Matthew Anderson

★★☆☆☆ All those fans of cinema out there who have long wished for an action adventure epic set in 50 BC starring Jackie Chan, John Cusack and Adrien Brody need wait no longer. Dragon Blade – from Hong Kong writer-director Daniel Lee – is here. And it is inspired by true events. Cut down from…

Continue

★★☆☆☆ How many Fairbrasses does it take to knock together another hard-hitting, foul-mouthed, blood- splattered British crime movie? In the case of Jonnie Malachi’s Breakdown the answer is three. Man mountain and former Eastender Craig stars as Alfie Jennings, a vicious hitman who, predictably, is on the verge of a mental breakdown and wants out of…

Continue

★★★☆☆ Seen as Russia’s “secret weapon” by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, is it possible that the Bolshoi Ballet, a towering pillar of the nation’s culture, be justly compared to an ancient civilisation synonymous with oppression, corruption and vacuous luxury? Given its inextricable link to national identity and location a mere stone’s throw from the Kremlin,…

Continue

★☆☆☆☆ 2015 saw something of a Krays craze. Amid the brouhaha surrounding the Tom Hardy double act that was Brian Helgeland’s Legend, a plucky contender sought to muscle in on the red carpet turf of its glitzy, all conquering adversary. Everyone loves an underdog story but sadly there would be no fairytale victory for the…

Continue

★★★★☆ There’s a moment mid-way through Jennifer Peedom’s Sherpa (2015) which sees the Buddhist mountain guides offering prayers to Mount Everest in order that they may be granted safe passage to her summit. As the camera pans to the right over this scene of serene reverence, the ‘Mother Goddess of the Earth’ issues forth an…

Continue

★★☆☆☆ During its nascent years serious persuasion was needed to convince sneering cultural sceptics that the cinema merited recognition as an art form. For many, the notion of ‘running away to the circus’ evokes a similar response; a stereotype of travelling bands of gypsy families living out of caravans, jumping, flipping, throwing knives and firing…

Continue

★★★☆☆ At its heart, Nicolas Vanier’s Belle & Sebastian (2013) was a charming story of the loving bond forged between a young boy and his dog. Set in 1943, their plentiful escapades took place against the backdrop of Nazi occupation in a small town near the Swiss border where mountaineering residents guided Jews to safely…

Continue

  ★★★☆☆ In an age of minute-by-minute global news coverage, Twitter feeds and anchors can be heard the frantic tapping of a screenwriter’s laptop keys. Five years have passed since the collapse of an Atacama Desert mine trapped 32 Chileans and one Bolivian underground for 69 days and it is perhaps surprising that the film…

Continue