Reviews

After the disappointment of Shrek the Third in 2007, there wasn’t much expectation for a fourth Shrek movie. Many felt that the franchise was tired and the anti-fairytale formula was exhausted. Nevertheless, DreamWorks Animation obviously thought there was life in the old dog yet; the final instalment of the franchise saw its theatrical release earlier…

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★★★★☆ Let’s be honest, at this point in time nothing this review says is likely to persuade or dissuade you from seeing Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster hit Inception (2010). The chances are you’ve already seen it four times and have the DVD on pre-order. Or you’ve been living under a rock for the past six months.Taking the film’s…

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★★★★☆ Shot on location in New Mexico and featuring a cast of relatively unknown actors, British director Gareth Edwards has made a low-budget (reportedly as little as £500,000), mini-masterpiece in Monsters (2010), a mesh of industry-standard effects and raw human emotions, featuring two protagonists you can really connect with – a rarity in the science…

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★★★★☆ There is a menacing feel to Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010) right from the off, and we’re quickly made aware that this is no venture into traditional ‘schmaltz’. The film opens on a mining expedition somewhere in the mountains of Northern Europe, an area loaded with geographical authenticity for the subject matter at…

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Told over a period of some forty-seven years, Julian Schnabel’s Miral (2010) recounts the life of a young woman growing up in Israeli-occupied Palestine following the establishment of the first Jewish state. Adapted by Rula Jebreal from her own novel and somewhat – or so it would appear – autobiographical, the film recounts the life…

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I feel I should start by admitting that I haven’t actually seen London Boulevard (2010) – at least not all of it. A screening of Mike Leigh’s pitch perfect Another Year (2010) was starting on screen 3 and though it shames me to confess it, dear reader – I bailed.I was, however, perfectly on time…

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There is no doubt that the Sex and the City franchise is one of the most successful in television history. The series is popular with teenagers and women alike, and its stars have become style icons for fans to the point where many have dressed for theatre showings in attire that wouldn’t seem out of place…

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Vincenzo Natali’s Splice (2009) crept into cinemas earlier this year well out of reach of most cinemagoer’s radars. Tackling some unsettling scientific ethics as well as grappling some thorny moral issues, Splice offers an engrossing and, rather uniquely, fresh story that sets it apart from most other recent cinematic releases.When Clive Nicoli (Adrien Brody) and…

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★★★☆☆ To say Stieg Larsson’s novels are popular would be an understatement, and the first two film adaptations The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2009) and The Girl Who Played with Fire (2009) (both released theatrically in the authors’ native Swedish) have been both critically and commercially well-received.The third and final adaptation in the series, The…

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