Ben Wheatley and Amy Jump’s latest project sees them tackle J.G. Ballard’s eponymous novel which, often deemed “unfilmable”, has been in the pipeline for forty years. Safe to say they make it entirely cinematic with the help of Mark Tildesley’s incredible production design and clinical camera work by Laurie Rose. With signature black humour, their Read More
Goodnight Mommy, from Austrian directors Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala, is a horror with many niche directions and approaches to the genre – for instance, dialogue wasn’t overly frequent as the film relies more on creating a traditional psychological horror atmosphere than telling the audience what is happening. This atmospheric tension is persistent from the first few seconds Read More
Personally, I adore horror. The jump scares, the adrenaline, everything. So, as a horror fanatic I was ecstatic at the opportunity to watch a new one, with the premise being supernatural lore from the 17th century. To say I was disappointed would be an understatement. The film begins with a pilgrim family being banished from Read More
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DT6QJaS2a-U Existential thoughts and ideals are the foundation for many of Charlie Kaufman’s films, thrusting his conflicted characters into both the greatly sublime and vastly melancholic. Being the intense character study that it is, Anomalisa proves to be no exception. Originally conceived for the stage, this stop motion animation film for grown-ups tells the story Read More
A veteran sheriff, an elderly back-up deputy, a vain gentleman and a cowboy cripple set out into the west. Although this sounds like the set-up for a joke, Bone Tomahawk is anything but a slapstick-comedy or a Tarantino imitation. Indeed, writer S. Craig Zahler’s directorial debut is an original and refreshing Western with a sustained Read More
The Coen Brothers return with another beautifully set and engrossing piece of cinematography to add to their long list of triumphs. The staple quirky wit that The Coens are known for comes through perfectly; the direction and dialogue is riddled with “inadvertently” satisfying comedy that makes for a truly enjoyable cinematic experience about cinematic experiences. Read More
After recently viewing the Marvel film Deadpool, I noticed that the actor portraying the titular Deadpool was Ryan Reynolds, who also played him in another Marvel film, X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Even during his first pass as the mercenary it can be seen that Reynolds, despite the incredibly little screen time afforded to him within that Read More
After a four year gap, director of The Road (2009) and Lawless (2012), John Hillcoat, makes his directorial return with the intricate crime thriller Triple 9, a complex, multiple-converging narrative heist film that promises action and tension and delivers it the way in which the genre intended. Brimming full of dirty cops, shady criminals and Read More
The 2007-2008 financial crisis stands alongside 9/11 as one of the most impactful events of the last decade. But, while the after effects of the latter were subsequently made obvious to the public by a deluge of media analysis and the spectacle of two foreign wars, the financial crisis remains largely unanalysed and un-commemorated. Despite Read More
Spotlight‘s sensitive subject matter would be incredibly easy to mishandle. However, director Tom McCarthy has succeeded in providing a gripping yet grounded portrayal of the child abuse scandal The Boston Globe exposed in 2002. Devoid of visual frills, the film relies on an outstanding cast to carry it over the potential pitfalls. McCarthy and co-writer Read More