The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 – Review Christopher Preston November 24, 2014 Reviews The Hunger Games hasn’t given birth to twins. Instead, it has stretched out the limbs of its concluding chapter to the point of cracking dislocation. The bite of the adaptation’s first instalments has...
Horrible Bosses 2 – Review Tom Bond November 22, 2014 Reviews For better or worse, if you’ve watched a mainstream US comedy in the last five years, it’s going to be riddled with improv. Horrible Bosses 2 is no different and Bateman, Day and Sudeikis offer nothing...
Nightcrawler – Review Christopher Preston November 2, 2014 Reviews Jake Gyllenhaal unfurls creepy wings as Lou Bloom, a determined vulture ready to feather his own nest in the shade of the American Dream. Lou’s maniac eyes share the same greedy glint as his hungry camera....
Interstellar – Review Christopher Preston October 31, 2014 Reviews Interstellar is magnificently ambitious. It is just a shame that narrative appears to be the stubbiest finger upon the grasping palm of its lofty aspirations. Nolan’s space odyssey detonates some of the...
The Book of Life – Review Tom Bond October 26, 2014 Reviews The Book of Life makes an intriguing attempt at exploring gender stereotypes, but often ends up reinforcing them. Maria (Saldana) ticks a few painfully clichéd feminist heroine boxes, but mostly she is never...
Son of a Gun – LFF Review Tom Bond October 22, 2014 Reviews There are few logical explanations for Son of a Gun. The most probable is that writer/director Avery is getting paid by the cliché, each one more laughable and obvious than the last. It’s a shame because...
A Little Chaos – LFF Review Tom Bond October 22, 2014 Reviews ‘Landscape gardener charms all she meets with fresh approaches to shrubbery’ is a synopsis that will set few pulses racing. Rickman’s first directorial effort since 1997, however, is a solid piece of...
Foxcatcher – LFF Review Tom Bond October 21, 2014 Reviews 1 Comment Foxcatcher is a fascinating study of dedication, loneliness and power. In many ways it’s a tonally opposite companion to Whiplash. Sadly, it’s also nowhere near as good. Fry and Futterman’s script...
The Salvation – LFF Review Tom Bond October 18, 2014 Reviews The Salvation launches into action with a tense and life-changing encounter for Jon (Mikkelsen) and his family. Unfortunately, from there the plot becomes increasingly ludicrous and lightweight. The...
Mommy – LFF Review Tom Bond October 18, 2014 Reviews 2 Comments Most filmmakers can only dream of having made five features and winning the Jury Prize at Cannes by the age of 25. Most filmmakers aren’t Xavier Dolan. With Mommy he shows off his frighteningly assured...
Whiplash – LFF Review Tom Bond October 17, 2014 Reviews At the heart of Whiplash lies an uncomfortable truth, relentlessly hammered home with the force of a thousand drumbeats. To be truly great at anything you need to work till you bleed, work until you hate...
Hungry Hearts – LFF Review Tom Bond October 17, 2014 Reviews Is it possible to love not too little but too well? This is the question posed by Saverio Costanzo’s incisive and inquisitive script that follows the battle of wills as Jude (Driver) and Mina (Rohrwacher)...
The Immortalists – LFF Review Tom Bond October 17, 2014 Reviews It’s ironic that a film about living forever is so insufferable it makes you want to kill yourself. Sussberg and Alvarado openly laugh at the deluded follies of the oddball scientists trying to cure aging...
Leviathan – LFF Review Tom Bond October 16, 2014 Reviews Zvyagintsev’s direction builds small character moments into a powerful story of corruption, betrayal and despair. This is Russia, and it’s not pretty. Farcical comedy clashes with the downtrodden hopes...
Phoenix – LFF Review Tom Bond October 15, 2014 Reviews If you’ve got the cheek to basically rehash Vertigo in post-war Germany then the result better be good. This isn’t. Criminally devoid of drama or character developments, Petzold and Farocki’s script...