Reviews
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Film Review: Animal Kingdom
★★★★★ Every once in a while, a film comes along that resolutely restores your faith in cinema, which is so often tarnished by predictable genre pieces, boring blockbusters and endless Pirates of the Caribbean sequels. Australian director David Michôd’s debut feature Animal Kingdom (2010) is not only that precise film, but is also arguably the…
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Film Review: ‘Howl’
★★☆☆☆ The hybrid Allen Ginsberg biopic/re-enactment/interview/adaptation Howl (2010) is a curious little picture. Written and directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, the film debuted at last year’s Sundance Film Festival to somewhat mixed reviews. Some reviewers praised the imaginative visual treatment of Ginsberg’s infamous poem, while others criticised a rather staid approach to the dramatic…
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Film Review: ‘Waste Land’
★★★★☆ There’s always a niggling feeling when you watch a film like Lucy Walker’s Waste Land (2010) that you’re going to be guilt tripped into sorting through your rubbish, essentially paying for a feature length advert on the benefits of recycling. Although it’s true that you’ll probably end up being a bit more self-conscious about quite…
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DVD Review: ‘The Living and the Dead’
★★★☆☆ Adapted by Josip Mlakic from his award-winning novel of the same name and directed by Kristijan Milic, The Living and the Dead (2007) tells the tale of two bands of soldiers who fight under exact same circumstances and in the same location, yet with half a century between them. Originally screened at the Sarajevo Film Festival…
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DVD Releases: ‘Despicable Me’
In an attempt to establish themselves as genuine rivals to the sublime Pixar, Universal Pictures offers up its debut 3D animation in the form of Despicable Me (2010), directed by Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud.With an output of unprecedented consistency and visual resplendence over recent years, it may seem an almost impossible task to take…
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Film Review: ‘Inside Job’
★★★★☆ Nominated for Best Documentary at this year’s Academy Awards, Charles Ferguson’s Inside Job (2010) may not be the most enjoyable watch of those featured in the category but it is certainly the most horrific; which, considering the toxic nature of GasLand (2010) and the brutal insights of warfare shown in Restrepo (2010), is no…
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Film Review: ‘Justin Bieber: Never Say Never’
★★★☆☆ Justin Bieber: Never Say Never (2011) details the almost overnight transformation of a small town kid from Canada into an international mega star. Around the world, thousands of young girls (or “Beliebers” as they’re commonly referred to) swoon over his appearance and scream his name at his sell out stadium shows.Never Say Never begins with a twelve year…
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Film Review: ‘Paul’
★★★★☆ There is no denying the talent and popularity of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. Since the release of the now cult TV favourite Spaced, the pair have embarked on a successful film and television career. However, the absence of Edgar Wright in both his usual writing and directorial capacities from their latest release, Paul (2011),…
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Film Review: ‘Confessions’
★★★★☆ Violent human nature and the influence of the media on the social order of the world are brilliantly interwoven in the latest film from Japanese director Tetsuya Nakashima, the deep and disturbing psychological thriller Confessions (2010). Based upon the book of the same title by author Kanae Minato, the film consists of a series…
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Film Review: ‘Never Let Me Go’
★★☆☆☆ A challenging book-to-screen adaptation if ever there was one, Mark Romanek’s vision of the 2005 Booker Prize shortlisted novel Never Let Me Go (2010) certainly makes itself an easy target for criticism from fans of Kazuo Ishiguro’s original, haunting masterpiece (adapted for the screen by screenwriter Alex Garland). To judge one incarnation by the standards of…
