Joseph Walsh
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Film Review: ‘The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel’
★★★☆☆ Featuring a stalwart cast of British actors in their senior years, including Judi Dench, Tom Wilkinson and Bill Nighy, John Madden’s The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011) is an initially sluggish, yet perfectly pleasant comedy drama about a group of elderly expats retiring in a dilapidated Indian hotel.A group of men and women in…
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Berlin 2012: ‘About Cherry’ review
★★★☆☆ American activist and author Stephen Elliott puts down his pen to make his directorial debut with US drama About Cherry (2012), starring James Franco, Ashley Hinshaw, Dev Patel and Heather Graham. The story reveals an unglamourous account of the porn industry in San Francisco, wrapped up in the sometimes compelling tale of high school…
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Berlin 2012: ‘King of Comics’ review
★★☆☆☆ Rosa von Praunheim’s documentary King of Comics (König des Comics, 2012) explores the life and work of Ralf König, one of Germany’s most celebrated comic book writers and artists – best known for his work The Most Desired Man, which was adapted into a film in 1995. Fearless of almost any subject matter, König’s…
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Berlin 2012: ‘Bliss’ review
★★★★☆ Bliss (Glück, 2011) – directed by Doris Dörrie and adapted from the short story by Ferdinand von Schirach – recounts the tale of Irina (Alba Rohrwacher), who leaves her war-torn country to become a prostitute on the streets of Berlin and Kalle (Vinzenz Kiefer), also living in on the streets of the German capital.…
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Berlin 2012: ‘White Deer Plain’ review
★☆☆☆☆ Director Quan’an Wang brings his overly-sprawling epic White Deer Plain (2011) – adapted from the controversial novel by Zhongshi Chen – to this year’s Berlinale as one of the Golden Bear contenders. Set during the final years of Imperial China, it traces the stories of two ruling clans, the Bai and Lu, who find…
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DVD Review: ‘Boca’
★★★☆☆ The lavishly produced and stylish crime thriller Boca (2012) – directed by Brazilian filmmaker Flavio Frederico and based on the autobiography of Hiroito, ‘The King of Boca do Lixo’ – makes for enjoyable viewing. Set amidst the brothels and nightclubs of 1950s São Paulo, Hiroito (Daniel de Oliveira) rises to become one the region’s…
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Interview: Simon Oakes, CEO of Hammer
To celebrate the release this week of James Watkins’ Gothic British ghost story The Woman in Black (2012) – starring former Harry Potter Daniel Radcliffe, Ciarán Hinds and with a screenplay adapted by Jane Goldman from Susan Hill’s source novel – CineVue were given the opportunity to catch up with CEO of Hammer Simon Oakes.…
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Film Review: ‘Casablanca’
★★★★★ Michael Curtiz’s Casablanca (1942) falls into that special category of all-time greats, a phrase that has become so ubiquitous that it fails to capture the sheer excellence of the film. Starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, Casablanca has saturated the public consciousness, even for those who are yet to see it. The Park Circus 70th…
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Interview: ‘The Muppets’ press conference
The anticipation was palpable as people gathered at London’s Mayfair Hotel for a chance to see the small green superstar Kermit the Frog, accompanied by the glamorous Miss Piggy and director James Bobin. The Muppets (2012), which was released last year in the States, has gone down a storm with UK critics, giving old fans…
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Film Review: ‘The Vow’
★★☆☆☆ Channing Tatum – who recently bored audiences with his stilted performance in Haywire (2012) – and Rachel McAdams – star of Woody Allen’s Oscar-nominated Midnight in Paris (2011) – pair up for the appropriately-timed release of Michael Sucsy’s romantic drama The Vow (2012). Paige (McAdams) and Leo (Tatum) are a happily married, arty couple living a loved-up lifestyle until…