CineVue
For the latest reviews of arthouse, documentary and indie film in cinemas and on the festival circuit.
★★☆☆☆ It’s a who’s who of comedic talent in The Little Hours, which puts a modern spin on The Decameron, Giovanni Boccaccio’s collection of 14th century tales that is said to have inspired Chaucer and Shakespeare, amongst other celebrated writers.Aubrey Plaza, Alison Brie and Kate Micucci star as Fernanda, Alessandra Continue Reading
★★★☆☆ This culture clash comedy in the vein of late 1990s classic East Is East is warm-hearted, funny and light-footed. Raghdan (Nikesh Patel) lives in Sligo, where he moved from Bradford a few years ago to live with his uncle Jamal (Paul Tylak). He leads a quiet life, staying out Continue Reading
★★☆☆☆ Up in the Scottish highlands on a break to try and rescue their fledging relationship, Louise (Rebecca Calder) and Claire (Deirdre Mullins) endure difficult occurrences in Gary Love’s less-than-inventive thriller.It starts out well enough. Louise, clearly experiencing a level of past trauma teased out through short memory bursts of Continue Reading
★★★☆☆ Laura Poitras returns with another probing political documentary, but this time the film’s own post production proves as fascinating as its whistle-blowing subject. The thought of several years of unprecedented access to Julian Assange and Wikileaks is more than enough on its own to whet the appetite of documentary Continue Reading
★★★★☆ The latest high profile Netflix feature, Bong Joon-ho’s Okja is lumbering, clumsy but ultimately as loveable as its eponymous star: it’s Babe on steroids. And it’s possible that as with George Miller’s classic many a future vegetarian will trace their decision back to this movie.The Monsanto-sounding Mirando Corporation led Continue Reading
★★★★☆ Baby Driver, writer and director Edgar Wright’s first film since capping off the Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy with The World’s End, combines elements from the width and breadth (thriller, musical, comedy) to deliver one of the most original, thrilling and – oddly enough – romantic films of the year.Fault Continue Reading
★★★★☆ Honouring and recognising the city of London through the power of images set to a beautifully orchestrated score, London Symphony – the crowdfunded documentary film from critic and filmmaker Alex Barrett – is an ode to a bustling, diverse and ever-changing capital.It’s a move to recapture the symphony films Continue Reading
★★★★☆ “There was nothing before Sonja, and there is nothing after her.” Crack the cantankerous outer-shell of the boorish pensioner who stands head and shoulders above nuisance neighbours in Hannes Holm’s A Man Called Ove and beneath it lies a man bereft.After the death of his wife, and with his Continue Reading
★★☆☆☆ British actors Emma Thompson and Brendan Gleeson star as unexpected Nazi resistors Anna and Otto Quangel in Vincent Perez’s Alone in Berlin, adapted from the 1947 novel Each Dies Only for Himself by Hans Fallada, which wasn’t translated into English until 2009.Alone in Berlin tells the story of Anna Continue Reading
★★☆☆☆ For the initiated and uninitiated alike, Benny Boom’s All Eyez On Me will be seen as an opportunity missed. Never putting its larger than life subject under the objective microscope that all good biopics should, it vaults him instead onto a fanboy pedestal in gleaming, unadulterated limelight. It’s quite Continue Reading
★★★★☆ Maurice Hatton’s 1978 film Long Shot is independent cinema at its most charming. As aspiring film producer Charlie (Charles Gormley) hawks his screenplay in Edinburgh, the film’s meandering, shaggy-dog plot does little to harm its overall warmth, wit and Lothian vibe.Littered with cameos from a host of cinematic luminaries, Continue Reading
★★★☆☆ Michelle Pfeiffer delivers one of her best performance in years in Where is Kyra?, director Andrew Dosunmu’s follow-up to Mother of George. It’s a dark, often suffocating character study that revels in misery, barely a hint of levity in sight as a woman spirals into desperation.Pfeiffer plays Kyra, who Continue Reading
★★★☆☆ Damien Power’s feature debut Killing Ground adopts an interesting non-linear structure that nicely builds tension to tell a story that’s otherwise unremarkable. However smart it is in its plotting, the film ultimately succumbs to needlessly over-the-top violence.Ian (Ian Meadows) and Sam (Harriet Dyer), a couple whose back story is Continue Reading
★★★★☆ Simon Hunter’s Edie features a stand-out performance from Sheila Hancock, who takes a fairly standard story and makes it into a truly inspiring tale of overcoming grief and starting anew in later life. Hancock is Edie, an elderly woman living under the hand of her husband, who she’s been Continue Reading
★★☆☆☆ Esteemed British actor John Hurt sadly passed away earlier this year at the age of 77, with one of his final roles being in Eric Styles’ That Good Night, which receives its World Premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival this week.That Good Night is an adaptation of a Continue Reading