Reviews
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DVD Review: ‘Floating Skyscrapers’
★★★★☆ Described by its writer and director Tomasz Wasilewski as “the first Polish LGBT film”, Floating Skyscrapers (2013) boldly goes where n Pole has gone before in its intricate study of repressed homosexuality. Mateusz Banasiuk stars as aspiring champion swimmer Kuba, an ambitious athlete with the world at his feet. However, when feelings for the…
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DVD Review: ‘Fire in the Blood’
★★★★★ Crusading documentaries have now become a common sub-genre: from Michael Moore’s slick polemics and eco-worrier Al Gore’s persuasive An Inconvenient Truth (2006) to the animal rights appeals of both The Cove (2009) and Blackfish (2013). As such, these high profile offerings present the film critic with something of a dilemma. How does one judge…
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DVD Review: ‘Don Jon’
★★★☆☆ As Don Jon’s (2013) opening credits present a series of images highlighting the objectification of woman in the media, juxtaposed with a thudding and syrupy romantic score, it’s clear something a little different is at work in Joseph Gordon-Levitt directorial bow. While he may make the odd narrative misstep here and there, this is…
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Film Review: ‘Yves Saint Laurent’
★★★☆☆ Actor turned director Jalil Lespert’s latest feature, Yves Saint Laurent (2014), sets about the ambitious task of condensing into an 106-minute film the life and work of one of fashion’s most celebrated icons. The result is a stylish melodrama, enriched by touching performances from Comédie-Française actors Pierre Niney and Gaullaume Gallienne. Opening in Oran,…
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Film Review: ‘The Unknown Known’
★★★★☆ With The Unknown Known (2013), inimitable documentarian Errol Morris has taken the age old adage “Give em enough rope” before expanding it into a timely political critique; an oft-infuriating but deft tête-à-tête with former US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld. In a performance that even ‘Teflon Tony’ Blair would be in awe of, Rumsfeld…
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Film Review: ‘Starred Up’
★★★☆☆ Having paced the peripheries of the British film industry for over twenty years (going all the way back to his striking 1994 debut Dirty Diamonds), director David Mackenzie appears to be on the verge of bagging his first mainstream hit. His latest feature, the gritty prison drama Starred Up (2013), comes armed with a…
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Film Review: ‘Salvo’
★★★☆☆ A stoic tough guy being confronted by his own maltreated conscience is hardly a novelty in cinema. When the convention is adopted, there is always the hope that it with the intention to approach the subject from some fresh angle, or provide a new kind of insight into age-old roles. In Fabio Grassadonia and…
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Film Review: ‘The Robber’
★★★☆☆ “What are you looking forward to doing on your release?” Johann Rettenberger (Andreas Lust) is asked by his parole officer at the beginning of Benjamin Heisenberg’s lean Austrian crime thriller The Robber (Der Räuber, 2010). “Not running around in circles,” he replies. However, Johann doesn’t simply mean his regular exercise regime is going to…
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Film Review: ‘The Machine’
★★★★☆ Welsh writer and director Caradog W. James’ The Machine (2013) is a terrifying vision of a dystopian world that may not be too far into the future. Vincent (Toby Stephens) is a government scientist working on various forms of artificial intelligence in order to create the ultimate robot fighter for use in warfare both…
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Film Review: ‘About Last Night’
★★☆☆☆ Based on David Mamet’s play Sexual Perversity in Chicago, Steve Pink’s About Last Night (2014) – also a remake of the 1986 rom-com starring Rob Lowe and Demi Moore – attempts to provide a modern spin on the trials and tribulations of romantic relationships for 21st century audiences. Yet instead of saying anything new or…