CineVue
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Raindance 2012: ‘Black Biscuit’ review
★★☆☆☆ Fabrizio Federico’s Black Biscuit (2011) is the flagship film of the director’s Pink8 Manifesto – a new movement based loosely on the principles of Dogme 95, but with a stronger focus on improvisation and breaking away from the linear foundations of narrative filmmaking. Black Biscuit’s fractured narrative loosely follows the life of Chet (Federico),…
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DVD Review: ‘Harry Potter Wizard’s Collection’
★★★☆☆ After 12 years, eight record-breaking films and a total box office gross of over £5 billion, the Harry Potter franchise finally came to end for UK audiences back in July 2011 with the cinematic release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2. The legacy of the films continues in the careers of…
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DVD Review: ‘The Pact’
★★☆☆☆ The 2011 Sundance Film Festival saw the premiere of Nicholas McCarthy’s fourth short film. One year later, the director returns with his debut feature, a reworking of that very same short in the form of The Pact (2012). Adopting a familiar haunted house-style setup, McCarthy looks to make the film feel a bit more…
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DVD Review: ‘2 Days in New York’
★★★☆☆ Indie icon Julie Delpy writes, directs and stars in culture-clash comedy 2 Days in New York (2012), her follow-up to 2007 romantic drama 2 Days in Paris which makes its way to DVD and Blu-ray this week. As the title would suggest, Delpy’s hapless heroine Marion has remained in the Big Apple despite previous…
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DVD Review: ‘Casa de mi Padre’
★★★☆☆ As they might say in Mexico, Casa de mi Padre (2012) is something of an “excentricidad”. Quite unlike the big budget, big star, cameo-filled, broad-appeal comedies Will Ferrell is best-known for, Casa de mi Padre was made for just $6m, and barely scraped that back at the box office. Matt Piedmont’s oddball comedy is,…
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DVD Review: ‘The Raid’
★★★☆☆ Anyone who purchases Gareth Evans’ cult hit The Raid (2011) on either DVD or Blu-ray expecting a philosophical mediation on the morality of violence and not 90 minutes of bullets, brawls and broken necks is heading for an evening of tears and disappointment. The plot is wafer-thin, the script anorexic. By the time the…
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DVD Review: ‘The Hollow Crown’
★★★★☆ Honour, betrayal and deep-seated family resentments collide in The Hollow Crown, the BBC’s lavish adaptation of Shakespeare’s Henriad tetralogy. Originally made as part of the Cultural Olympiad, and with executive producer Sam Mendes overseeing the ambitious project, The Hollow Crown brings together renowned stage and screen directors Rupert Goold, Richard Eyre and Thea Sharrock…
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DVD Review: ‘Breaking Bad: Season 4’
★★★★★ Cult hit series Breaking Bad heads into the second half of its fifth and final season in the US, the show’s fourth season arrives on DVD here in the UK. Created by writer/director Vince Gilligan and produced by AMC, the network which also produces prestige programmes such as Mad Men and The Walking Dead…
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Special Feature: BAFTA & BFI Screenwriters’ Lecture Series
Over the past two years BAFTA have invited many of the finest screenwriters working today to discuss their methods and projects. Past guests at these prestigious talks have included William Nicholson, Charlie Kauffman and Armando Iannucci. This year the lecture series continues with a an equally impressive selection of screenwriters from both the UK and…
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Sponsored Video: ‘Les Misérables’ featurette
For the first time this January, audiences will experience Les Miserables as never before, in a new and unique adaptation from Academy Award-winning director Tom Hooper (2010’s The King’s Speech). The 2013 will feature an all-star, ensemble cast that includes Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne, Aaron Tveit, Samantha Barks, with…