★★★☆☆ 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?
★★★★☆ Michael and Peter Spierig’s Predestination (2014) is a tricky little thinker of a film that delivers on the promise of time-travelling shenanigans. While the previews for the film bill it as an action-packed thriller, make no mistake: this is...
★★★★☆ Even in the heavily cut form of the infamous Weinstein edit, Wong Kar-wai’s The Grandmaster (2013) has that strange alchemy that creates truly spine-tingling cinema. A ravishing film that brings pomp and grandeur to the kung fu movie, it...
★☆☆☆☆ For director Eduardo Sánchez – creator of found-footage hit The Blair Witch Project (1999) – his latest DTV contribution to the canon, Exists (2014), should have been something of a stroll in the park. Yet there’s little to recommend...
★☆☆☆☆ The way Bryn Higgins’ sophomore feature, Electricity (2014), sees itself is perhaps an integral part of its ultimate failure. It considers itself as stylish, sexy, tough, visually inspiring and numerous other targets it misses by a country mile. In...
★★★★★ The legendary (if media-propagated) Brat Pack proved to be an intrinsic part of 80s pop culture, and was a movement which grew primarily out of the films of John Hughes. The Michigan-born filmmaker enjoyed an incredibly prolific run in...