Fergusson and Ian Shand – proves why works […]
★★★★☆ French director Philippe Claudel’s noirish new thriller Before the Winter Chill (2013), starring Kristin Scott Thomas and Daniel Auteuil, follows the fortunes of middle-aged couple who find their marriage threatened by a troubled young woman. Paul (Auteuil) is a […]
★☆☆☆☆ A decade since his directorial debut Garden State (2004) offered him a platform to air his views on the quarter-life crises of a handful of waylaid young adults, ex-sitcom star Zach Braff (Scrubs) returns to the silver screen with […]
★★★☆☆ There’s an endearing nature to Liam Neeson’s action-hero exploits – what CineVue’s Chris Fennell dubbed “Neesploitation” – over the years. The man who won an Oscar nomination twenty years past for Schindler’s List (1993) is now a more bankable […]