God Forgive Us
With newcomer Michael Bachochin’s film about to head around the festival circuit, James Freeman takes a first look. There’s no escaping the fact that God Forgive Us is a very dark venture. Not dark in...
View ArticleInterstellar
By Will Firth Many contemporary filmmakers (and critics) put a high price on originality, and one could argue that is exactly where director Christoper Nolan gets his lofty reputation from; refreshing...
View ArticleNightcrawler
By Will Firth Jake Gyllenhaal gives one of the year’s most electrifying performances in writer Dan Gilroy’s raw and uncompromising directorial debut. To say that this film adheres to aspects of the...
View ArticleMaps To The Stars
By James Freeman Julianne Moore excels in this incestuous race to insanity, both lampooning and obsessing over the Hollywood cult of personality. Despite his propensity for body horror and an...
View ArticleFinding Fela!
By James Freeman There was one question in my head as I left the cinema, trying to form a plan for this review: how much credit can you give a documentary for its subject? Director Alex Gibney (Enron:...
View ArticleAs Above, So Below
By Will Firth Equal parts Indiana Jones, Event Horizon and Blair Witch, this low-budget horror condenses some of the best ideas from all three into a thoroughly entertaining package, without...
View ArticleGuardians Of The Galaxy
By Florence Hyde Guardians of the Galaxy is a highly enjoyable, funny, self-conscious blockbuster, which is not as unproblematic as that may seem. Following his abduction by aliens as a boy, Peter...
View ArticleBoyhood
By Florence Hyde Cultural document, parenting guide and personal portrait, Boyhood is a weirdly detached but deeply poignant exploration of growing up in the nineties and noughties. In many ways...
View ArticleDawn Of The Planet Of The Apes
By Will Firth I was never really sold on 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes – not really seeing what all the fuss was about (and there was a lot of it). I found myself not caring enough about the...
View ArticleThe Young And Prodigious T.S. Spivet
By James Freeman In the rural expanses of Montana lie a mismatched family: wannabe cowboy and taxonomist, golden child, prodigy and ‘misunderstood’ teen. As may be clear from the name, the prodigy is...
View ArticleMemphis
By James Freeman Very little happens in Tim Sutton’s second effort, Memphis. That’s the elephant in the room that we have to get out of the way early on. You don’t go and see it for the enthralling...
View ArticleFruitvale Station •
By Will Firth Ryan Coogler’s profound drama mixes powerful performances, perfect pacing and an almost documentarian honesty to incredible effect in its 90 minute runtime. Akin to the tragic incident...
View ArticleGodzilla
By Will Firth Some films are greater than the sum of their parts – with disparate aspects coming together to create a more satisfying whole. Godzilla, whilst an impressive and very effective reboot,...
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