Film reviews and more
★★☆☆☆ World wars and their subsequent fallout are topics cinema loves revisiting. Directed by Peter Webber and set in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, Emperor (2012) centres on the efforts of military intelligence head Bonner Fellers (Matthew […]
★★★☆☆ The examination of sex addiction in cinema is becoming more and more frequent. Steve McQueen’s Shame (2012) was a bold exploration of the topic, whilst Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s directorial debut Don Jon (2013) will once again put the subject under […]
★★☆☆☆ After earning praise for his first feature Children of Invention (2010), Tze Chun returns to cinemas with follow-up Cold Comes The Night (2013). Whilst the presence of Breaking Bad’s Bryan Cranston will undoubtedly pique interest, Chun’s latest is an […]
★★★★☆ The best sports films are often those where enjoyment is not entirely dependent on a love of the game in question, and Brian Helgeland’s 42 (2013) fits that criteria perfectly. Unflinching in its depiction of the legendary Jackie Robinson’s […]
★★★☆☆ With an apocalyptic résumé that includes Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow and 2012, Roland Emmerich is renowned as one of the biggest purveyors of over-the-top blockbuster mayhem. White House Down (2013) is very much in the same mould; […]
★★★★☆ Much like Tony Stark, Marvel Studios have been tinkering with Iron Man for over five years now, striving to upgrade and improve upon the previous model. In some ways, the success rate of the franchise mirrors Stark’s own cinematic […]
★★★★☆ Cinema loves coming-of-age stories. The examination of how adolescents navigate that period in their lives has and will always make for some excellent stories. After winning an Oscar for penning Alexander Payne’s The Descendants (2011), Nat Faxon and Jim […]
★★★☆☆ The first of two films this year to use the White House as its setting, Olympus Has Fallen (2013) is the latest film to adopt the time-honoured one man army vs. terrorists plot-line, and it accomplishes its task in […]
★★★★☆ Some filmmakers take their time to get into their directorial stride, ironing out their craft over a series of offerings. For South African Neill Blomkamp, however, the opposite is true. Blomkamp nailed it first time with District 9 (2009), […]
★★☆☆☆ Following the enormous commercial success of Pixar’s merch machine Cars (2006) and its sequel, it’s unsurprising – if a little disheartening – that we now have Planes (2013), a Disney spin-off set in the same universe. You’d be forgiven […]
District 9 director Neill Blomkamp returns to cinemas this month with his eagerly awaited follow-up, Elysium (2013). Set in 2159, in a future dystopia where the wealthy live on man-made space station Elysium and the rest of humanity inhabit a […]
★★★☆☆ Whilst Wolverine remains one of Marvel’s most popular characters, his latest big screen appearance is low on hype. Maybe because it’s released in the same year as superhero juggernauts Iron Man 3 and Man of Steel, or perhaps the […]