Reviews
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Film Review: ‘Gnomeo & Juliet’
★☆☆☆☆ There have been many innovative adaptations of William Shakespeare’s work from page to screen. Julie Taymor blended elements of classicalism and modernism in her screen adaption Titus (1999) – based on Titus Andronicus – and Australian director Baz Luhrmann adopted a romanticised modern setting for his adaptation of Romeo and Juliet (1996).Adaptations of Shakespeare’s…
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DVD Review: ‘Missing’
★★★★☆ If you were to read the synopsis of Missing (2009), you would probably expect a generic, non-sequitur horror flick full of the usual self-conscious moments of tension; but upon watching the film, you’ll discover one of the most complex psychopaths ever shown on screen, along with beautiful, subtle and powerful cinematography that rises above the…
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DVD Releases: ‘In Their Sleep’
The horror movie industry has grown somewhat stagnant in recent years, it has to be confessed. Many of the more interesting premises by which to scare the wits out of your audience have been exhausted to the point of cliche or parody. However, low budget French horror/thriller In Their Sleep (2010) is a good example of…
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DVD Review: ‘The Assassin Next Door’
★★★☆☆ In Danny Lerner’s The Assassin Next Door (2009), Olga Kurylenko (Quantum of Solace [2008], Max Payne [2008]) play Galia, a young woman who finds herself in a severe set of circumstances. Having left her husband and daughter in her native Ukraine, she travels to Tel Aviv, Israel. Whilst there she winds up in a dire situation, becoming…
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DVD Releases: ‘American Beauty’
As directorial debuts go, American Beauty (1998) is just about as close to perfection as it comes. Since his first feature blazed though the 2000 Academy Awards – picking up eight nominations and five awards – British director Sam Mendes has failed to reach the same levels of critical success with offerings such as Road to Perdition (2002), Jarhead (2005) and Revolutionary…
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DVD Review: ‘Police, Adjective’
★★★☆☆ From 12:08 East of Bucharest (2006) director Corneliu Porumboui comes the Romanian director’s latest film, Police, Adjective (2009), yet another strong entry within the growing body of contemporary Romanian cinematic works.Winner of the ‘Un Certain Regard Prize’ at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, Porumboui’s latest effort is a darkly humorous police drama following disillusioned…
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DVD Releases: ‘The Illusionist’
Originally written by the late French actor/director Jaques Tati in 1956 in an attempt to reconcile with his daughter, The Illusionist (2010) had lain dormant for almost fifty years before eventually finding its way to director Sylvian Chomet’s desk following the release of Belleville Rendezvous (2003).Although Chomet kept in close contact with Tati’s caretakers, the film…
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DVD Releases: ‘Red’
Action movies are a young man’s game. Or they used to be, before Sylvester Stallone resurrected the hard-man genre last summer with his team of middle-aged action heroes in The Expendables (2010). Now there’s a fourth Mission: Impossible on the way with Tom Cruise still firmly strapped into the lead role, and even Tony Scott…
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DVD Releases: ‘The Thorn in the Heart’
Have you ever made a film about your Aunt Suzette? Michel Gondry has. Why should you care? Maybe you don’t like watching other people’s home movies. Maybe you don’t even have an Aunt Suzette. Watching Gondry’s autobiographical documentary The Thorn in the Heart (2009) isn’t likely to change either of those very much.It’s a project about…
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DVD Review: ‘The Stoning of Soraya M.’
★★★★☆ Just so you know right off the bat, The Stoning of Soraya M. (2008) is not an Iranian version of Cheech & Chong’s Up in Smoke (1978), but if you occasionally enjoy the taste of a herbal cigarette and you are thinking of buying or renting this film, I recommend you procure yourself some…