★★★★★ New Year celebrations have only recently been and gone, but it may well prove difficult to find a more perfect film than Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread in 2018. That shouldn’t come as a surprise from a director behind two of the great […]
★★★★☆ The First World War might be overshadowed in the contemporary mind by its more famous sequel, but in some ways it is of greater historical importance. It destroyed once and for all the possibility of a heroic conception of war, which simply could […]
The London Short Film Festival returned to the capital this month with another cornucopia of new and beloved shorts from around the world. Taking place from 12 – 21 January it gave UK audiences a chance to catch up with shorts that have premiered […]
★★★★★ On the Eastern Front, 10-year-old Ivan Bondarev (Nikolay Burlyaev) is a Russian scout spying on the German army in order to avenge his family. Ivan’s Childhood may not be master filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky’s finest work, yet his enduring aesthetic and political concerns are […]
★★★★☆ The ever-prolific Richard Linklater is back with Last Flag Flying, a deeply mournful road movie that deals with the sudden loss of a family member in the United States Marine Corps, and the remorse of a past where a tragic accident severs close friendships. One […]
This year’s Academy Awards nominations were revealed earlier this afternoon. Guillermo Del Toro’s The Shape of Water picked up the most nominations on 13, closely followed by Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk and Martin McDonagh’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. The 90th Academy Awards ceremony, hosted by Jimmy […]
★★★★☆ Jimmy Murakami’s adaptation of Raymond Briggs’ graphic novel When the Wind Blows is a moving tale of a nuclear holocaust and its impact on the lives of an ordinary married couple of old age pensioners. As mad as the Trump era is for […]
★★★★☆ The beautifully constructed opening credits to Billy Wilder’s The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes are set fifty years after the character’s supposed death, where his personal artefacts are being reopened and methodically inspected. It suggests that what we’re about to witness is the […]
With 2017 now behind us – and with it a fairly disappointing year for what we would call ‘blockbuster cinema’ both critically and at the US box office, it’s time to look ahead to some of the tentpole titles of the coming twelve months. […]
★★★☆☆ Censorship of the free press isn’t an invention of the Trump administration. In spite of the plumes of cigarette smoke, angry chattering of typewriter keys and now antiquated passage of information, which ground The Post in its milieu of early 1970s Washington DC, […]
★★★☆☆ In Barack Obama’s final year in office, Greg Barker documents the US President’s team as they implement diplomacy and foreign policy before the clock runs out on the administration. But while Barker’s documentary is firmly focussed on the outgoing President, a tangerine-coloured menace […]
★★★★☆ Coco – Pixar’s first non-sequel film since 2015’s The Good Dinosaur – delivers heartwarming storytelling and eye-catching visuals, all the while honouring the power of family and music. It’s set during Dia de Los Muertos – the Mexican holiday Day of the Dead […]
★★★☆☆ Hungarian friends Zoli (Zoltán Fenyvesi) and Barba (Ádám Fekete) spend their days collaborating on a comic book at the disability centre where they live. But when they meet the dangerous yet intriguing Rupaszov (Szabolcs Thuróczy), all three of their lives take an unexpected […]
★★★★★ 1954, the height of the Algerian War. While the occupying French forces struggle to maintain control of the capital city, Algiers, Arab insurgents use guerrilla tactics to try to overthrow the French. Employing many of the techniques of Italian neo-realism, Gillo Pontecorvo’s stunning documentary-style […]
There have been some great casino-based films over the years and they’re not just enjoyed by gamblers either. What’s very notable about these sorts of films is that they’re always gripping, especially with them usually leading the viewer on a rollercoaster ride of great […]
★★★☆☆ Recalling the fantasy prehistoric romps of Hammer – light on historical accuracy, heavy on thrills – British animation institution Aardman return this year with Early Man, a bright if narratively bland caveman caper that effectively functions as Escape to Victory for the under-10s. […]
★★★☆☆ When British director Joe Wright made his feature debut back in 2005 with Pride and Prejudice, he showed he had something new to offer to period dramas. His shots were elegant tableaus, approached from unconventional angels, and the once tired genre felt fresh […]
★★★☆☆ Much like the serene community of Zen Buddhists who have committed to a life of tranquility and inner calm under the tutelage of mindfulness guru Thich Nhat Hanh, enjoyment of meditative documentary Walk with Me depends largely on whether or not a viewer […]
