Ben Nicholson

★★★★☆ Dancing its way into a multitude of top ten lists at the end of last year came Noah Baumbach’s monochrome marvel Frances Ha (2012), which arrives this week on DVD and Blu-ray. Baumbach had previously demonstrated his drollness, but on this occasion he’s infused it with unbridled charm in the form of star and…

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★★☆☆☆ In 2010, British director Matthew Vaughn brought to the big screen Mark Millar’s ultra-violent and provocative comic book Kick-Ass. Filled with bad language, lashings of blood and a knowing take on the superhero genre, it was generally well-received, not least Chloe Grace Moretz’s foul-mouthed Hit Girl. Kick-Ass 2 (2013), written and directed by Jeff…

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★★★☆☆ Filmmaker Marten Persiel was never especially interested, as a youngster in West Berlin, in what was going on behind the Iron Curtain. Later in life however, he learnt that there was a thriving skateboarding subculture that existed in East Germany in the 1980s. It provided a rolling platform for youthful expression and he has…

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★★★★☆ Based on the long-running Danish television series of the same name, Mikkel Nørgaard’s outrageously juvenile comedy of errors, Klown (Klovn, 2010), is nothing if not crude, vulgar and inappropriate; and it’s also the funniest film of this year. Having been released in the US late last year, it now gets a cinematic release in…

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★★★☆☆ Beat literature and its purveyors have had a long and varied relationship with the silver screen which has seen no less than three films about them in the last few years. James Franco accepted the challenge of the lead in Allen Ginsberg pseudo-biopic Howl (2010), whilst Walter Salles took on the unenviable task of…

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★★★★☆ Directing duo Aharon Keshales and Navot Papushado came bursting onto the genre scene with their debut feature and 2011 FrightFest favourite Rabies (2010). Ostensibly a teen slasher, it subverted conventions to craft a dexterous, satirical portrait of the social and civic landscape in their native Israel. They now return to UK cinemas with their…

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★★☆☆☆ British director Christopher Payne has spent over a decade honing his filmmaking skills since the release of his feature debut, The Jolly Boys’ Last Stand (2000). He now returns with new offering Love Tomorrow (2012), a low-key relationship drama that centres on two dancers who have a chance meeting in London. Both are struggling…

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★★☆☆☆ “What if you woke up homeless?” reads the tagline for low-budget British drama No Fixed Abode (N.F.A., 2012), evoking the kind of vexing slogan you might hear on an advert for a homelessness charity. This may seem like a glib comment but it actually provides some insight into both the strengths and weaknesses of…

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★★☆☆☆ This year has seen the family animation arena dominated by sequels despicable, monstrous and concerned with a chance of meatballs. The Croods (2013) aside, children’s cinema has had something of a subdued year; for every inventive sugar-high there’ve been a handful of insipid come-downs. Expectations now are generally higher due to Pixar’s stellar run…

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