Joseph Walsh
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Interview: Amit Gupta, director of ‘Resistance’
British director Amit Gupta’s debut feature, the superb Resistance (2011, review here), is released in cinemas nationwide this week, and stars exceptional UK talent in the guise of Andrea Riseborough and Michael Sheen. Set in an alternative 1944 where D-Day has failed and the Nazis have crossed the Channel and invaded Britain, the film follows…
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Film Review: ‘Resistance’
★★★★☆ Adapted from the novel of the same name by Owen Sheers, Resistance (2011) is director Amit Gupta’s first feature length film and stars Andrea Riseborough (last seen as Wallis Simpson in Madonna’s W.E. [2011]) and journeyman Michael Sheen (next seen returning the role of Aro in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2…
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Film Review: ‘This Our Still Life’
★★★★☆ Andrew Kötting returns to screens this week with the wonderfully vivid and emotionally provoking documentary This Our Still Life (2011), courtesy of the BFI. This is a work that is not only innovative in its use of footage and cinematography but it is also incredibly thought provoking. Kötting has made use of a wealth…
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Film Review: Justice
★★☆☆☆ After last week’s cinematic flop Trespass (2011), Nicolas Cage returns to screens this Friday to star in Roger Donaldson’s Justice (2011) (AKA Seeking Justice in the US), a film that somehow manages to set the bar even lower for Cage’s career, whilst doing no favours to co-stars Guy Pearce and January Jones. Cage plays…
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Blu-ray Review: ‘Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence’
★★☆☆☆ It’s 1942 on the island of Java where Tom Conti and David Bowie star as two British POWs in Nagisa Oshima’s Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence. The film received a mixed reception upon its release in 1983, and it’s easy to see why it divided critics in such a way.The film deals with two sets…
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Film Review: ‘The Awakening’
★★★☆☆ Ghost stories are wonderfully appropriate at this time of year and The Awakening (2011) by Nick Murphy provides an excellent, atmospheric, and chilling tale to do the trick, with a superb cast boasting The Wire’s Dominic West, Red Riding’s Rebecca Hall and Imelda Staunton (Vera Drake [2004]).Following the First World War, the country is…
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DVD Review: ‘Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale’
★★★☆☆ “He’s making a list and checking it twice; he’s gonna find out who’s naughty and nice”…Santa Claus is coming to town in Jalmari Helander’s creepy Finnish fantasy Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010), released this week on DVD and Blu-ray. The premise is a very unique and enjoyable twist on the Santa Claus myth…
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Film Review: ‘Straw Dogs’ (2011)
★★★☆☆ As remakes go, Rod Lurie’s Straw Dogs (2011) manages to hold its own against Sam Peckinpah’s controversial 1971 classic of the same name, achieved through some innovative changes and strong performances from a cast that includes Alexander Skarsgård (best know for his role as Eric Northman in HBO’s True Blood, and more recently for…
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Interview: Bertrand Tavernier, ‘The Princess of Montpensier’
Prolific auteur Bertrand Tavernier is a legend of French cinema, having directed over 30 films and worked with the likes of Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut during his long career. His latest sweeping historical drama The Princess of Montpensier (2010) is set during the horror of the ‘War of Religion’ (1562–98) and revolves around the fate…
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DVD Review: ‘The Princess of Montpensier’
★★★★☆ The Princess of Montpensier (2010) is a captivating historical drama with modern sensibilities from auteur director Bertrand Tavernier, starring Mélanie Thierry and Lambert Wilson. Tavernier is well known for historical narrative driven films, and The Princess of Montpensier is no disappointment.Set during the ‘War of Religions’, Marie (Thierry) becomes engaged to the Prince de…