★★★☆☆ One of the most unmistakable filmmakers currently working, Wes Anderson is the go-to stylist for A.I.-generated parodies. His distinctive colour palettes, flat, lateral camera moves, diorama scene design and starry deadpan performances of witticism clipped from The New Yorker mean that most can pre-visualise his films before they even buy a ticket.
★★★★☆ When asked why he called his novel How to Be Good, novelist Nick Hornby replied because having “how” in the title boosts sales significantly. We’re all looking for guidebooks, even when we read novels or see films. The world is a scary and confusing place, and we need someone to show us the way.
★★★☆☆ American director Todd Haynes returns to the Cannes Croisette with the recently Netflix-acquired May December, a Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore two-hander that asks the question: what if Brian De Palma remade Persona but as a comedy?
It was only just last year that we saw filmmakers take another crack at this old nut. Cribbing the original title and whisking Hitchcock’s 84-year-old thriller away to the sprawling hills of West Hollywood, we find another ‘Alfred’ – in...
In a recent interview with Meir Zarchi, the horror director spoke openly throughout about the film that sealed his place in cult film history, whilst also explaining how his passion for cinema is still going strong, thirty two years on...
★★★★☆ The original I Spit on Your Grave has continued to arouse passionate and polarised responses from audiences since its release in 1978. Banned in nearly every country at some stage and with numerous versions still censored today, it may come...
★★★★☆ Revered director Bong Joon-ho is one of a number of South Korean directors that have (rightly) garnered recognition for his cinematic work in the West. His latest film Mother (2009), is a wonderful achievement which deserves just as much praise...
The first thought that will undoubted spring to your mind when you begin watching US indie director Harmony Korine’s latest oddity Trash Humpers (2009) is,”OK, this is weird”. The more you watch though, the more you realise that “weird” is an absolute understatement....
★★☆☆☆ Has there been a better time in recent memory to return to the age-old English legend of a poor man willing to stand up to a nation’s greedy oppressors? Unfortunately, Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood (2010) manages to miss a ripe...
★★★★☆ Adam Lang, the disgraced ex-British Prime Minister depicted in political thriller The Ghost (2010) and Roman Polanski, the film’s veteran director, share one thing in common – controversy. Unfortunately for both Polanski and his latest effort, The Ghost’s release...
The movie based on popular comic strip Marmaduke (2010) is out in cinemas now. Marmaduke? Oh, you know Marmaduke, the big dog, created in 1954 and still being made to this day. You must know what I mean!? It’s Marmaduke!...
★★★★☆ Hands up who knows what the Ozark Mountains look like? Well, you won’t soon forget after watching this bleak thriller. Winter’s Bone (2010) is the hot tip for awards success this year, and it’s not hard to see why: you haven’t...
★★☆☆☆ After a number of years of low grade obscurity, the mid-2000s saw somewhat of a resurgent return to form for zombie-kind, thanks in no small part to the rage infected, sprinting killing machines of Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later...
With an industry so frequently considered as ‘lagging behind’ the successes of the mainstream provided by Hollywood, British Cinema seems somewhat subjugated by its dominant overseas counterpart. Furthermore, the artistic ‘otherness’ of a European cinema arguably fills the void in...
★★★☆☆ Released for the first time on Blu-ray as part of the StudioCanal Collection comes Delicatessen (1991), Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s surreal, post-apocalyptic rom-com about the cannibalistic tenants of an apartment block run by a sadistic butcher, set against...