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Film Review: Pokémon Detective Pikachu
★★★☆☆ Detective Pikachu marks the birth of the Pokémon film franchise in live-action form. The pocket monsters, first established in 1995 by Japanese designer Satoshi Tajiri, have experienced a resurgence of late with the release of Pokémon Go! in 2016, in turn sparking a bidding war between studios for the rights to a new film,…
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27 motoring lessons from 27 films
How well do you know your motoring film trivia? Car-related breakdowns occur in more films than you may think. Unsurprisingly, vehicles in films are more likely to break down in a horror movie, with comedies a close second. Some of our favourite films feature breakdowns as a major part of the story. Imagine how differently…
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Interview: Brady Corbet, dir. Vox Lux
In 2015, Brady Corbet went from supporting roles in films like Catherine Hardwicke’s Thirteen, Michael Haneke’s Funny Games (US) and Lars von Trier’s Melancholia, to suddenly being lauded as one of the most exciting new directors working in American Cinema.
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Film Review: Vox Lux
★★☆☆☆ Vox Lux is the second directorial feature from actor and filmmaker Brady Corbet. An imagined biography of a fictional pop star, the film is ambitious in its structure but only occasionally flickers into life. The very beginning of Vox Lux shows so much promise that it will have you poised for something truly special.…
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Film Review: Avengers: Endgame
While this review avoids major plot points be wary of minor spoilers. ★★★★☆ Following the defeat that led to the death of half of the universe, Earth’s mightiest heroes are scattered, bewildered and broken, clutching at straws for a solution to Thanos’ (Josh Brolin) terrible decimation. While Disney’s troubling takeover of the entertainment industry continues apace,…
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Film Review: Ash Is Purest White
★★★★☆ In Chinese auteur’s Jia Zhangke’s latest film, which premiered to acclaim in Cannes last year, unrequited love and inner resolve are pitted against the rapidly-changing world of modern China. Ash Is Purest White is an epic spanning decades and vast geography that ultimately gives way to the intimate and personal. Beginning in the early 2000s, Qiao (Tao…
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Film Review: Bel Canto
★★★★☆ Paul Weitz and Anthony Weintraub’s screen adaptation of Ann Patchett’s novel Bel Canto deftly weaves romance into a taut hostage drama. Roxane Coss (Julianne Moore), an international opera star (vocals courtesy of Renée Fleming) has been asked to sing at a diplomats’ dinner in an unnamed South American country. The evening is in honour…
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Scents of cinema: perfume in film
Movies, by their very nature, are audio-visual experiences. We watch the characters move around and we see the plot play out on-screen as we hear the music, the voices, the sound effects, and more. The idea of a film being able to trigger any of our other senses is fundamentally absurd, and yet there are…
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Film Review: Dragged Across Concrete
★★★★☆ Over the course of his previous two features, S. Craig Zahler has carved a name for himself as a skilled director of deep character-based studies with added gore value. Though not as overtly provocative or aggravating as Quentin Tarantino, Zahler’s Dragged Across Concrete similarly submerges the audience in genre filmmaking, whilst resting at a…
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Cannes 2019: Palme d’Or lineup announced
The Cannes lineup for its 72nd edition was announced today. Following a falling out with Netflix and the increasingly heavyweight competition of Venice, the 2019 programme feels like it had something to prove – and it looks to have delivered. About half of the official competition appears to be made up of old hands and…
VENICE 2026