Ben Nicholson
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LFF 2013: ‘Hello Carter’ review
★★☆☆☆ There’s nothing more soul-crushing than a romantic comedy devoid of either of the genre’s requisite defining aspects. At least when the love story is lacking, laughs will usually pick up the slack; if it’s humourless, the passion can take the weight. Nobody wants to overdose on schmaltz (well, some people might) but shunning it…
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LFF 2013: ‘Afternoon Delight’ review
★★★☆☆ Jill Soloway is an established TV writer and producer, contributing episodes to shows such as Six Feet Under and The United States of Tara. Now she’s turned her attention to the big screen with debut feature Afternoon Delight (2013), which won the Dramatic Directing award earlier in the year at Sundance. The comedy-drama arrives…
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LFF 2013: ‘The Strange Colour of Your Body’s Tears’ review
★★★☆☆ Giallo fans rejoiced at the news that the fading genre’s new premiere directing couple, namely Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani, were returning with their sophomore feature The Strange Colour of Your Body’s Tears (2013). As with their critically successful feature debut, Amer (2009), its latest offering is entrenched deeply in the visual and aural…
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LFF 2013: ‘Jeune & Jolie’ review
★★★☆☆ Following on from the Kristen Scott-Thomas-starring In the House (2012), which hit screens back in March, prolific French director François Ozon returns to UK cinemas for the second time this year with Jeune & Jolie (2013). Playing at the London Film Festival ahead of a wider cinematic release, it is an elusive study of…
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LFF 2013: ‘Durban Poison’ review
★★☆☆☆ In the late 1980s, maverick filmmaker Andrew Worsdale gained immediate cult status when his debut feature, the ultra-provocative Shot Down (1988), was banned by the apartheid government in South Africa. Having maintained radio silence for the best part of two decades, the director returned to screens to great acclaim, with his new film, Durban…
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DVD Review: ‘Sharknado’
★★☆☆☆ Every wondered what would happen should a tornado whip up a frenzy of sharks from the ocean and deposit them onto an unsuspecting American public? Well have no fear, as purveyors of DTV schlock The Asylum have stepped up to answer that question in their imaginatively titled Syfy Channel feature, Sharknado (2013). Swimming with…
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DVD Review: ‘The Rise’
★★☆☆☆ The rollicking heist movie is one of those genres that can easily feel redundant nowadays. With elaborate plot machinations its central tenet, this specialist variety of thriller relies on having an original way to dupe its audience who will naturally be looking for clues towards some final act twist. Trying to find a unique…
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DVD Review: ‘The Iceman’
★★★☆☆ Richard Kuklinski was an infamous contract killer doing the dirty work of various New York crime organisations throughout the sixties and seventies. Estimates of how many lives he ended during his career vary from 100 to 250 according to different accounts. Based on a screenplay by Morgan Land and director Ariel Vromen, The Iceman…
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DVD Review: ‘The Kings of Summer’
★★★☆☆ Coming-of-age yarns are a dime a dozen and it takes an awful lot to make one stand out from the crowd. Jordan Vogt-Roberts accepts the challenge with gusto in his sun-kissed feature debut, The Kings of Summer (2013), which was warmly received at Sundance. With its trio of teenage leads trekking out into the…
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Film Review: ‘In the Name Of’
★★★☆☆ Catholicism and homosexuality is hardly a taboo partnership in modern Western cinema, but it is subject matter that retains the potential to be incendiary if mishandled. Thankfully, director Malgorzata Szumowska approaches the topic with apposite sensitivity in new film In the Name Of (2013), in UK cinemas this week through Peccadillo Pictures. Andrzej Chyra…
