Joseph Walsh
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Film Review: ‘Powder Room’
★★☆☆☆ In recent years we’ve seen British actress Sheridan Smith step away from the image she crafted for herself in the Beeb’s Two Pints of Larger and a Packet of Crisps, making headway with an impressive – not to mention award-winning – career in theatre, most notably in the West End adaptation of Legally Blonde.…
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Film Review: ‘Saving Mr. Banks’
★★★★☆ The tone for John Lee Hancock’s pleasingly sentimental and richly layered Saving Mr. Banks (2013) is effectively set by a well-chosen verse from Disney’s seminal colour musical, Mary Poppins: “Wind’s in the east, mist coming in/Like something is brewing, about to begin.” Emma Thompson dons a frumpy cardigan as the prim, proper and deliciously…
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Film Review: ‘Gone with the Wind’
★★★☆☆ It may have picked up eight Oscars back in 1940, but Victor Fleming’s Gone with the Wind (1939) has lost some of its lustre over the years whilst feeling incredibly dated politically. Based on Margaret Mitchell’s doorstop of a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, this is a sweeping American epic set in the depths of the…
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DVD Review: ‘Trap for Cinderella’
★★★☆☆ British director Iain Softley is something of a curio, having made films as diverse as Henry James adaptation The Wings of the Dove (1997) and the Angelina Jolie-starring cyberpunk thriller Hackers (1995). His latest film (another literary adaptation), Trap for Cinderella (2013), is awash with style and yet at the same time pays homage…
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DVD Review: ‘World War Z’
★★☆☆☆ Zombie movies, including Marc Forster’s recently released blockbuster offering World War Z (2013), can often become overly tied to generic conventions. Adversely, however, what’s most enjoyable about genre filmmaking is how directors bend and flex those boundaries. Sadly, Forster – still bemoaned for helming limp Bond entry Quantum Of Solace (2008) – fails to…
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LFF 2013: ‘The Invisible Woman’ review
★★☆☆☆ Revered British actor and director Ralph Fiennes returns to the London Film Festival this year with his second feature, The Invisible Woman (2013). Telling the story of the ‘other woman’ in Charles Dickens’ life, Nelly Ternan, Fiennes appears to have improved his directing abilities little since Coriolanus (2011), offering up a tawdry biopic that’s…
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LFF 2013: ’12 Years a Slave’ review
★★★★★ A static shot of a group of fatigued and world-weary black slaves opens Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave (2013), the crowning triumph of this British filmmakers short but illustrious directorial career. A harrowing portrayal of one man’s fight for freedom in 18th century America, 12 Years a Slave sees McQueen move to a…
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LFF 2013: ‘Enough Said’ review
★★★☆☆ There was always going to be a tinge of sadness felt for the final on-screen performance of James Gandolfini, who passed away earlier this year. Some may even allow this melancholy to taint their view of Nicole Holofcener’s indie rom-com Enough Said (2013). The passing of Gandolfini aside, Holofcener has assembled an impressive cast,…
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Film Review: ‘Which Way Is the Front Line from Here?’
★★★★☆ Opening with a selection of warm outtakes of photojournalist Tim Hetherington explaining why he pursues such a dangerous career, director Sebastian Junger pays a fitting homage to Hetherington’s life, which was cut tragically short when he was killed by shrapnel in 2011, with Which Way Is the Front Line from Here? (2013). Told chronologically,…
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DVD Review: ‘Epic’
★★★☆☆ Featuring diminutive heroes wrapped up in a big adventure, Chris Wedge’s Epic (2013) offers old-fashioned, if baggy, family fun. Based on the children’s novel by William Joyce, Wedge blends elements of Bill Kroyer’s eco-adventure Fern Gully (1992) with that of Joe Johnston’s family classic Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989). An impressive voice cast that…