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Cambridge Film Festival 2018 preview
The Cambridge Film Festival is an annual event celebrating the best of British and international cinema. It is organised by the Cambridge Film Trust and takes place during the autumn. The three major prizes of the festival are the Golden Punt (given to the Best Feature), the Silver Punt (awarded to the Best Documentary), and…
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Film Review: The Wife
★★★★★ Joan Castleman (Glenn Close) has intellect, charm, and elegant diplomacy. Her husband Joe (Jonathan Pryce), meanwhile, is the personification of a ditzy writer: flyaway hair, scraggly beard, incapable of having any structure to his life – whether that’s remembering to take daily medication, or marital fidelity – and entirely dependent on his wife to support…
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Film Review: Two for Joy
★★★☆☆ Samantha Morton stars as a mother sinking deeper into a harrowing depression and struggling to care for her two kids in Two for Joy, Tom Beard’s feature debut. Aisha’s (Morton) daughter, Violet (Emilia Jones), just wants to revise for her GCSEs but devotes most of her time to being her mum’s carer. Little brother Troy…
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DVD Review: Eye of the Needle
★★★☆☆ A British war-time thriller with a difference, Eye of the Needle is played out as far removed from those war-torn battlefields as you could get. Instead, director Richard Marquand opts largely for more intimate surrounding and manages to squeeze out some memorable moments of Hitchcockian suspense and tension. On the strength of his self-assured work…
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Idris Elba: getting to know the potential new 007
Rumours surrounding who will play the next James Bond have been circulating since before Daniel Craig had even made Spectre. Many big names have been linked to the British spy, who has been played by seven actors thus far. It’s a coveted role for any British actor, but only the best have been linked to…
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Are casino movies poised to make a comeback?
Like many industries, film is one of patterns, of ebbs and flows. This makes sense, as mass media tends to reflect current social climate. Our fears, our hopes, and our dreams for the future, all of these help shape which topics and genres are at the forefront of entertainment at any given time. While we…
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Bond in Numbers
Following the announcement earlier this week that American director Cary Joji Fukunaga has replaced Danny Boyle as director of Bond 25, along with a new release date of Valentine’s Day 2020, MI6’s top man has been on the name on everyone’s lips. But how much do we really know about 007? Have you ever wondered…
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Film Review: Climax
★★★★★ Gaspar Noé’s Climax is arguably the French provocateur at his most subdued, but it still manages to be a rollicking thrill ride of sweat, drugs and pounding disco music. The Noé trademarks are all there: MDMA, neon visuals and an atmosphere that ascends from zero to 100 MPH at frightening, lightning speed. On the surface, this…
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DVD Review: Matangi / Maya / M.I.A.
★★★★☆ Steve Loveridge’s documentary on Mathangi Arulpragasam (aka M.I.A.) is the story of a young girl’s creative coming-of-age as an immigrant in 1990s Britain, dealing with the dichotomy of her council estate home in Hounslow, West London, and her ties to Tamil life in Sri Lanka. Matangi / Maya / M.I.A. explores how Maya ended…
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Toronto 2018: Green Book wins People’s Choice Award
After garnering rave reviews at Venice, Alfonso Cuarón’s luminously beautiful Roma arrived at the Toronto Film Festival to equal acclaim, but it was Barry Jenkins’ world premiere of If Beale Street Could Talk that garnered the most buzz on the ground. Widely considered the front-runner for the festival’s People’s Choice Award, If Beale Street Could…
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