Reviews
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Blu-ray Review: ‘Taxi Driver’
★★★★☆ I feel as though I should begin this review by stating a very simple fact: Taxi Driver (1976) is the greatest film in the history of cinema. Never before or since has a film managed to comprise such an astonishing array of elements to create such a powerful work of art. With each of…
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DVD Release: ‘Biutiful’
I rarely believe that a film deserves five stars, but I would argue that on this particular occasion, Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Biutiful (2010) deserves every one of them. As a director, Iñárritu is known for his deft skills at storytelling, proving himself in previous films such as Babel (2006) and 21 Grams (2003). Biutiful takes…
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DVD Review: ‘Gnomeo and Juliet’
★★★☆☆ Apparently, up to 67% of people suffer from an “irrational” fear of gnomes. Another 30% of people are afraid of gnomes for “rational” reasons, and the other 3% are gnomes that fear gnomes. At first, Gnomeo & Juliet (2011) may do very little to calm the gnomophobiacs, but by embracing this film’s playful depiction…
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DVD Releases: ‘Psalm 21’
Psalm 1. Swedish horror fanatics rejoice, LORD. How great is Fredrick Hiller’s Asian flavoured fright fest Psalm 21 (2009)? Psalm 2. You have granted him a modest budget but have not withheld a talented cast. Psalm 3. You inspired him with Ringu (1998) and The Exorcist (1973)though it seems he is also keen on The…
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Film Review: ‘Amreeka’
★★★★☆ Cherien Dabis’ bitter-sweet Amreeka (2009) (Arabic for ‘America’) follows the fortunes of Muna (Nisreen Faour), a single, divorced mother, who lives in the West Bank with her teenage son, Fadi (Melkar Muallem). The opening scenes show Muna and her son having to endure regular military checkpoints on her daily commute to work in a…
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DVD Review: ‘Just Go With It’
★★★☆☆ Just Go With It (2011) is everything you would want from a Sandler/Aniston flick. Two hours of mindless entertainment with a happy ending. If you rent the DVD and feel cheated because the cinematography wasn’t quite Lawrence of Arabia (1962) standard then you’re an idiot. You don’t buy a Big Mac and expect it…
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Film Review: ‘Angels Of Evil’
★★★★☆ Michele Placido, director of Angels of Evil (2010), is one of Italy’s most well known directors. An acclaimed actor first of all (particularly well remembered is his performance in successful Italian miniseries La Piovra, which vividly depicted the fight against organised crime and mafia), Placido has been nurturing his talent for directing for some…
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Film Review: ‘Life, Above All’
★★★★☆ Life, Above All (2010) is a moving drama about a 12-year old girl (a stunning debut from Khomotso Manyaka) who fights the prejudices and superstitions of her neighbours in a South African village. Lillian has lost her newborn baby, Sara, and the family are in mourning. But when her eldest child, Chanda, looks for…
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London Australian Film Festival 2011: ‘Tomorrow, When the War Began’
★★☆☆☆ Just why Stuart Beatties’ award winning adaptation of John Marsden’s Tomorrow, When the War Began (1993) was selected for the closing night of this year’s London Australian Film Festival beggars belief. What is utterly perplexing is the rapturous response that it received from a packed Barbican theatre. The film did display some immense CGI…
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Cannes Film Festival 2011: Roundup
So, the Cannes Film Festival has wrapped itself up for another year, with some extraordinary films receiving their world premieres and a plethora of fashion-clad stars adorning the Croisette. This year will probably be slightly marred by the remarks of a certain outspoken European auteur, but what would Cannes be without a bit of controversy?…