Muppets Most Wanted – Review Christopher Preston April 2, 2014 Reviews 1 Comment Muppets Most Wanted isn’t the Muppets resting upon their laurels. It’s them lounging on a throne crafted from pure nostalgic complacency. Ricky Gervais picks up where Jason Segel and Amy Adams left off....
The Legend of Hercules – Review Stephen O'Nion March 30, 2014 Reviews 1 Comment The Legend of Hercules is incredibullshit. Women pout, men flex, random specks float about to say “3D!” and our beefy protagonist squares off against a sniveling Reece Shearsmith-alike for his true...
Twenty Feet from Stardom – Review Calum Baker March 29, 2014 Reviews Though its accessibility has drawn scorn from fans of "serious" documentary-making, this VH1-vibed account of sadly-overlooked backing singers should win anyone over. It's the magnetic personalities as much...
Afternoon Delight – Review Stephen O'Nion March 29, 2014 Reviews Though expecting to hate the tale of beauty and the button-down, it turns out writer-director Jill Soloway has actually created a frequently amusing slice of mumblecore realism. Finally Kathryn Hahn has...
Captain America: The Winter Soldier – Review Chris Davies March 27, 2014 Reviews 1 Comment After the disappointing Thor: The Dark World, Marvel matures with a contemporary thriller that emphasises character and ideology. The Winter Soldier himself is underused and the conclusion weakened by...
The Past – Review Chris Davies March 26, 2014 Reviews 1 Comment “The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.” - L.P. Hartley There are echoes of Hartley’s The Go-Between in Asghar Farhadi’s latest, depicting children caught in the fallout of...
A Long Way Down – Review Patrick Taylor March 22, 2014 Reviews Adapted from a Nick Hornby novel, A Long Way Down tells the story of four people who become unlikely companions when they all attempt to commit suicide on New Year’s Eve. Unfortunately, the film...
Starred Up – Review Christopher Preston March 20, 2014 Reviews Starred Up serves its porridge with bits of broken glass. It grins as it spits teeth, just as likely to erupt into another volcanic episode of violence as it is to cough up a pearl of prison wisdom. Jack...
The Zero Theorem – Review Tom Bond March 15, 2014 Reviews 1 Comment The Zero Theorem is unmistakably a Terry Gilliam film, for better or worse. He has created a deliciously chaotic dystopia, saturated with colour and adverts, but his ramshackle directing threatens to disengage...
Under the Skin – Review Cameron Ward March 15, 2014 Reviews 2 Comments Beautifully hypnotic and hauntingly dispassionate, Jonathan Glazer's multi-faceted exploration of cultural subjectivity and social realism flawlessly straddles issues of both observational cinema and the...
300: Rise of an Empire – Review Christopher Preston March 4, 2014 Reviews 2 Comments 300 was brawny entertainment back in 2006, pumped full of radioactive testosterone. But this feeble sort-of sequel exhibits a warrior well past its prime. Weak and saggy, the once-chiseled abs have melted into...
The Grand Budapest Hotel – Review Chris Davies March 3, 2014 Reviews 4 Comments Wes Anderson’s latest is like a matryoshka doll, each narrative opening to reveal another nested inside. At the centre is the story of Gustav H., delivered with pontifical perfection by a flawless...
Unforgiven (Yurusarezaru mono) – Review David Brake March 3, 2014 Reviews 2 Comments The decision to remake Clint Eastwood's masterpiece is a bold and peculiar move. The new Unforgiven's strength derives from its departure from the narrative of old. Aided by the striking vistas of Japan,...
Non-Stop – Review Christopher Preston March 3, 2014 Reviews 1 Comment In recent years, Liam Neeson has punched one half of a Middle-Eastern crime family, identity thieves, a pack of wolves, and the other half of said Middle-Eastern crime family. Now he has to punch an endangered...
Ride Along – Review Stephen O'Nion March 1, 2014 Reviews 1 Comment He may look gruff and wave a gun around but fear not - this is still Ice Cube at his Are We There Yet-iest. That is largely down to Ride Along being the Chris Tucker Kevin Hart show through and through. The...