Reviews
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Film Review: ‘The Honourable Rebel’
★★☆☆☆ Adapted from the book of the same name, Mike Fraser’s The Honourable Rebel (2015) draws on enough material to make it worthy of a 95 minute biopic. The eventful life and times of the right honourable Elizabeth Montagu – whose family home, Beaulieu Palace House, will be known to many a car enthusiast –…
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Film Review: ‘Future Shock!’
★★★☆☆ A celebratory ode for fans and a user-friendly crash course for the uninitiated, Paul Goodwin’s Future Shock! The Story of 2000AD (2014) is an insightful excavation of the cult comic label’s history. Kicking off with Judge Dredd in 1977 – the year punk broke – 2000AD took the counterculture spirit of the era and…
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Film Review: ‘Chemsex’
★★★★☆ In many ways, drugs can benefit lives – even save them – but they also have a dark side, which is the focus of Chemsex (2015). This hard-hitting documentary explores a hidden underworld of the homosexual community, whereby men become reliant on drugs – taken mostly intravenously – to fuel their libidos, more often…
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Blu-ray Review: ‘The Reflecting Skin’
★★★☆☆ There’s a scene around forty minutes into Philip Ridley’s cult feature debut in which a boy sees a man fellating a petrol pump before striking a match to his gasoline-covered body. The boy, Seth (Jeremy Cooper), doesn’t seem to entirely comprehend what’s happening, but he is both deeply unnerved and utterly transfixed. This is…
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Film Review: Magic Mike XXL
★★★☆☆ Perhaps the most tantalising cinematic fare on offer in recent memory, Magic Mike XXL (2015) hit cinemas like a well-oiled, lust-filled missile. Voraciously gobbled up by keen viewers, this sequel is decidedly a step up from the first installment. Free from the sombre Soderbergh lens, director Gregory Jacobs and writer Reid Carolin give us…
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DVD Review: ‘Listen to Me Marlon’
★★★★☆ “You’ve got to stop the movement from the popcorn to the mouth,” Marlon Brando says, speaking of the peak of movie acting. “You’ve got to get them to stop chewing.” At his best, Brando could do that. He was a movie actor for who was serially iconic and yet paradoxically detailed in his performances.…
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DVD Review: ‘By Our Selves’
★★★☆☆ At the age of just 44, English poet John Clare began to suffer from a severe mental illness which ultimately resulted in him being institutionalised under private care for the rest of his life. He managed, however, one short spell of freedom by absconding from an asylum in Epping Forest and making his way…
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DVD Review: ‘Ant-Man’
★★★★☆ Following this year’s Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Ant-Man sees the ubiquitous Marvel Studios getting back to basics and back on form. Where the overall flavour of Marvel’s Phase Two has arguably been one of expanded-universe brand management, Ant-Man feels like a return to the simplicity of the early Marvel films: not since Iron Man…
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Film Review: My Skinny Sister
★★★★☆ Swedish writer-director Sanna Lenken’s notable debut My Skinny Sister (2015) about a young teenager’s eating disorder is a simple tale given added poignancy by powerful performances from the two leads. Katja (Amy Deasismont) is a promising young figure skater envied and admired by her younger sister Stella (Rebecka Josephson). Katja is beautiful, svelte and…
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Film Review: ‘The Good Dinosaur’
★★★★★ From first-time feature director Peter Sohn, Disney Pixar’s latest The Good Dinosaur is a crowning triumph, blending jaw-dropping photorealistic animation with a heart-wrenchingly beautiful tale of friendship against the odds. When Inside Out was released earlier in the year, many thought that it was a sure bet for Best Animated Feature at the Academy…