★★★★★ At first glance, the heist movie plot of Widows couldn’t be further from the arthouse work of director Steve McQueen’s early career. But in his hands, a fairly typical premise becomes something else entirely: simultaneously a genre flick, emotive melodrama and political satire. At the centre of the film Continue Reading
★★★★☆ Acclaimed documentarian Werner Herzog spent a year interviewing the last President of the USSR, Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev. Over the course of ninety minutes, Herzog takes us through a potted history of the decline of the Soviet Union and the achievements of one of the 20th century’s greatest political figures. Continue Reading
★★★☆☆ When French war reporter Gabriel (Roman Kolinka) is released from being held hostage by ISIS, he insists that he’s fine, refusing help from his hospital-appointed counsellor. But when his relationship with his girlfriend breaks down, it’s clear that Gabriel needs time to reflect on his ordeal. Gabriel heads to Continue Reading
★★★☆☆ In August 2000, the Russian submarine Kursk suffered two devastating explosions during a test firing of torpedoes. Many of the crew were killed in the explosions, but as the wrecked sub sank to the seabed, twenty-three of the crew were trapped alive in one of the vessel’s remaining compartments. Continue Reading
★★★★★ If there’s a single design choice that could give us the key to Claire Denis’ challenging, esoteric science fiction High Life it’s the spacesuits. Invariably, the suits found on the starships Enterprise and Nostromo are sterile things made of sleek, impermeable material, shielding their wearers from the void. The suits Continue Reading
★★☆☆☆ Following her dalliance with the Fifty Shades franchise, Sam Taylor-Johnson turns her hand to addiction drama in A Million Little Pieces, starring husband Aaron Taylor-Johnson. The results, despite some very nice directorial flourishes, are rather disappointing in this rote and reductive portrayal of substance abuse. The film begins well enough, Continue Reading