Joseph Walsh

★★★★★ It’s almost impossible not to compare Jeff Nichols’ Mud (2012) to Mark Twain’s colloquial prose for the way it mythologises the Deep South, instantly capturing a sense of all that is deeply American. Yet, the breadth of this masterfully-told contemporary fable feels entirely original (and comfortingly familiar), told through child-like eyes that find adventure…

Continue

★★★★★ Shane Carruth, despite having made just two features, can already be labelled a divisive director. His latest think piece, Upstream Colour (2013), is a complex examination of the mutability of identity. Since its debut at the Sundance Film Festival (where it won the Special Jury Prize), it’s been both lauded and derided – latterly…

Continue

★★☆☆☆ In 1972, Gerard Damiano’s cult porno Deep Throat launched the short-lived but infamous career of Linda Lovelace, as well as pushing ‘adult entertainment’ into the American public consciousness after the film went on to become a box office smash. Now, Amanda Seyfried takes on the role of the doe-eyed girl next door turned scandalous…

Continue

★★★★☆ British comedian Steve Coogan’s beloved Norwich-based media whore Alan Partridge has bounced back numerous times over his 21-year career, first appearing on Radio 4 before moving on to star in a plethora of TV and internet debacles. The self-proclaimed king of chat now makes his big screen debut in Declan Lowney’s faithful and hilarious…

Continue

★★★★☆ Following last year’s The Cabin in The Woods, traditional horrors have started to seem seriously out of date. Thankfully, with Saw director James Wan’s The Conjuring (2013), a return to the traditional tropes are as fresh as ever in what is an unnerving, albeit kitsch horror of remarkable finesse. Purportedly based on a true…

Continue

★☆☆☆☆ A solid central turn from Aneurin Barnard aside, Ciaran Foy’s debut feature Citadel (2012) fails to impress as a hoodie horror with delusions of grandeur. Living in a tower block set against a landscape of social degeneration, happily married Tommy (Barnard) is expecting his first child with wife Joanne (Amy Shiels). Within mere minutes,…

Continue

★★★★☆ The UK release of Alex Gibney’s We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks (2013) could hardly be more timely in light of whistleblower Edward Snowden’s recent revelations concerning the hi-tech US spying programme, Prism. At the core of this highly pertinent documentary lies the very ethics of journalism, focusing on two enigmatic figures that…

Continue

★★☆☆☆ Jean-Claude Brisseau’s The Girl from Nowhere (La fille de nulle part, 2012) feels more like the work of a first-time director than a seasoned French auteur, partly due to its low budget and bloated, pseudo-intellectualist themes. The story opens with a quote from Hugo’s Les Misérables, in what is the first of many literary,…

Continue

★★★★☆ Released into UK cinemas earlier this year around the announcement of former Pope Benedict’s XVI resignation, Alex Gibney’s hard-hitting Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God (2012) couldn’t have been more timely. An exactingly well-researched documentary, Gibney strikes the fine balance of creating a story that kindles an incredible amount of rage…

Continue

★★★★☆ In 1928, at the tender age of just 28 years, British director Anthony Asquith was already a driven and passionate filmmaker – exactly what he brought to his early silent, Underground (1928). This tale, whilst saturated in its own time, carries a modern note, as underground carriages bustle with nosey travellers leaning over each…

Continue