★★★★★ The opening shot of Alain Resnais’ Hiroshima Mon Amour observes the entwined limbs of two lovers as ash settles on their skin before the image dissolves into those same bodies beaded with sweat. The ash, of course, suggests the […]
★★★☆☆ Camp X-Ray is one of many names by which Guantanamo Bay is known and aptly contextualises writer-director Peter Sattler’s debut feature, which is at its best when focussed on the bare bones of its storyline. A quasi-buddy film, it […]
Following hot on the heels of last week’s Bafta nominations in London as well as the weekend’s telling Golden Globe results, at 1.30pm GMT today the list of nominees for this year’s 88th Academy Awards were broadcast across the globe. […]
★★☆☆☆ All those fans of cinema out there who have long wished for an action adventure epic set in 50 BC starring Jackie Chan, John Cusack and Adrien Brody need wait no longer. Dragon Blade – from Hong Kong writer-director […]
★★☆☆☆ How many Fairbrasses does it take to knock together another hard-hitting, foul-mouthed, blood- splattered British crime movie? In the case of Jonnie Malachi’s Breakdown the answer is three. Man mountain and former Eastender Craig stars as Alfie Jennings, a vicious […]
★☆☆☆☆ Cole (Zac Efron) keeps a poster of Al Pacino in Scarface on a wall in his San Fernando Valley bungalow, a pad he shares with his bros. Ever since Brian De Palma’s 1983 gangster flick emerged with renewed vigour […]
★★★★☆ From the outset, a HBO mini-series would appear to have been the more logical fit for the epic story charting the rise and fall of notorious LA-based rap group NWA. The pioneering band not only established the West Coast […]
★★★☆☆ The dedication which closes Paul Bettany’s debut film Shelter (2014) reads “To the couple who lived outside my building”. Expressing both detachment and proximity, it admits to the essential discomfort that characterises Hollywood’s occasional flirtations with vagrancy. From The […]
★★☆☆☆ Let’s get one thing white and semi-transparent: Gaspar Noé’s latest film Love is not for the easily-embarrassed. His previous films have examined ego-dissolving drug use and the brutality of rape, and Love very much continues in the same vein […]
★★★★☆ “If you wait for the meek to inherit the Earth, there won’t be any Earth left for them to inherit,” says Bob Hunter towards the close of Jerry Rothwell’s entertaining and inspiring documentary How to Change the World. Hunter […]
★★★★☆ Perhaps best known in the UK for his game show Takeshi’s Castle, actor-director ‘Beat’ Takeshi Kitano is as enigmatic and multi-talented an artist as he is a prolific filmmaker. In the first of three Blu-ray releases this year, Third […]
★★★☆☆ One of the most enduring images of the late 1960s is that of American athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos atop the podium of the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, fists raised in defiant unity with the Black Panther […]
★★★★☆ One of the most bizarre omissions from last week’s Bafta nominations was that Charlotte Rampling did not receive a nod for her heart-breaking turn in Andrew Haigh’s superlative British drama, 45 Years (2015). She and Tom Courtenay appear as […]
In what was perhaps the strongest indication yet of which films will walk away with what at next month’s Academy Awards ceremony, Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s The Revenant dominated this year’s Golden Globes with wins for Best Picture, Best Director and […]
★★★★★ Writer-director Tobias Lindholm recaptures the hard-knuckled tension of 2012’s A Hijacking in his gripping third feature A War, recently upgraded to the nine-film shortlist for the foreign language Oscar. It more than deserves the credit – Lindholm’s film is […]
Announced by Stephen Fry and actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw, this year’s Bafta nominations were revealed earlier this morning. Todd Haynes’ Carol and Steve Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies lead the way with nine nominations a-piece, earning nods for Best Film and Best […]
When Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight was released earlier this year, many pointed to director Sergio Leone as one of the central influences. Tarantino has often name-checked and sound-checked Leone: Kill Bill: Vol. 2 features a track lifted from The Good, […]
★★★☆☆ Vincent Cassel possesses such a steely, lupine charm that he always engenders the characters he plays with subtle menace and ample charisma. His new film Partisan is no exception, giving the actor much of the heavy lifting to do […]
