The Animation section of the DJCAD degree show never fails to impress. There’s a palpable excitement as you pass through the Cooper Gallery and lower corridor; the various posters displaying background art and character sketches track the development from rough sketches to the sleek final product. This year’s work continues to raise the bar with Read More
As a purveyor of art-house cinema, films with long poetic titles become something to be wary of. Generally these are examples of films that are either overwhelmingly didactic or gratingly obsessed with the (self-assessed) brilliance of their style or ideas. The Sky Trembles… teeters at the edge of the cliff of pretension, but manages for Read More
Peter Greenaway was one of the great European arthouse directors, lighting up the British film scene of the 1980s. His talents then faded, creating disjointed films more interested in using formalistic gimmicks than telling a good old-fashioned story. Or so the story goes. The general British critical scene has little time for Greenaway these days; Read More
As an avid movie goer, I was not disappointed when I recently watched Kung Fu Panda 3 for the first time. The movie itself may be more of a child centric film, but it appeals to the child within all of us no matter how old we are. The lead voice actor, Jack Black, reprises Read More
Ravaged by grief, Scottish couple John (Paul Higgins) and Karen (Kate Dickie) go feral in the French Pyrenees after losing their son in Tom Green’s suspenseful thriller, Couple in a Hole. Leaving the technology and pressures of civilisation for the calm of the forest is hardly a new concept in cinema (Into the Wild, Antichrist, Read More
It seems that any filmmaker taking on the task of telling their story through one ambitious and seamless take will now, inevitably, have their film compared to Birdman, be labelled a gimmick, or both. Sebastian Schipper’s Victoria has fallen prey to both critiques and comparisons. However, while Victoria shares Birdman’s impeccably sensitive and intelligent camera-work, traces Read More
I went into the screening of Dawn of Justice preceded by a dark cloud of poor reviews that surrounded the film upon its release; I can definitely say that these were an injustice to the almost wholly positive experience I enjoyed. Now, don’t get me wrong, it is by no means a masterpiece and there Read More
Scene: 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Canada. One British ski jumper went from an ordinary household, where generations upon generations worked themselves into the simple family plastering business, and reached heights that only he could dream of. Michael “Eddie” Edwards (Taron Egerton) goes against all the odds in this touching and comedic true story directed Read More
Scott Graham’s beautifully shot Iona tells the story of the difficulties encountered by Iona (Ruth Negga), a young mother returning to her birthplace, the island with which she shares her name. Fleeing traumatic circumstances, Iona and her son Bull (Ben Gallagher) attempt to integrate themselves with island society, a process complicated by figures from Iona’s Read More
“Based on a true story”. Five words that make any film feel all the more real even before the opening scene; Freeheld is no exception. The film begins in 2002 in New Jersey and stars Julian Moore as celebrated detective Laurel Hester and Ellen Paige as her partner Stacie Andree. The film touches on the Read More