Short Of The Week – Bringing Back the Light Danielle Davenport June 29, 2015 Features, Independent, Short of the Week https://vimeo.com/channels/staffpicks/131506757 With subtlety, simplicity and restraint, Bringing Back the Light eschews patent ‘nature porn’ in favour of gentle storytelling. This didactic...
Jayson Jackson Talks Nina Simone and Netflix Phil W. Bayles June 26, 2015 Behind The Curtain, Features, Interview A record producer by trade, Jayson Jackson's first film project is What Happened, Miss Simone?, a frank and intimate exploration of Nina Simone. We sat down with Jackson at the end of Sheffield Doc/Fest to...
Blazing the Fury Road: Rise of the Feminist Action Hero Madeline Joint June 25, 2015 Analysis, Features, Opinion Well, Fury Road is pretty exciting, huh? No really. In a whole bunch of cultural ways, it's pretty goddamn exciting. Its female protagonist Furiosa, played by the frighteningly brilliant Charlize Theron, is...
A Beginner’s Guide To… Westerns Eddie Falvey June 24, 2015 A Beginner's Guide To..., Analysis, Features The Western genre is sumptuously classical, historically entwined with cinema since its birth - and yet it is also helplessly turbulent, subject to postcolonial criticism for the histories it depicts in its...
A Love Letter To… Despicable Me Sian Brett June 23, 2015 Features, Love Letter, Nostalgia 2010 saw the release of Despicable Me, and the infiltration of some small yellow creatures spouting an unintelligible but undeniably enjoyable language. Although the film focused on the adventures of...
Coming Out As A Muslim: An Interview With Parvez Sharma Phil W. Bayles June 22, 2015 Behind The Curtain, Features, Interview In A Sinner in Mecca, director Parvez Sharma documents his Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca - knowing that, as an openly gay man, he could be executed just for setting foot in Saudi Arabia. We sat down with Sharma...
Short Of The Week – Denali Bertie Archer June 22, 2015 Features, Independent, Short of the Week https://vimeo.com/122375452 However you reacted to Marley & Me, prepare to be hit by a crashing wave of emotion. Denali is a tribute, a love letter, a farewell between two best friends; they have...
Top 10 Film Father Figures Calum Baker June 21, 2015 Analysis, Features, Top 10 In case you missed the calendar alert, the endless commercials, the supermarket displays and the Google Doodle: it's Fathers' Day! We're celebrating with a brief rundown of ten fantastic father figures from...
A Love Letter to… Jaws (40th Anniversary Edition) Eddie Falvey June 18, 2015 Features, Love Letter, Nostalgia Did Steven Spielberg ever make a more important film than Jaws? Whether or not he has made a greater film is open to (a no doubt heated) debate, but what remains is the fact that cinema would look quite...
Who is Stephen Greene, and Did He Really Direct Accidental Love? Bertie Archer June 17, 2015 Analysis, Close-Up, Features Accidental Love stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Jessica Biel, James Marsden and Tracy Morgan, yet it is directed by an unknown. This isn’t unheard of; even in 2014 Hollywood was rocked by a first time director with a...
Making It Big: For The Love Of Spock David Brake June 16, 2015 Features, Independent, Making It Big "I have been - and always shall be - your friend." A line of true soaring beauty from an iconic character. Spock, born in 2230, in the city of Shi'Kahr on the planet Vulcan, is probably the most famous...
Short of the Week – Skwerl Rachel Brook June 15, 2015 Features, Independent, Short of the Week https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vt4Dfa4fOEY After familiar establishing shots, unintelligible dialogue plunges viewers into disorientation. If cinema is about innovative communication of narrative...
Lord of Misrule: A Personal Tribute to Sir Christopher Lee Daniel Orton June 14, 2015 Analysis, Features, Spotlight The last of his kind. That was how Tim Burton described Sir Christopher Lee last week after the actor passed away at the age of 93. Of course, it is perhaps fair to say that Sir Christopher was the only one of...
I’ll Be Back: Are Sequels Always Worth The Wait? Phil W. Bayles June 12, 2015 Analysis, Features, Opinion This year has brought with it a huge number of (incredibly) long-awaited sequels. We've just witnessed the reopening of Isla Nubar in Jurassic World, next month we'll go back in time for Terminator...
Where Are They Now?: Jurassic Park Olivia Luder June 11, 2015 Features, Nostalgia, Where Are They Now? It’s hard to believe that Jurassic Park first roared its way on to our screens in 1993, redefining both CGI and our relationship with dinosaurs with one swipe of a claw. An adaptation of Michael Crichton’s...
