CineVue
For the latest reviews of arthouse, documentary and indie film in cinemas and on the festival circuit.
★★★★★ Joan Castleman (Glenn Close) has intellect, charm, and elegant diplomacy. Her husband Joe (Jonathan Pryce), meanwhile, is the personification of a ditzy writer: flyaway hair, scraggly beard, incapable of having any structure to his life – whether that’s remembering to take daily medication, or marital fidelity – and entirely dependent Continue Reading
★★★☆☆ Samantha Morton stars as a mother sinking deeper into a harrowing depression and struggling to care for her two kids in Two for Joy, Tom Beard’s feature debut. Aisha’s (Morton) daughter, Violet (Emilia Jones), just wants to revise for her GCSEs but devotes most of her time to being her Continue Reading
★★★☆☆ A British war-time thriller with a difference, Eye of the Needle is played out as far removed from those war-torn battlefields as you could get. Instead, director Richard Marquand opts largely for more intimate surrounding and manages to squeeze out some memorable moments of Hitchcockian suspense and tension. On the Continue Reading
Rumours surrounding who will play the next James Bond have been circulating since before Daniel Craig had even made Spectre. Many big names have been linked to the British spy, who has been played by seven actors thus far. It’s a coveted role for any British actor, but only the Continue Reading
Like many industries, film is one of patterns, of ebbs and flows. This makes sense, as mass media tends to reflect current social climate. Our fears, our hopes, and our dreams for the future, all of these help shape which topics and genres are at the forefront of entertainment at Continue Reading
Following the announcement earlier this week that American director Cary Joji Fukunaga has replaced Danny Boyle as director of Bond 25, along with a new release date of Valentine’s Day 2020, MI6’s top man has been on the name on everyone’s lips. But how much do we really know about Continue Reading
★★★★★ Gaspar Noé’s Climax is arguably the French provocateur at his most subdued, but it still manages to be a rollicking thrill ride of sweat, drugs and pounding disco music. The Noé trademarks are all there: MDMA, neon visuals and an atmosphere that ascends from zero to 100 MPH at frightening, lightning Continue Reading
★★★★☆ Steve Loveridge’s documentary on Mathangi Arulpragasam (aka M.I.A.) is the story of a young girl’s creative coming-of-age as an immigrant in 1990s Britain, dealing with the dichotomy of her council estate home in Hounslow, West London, and her ties to Tamil life in Sri Lanka. Matangi / Maya / Continue Reading
After garnering rave reviews at Venice, Alfonso Cuarón’s luminously beautiful Roma arrived at the Toronto Film Festival to equal acclaim, but it was Barry Jenkins’ world premiere of If Beale Street Could Talk that garnered the most buzz on the ground. Widely considered the front-runner for the festival’s People’s Choice Continue Reading
The focus of the Toronto Film Festival might be on the hundreds of features that grace the screens of the 10-day cinematic celebration, but the many shorts that are showcased at TIFF are also always worth checking out. Take a look at our round-up of the some of the best Continue Reading
As any fan of 007 will know, the casino scene is as integral a part of any Bond movie as the car chase and the rooftop pursuit. Similarly, the typical image that most of us have of the long-serving British super-spy is seeing him dressed in an immaculate white tuxedo Continue Reading
★★★★☆ Who would have thought that the foul-mouthed kid from Superbad would go on to direct one of the year’s best comedy-dramas? Yet here we are with Mid90s, Jonah Hill’s paean to youth, friendship and nostalgia. Shot in 1.33 : 1 aspect ratio and on super 16mm film, Hill faithfully Continue Reading
★★★★★ Following up Berberian Sound Studio and The Duke of Burgundy, director Peter Strickland completes his hat trick with In Fabric, a sensuous, surreal and hysterical tour de force. Taking its cues from the cinema of Dario Argento and Italian horror, In Fabric, gives audiences the best British horror film since Continue Reading
★★★★☆ Becky Something (Elisabeth Moss), the front woman of punk band Something She, is in trouble. The band once hit the big time, but Becky’s intolerably erratic behaviour has virtually crippled the group and threatens to destroy Becky. Told in five distinct acts, Alex Ross Perry’s Her Smell is an Continue Reading
★☆☆☆☆ In 2006, 11-year-old Rupert Turner (Jacob Tremblay) strikes up a secret epistolary friendship with his TV star hero, John Donovan (Game of Thrones star Kit Harington), before he dies of an overdose, devastating the young boy. Eleven years later, he’s written a book of his experience, about which he Continue Reading