Tagged 2015

Following 2010’s mystical Oscar nominee The Secret of Kells, budding animation master Tomm Moore returns to tackle Celtic folklore in Song of the Sea. In this he produces a wonderful film, haunted by...

Moving away from Ted’s tiring and prehistoric gender dynamic (mostly), Ted 2 introduces a more inspiring goal…freedom. Comparing Ted’s plight to slavery is of course ridiculous, and MacFarlane treads...

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...

At first glance, Tell Spring Not To Come This Year feels like more of what we’ve already seen in war documentaries like Sebastian Junger’s Restrepo and Korengal. We see soldiers relaxing in the barracks or...

Few can deny the awesome power of Nina Simone's iconic voice. Fewer still will be aware of the strength of her words. Director Liz Garbus paints a fascinating portrait of a woman who reflected her own time...

Despite getting off to a slow (wahey!) start, Slow West picks up pace as it craftily builds its world, tone and characters to culminate in a pulsating and well-earned finale. That Slow West is the...

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...

When the director doesn't even want to put his name on a film, it's not promising. Sadly, the years Accidental Love spent in production purgatory did nothing to save its offbeat potential from the vague,...

It's ironic that a film partly about the excesses of Hollywood has so much excess baggage - doubly so when this includes a contrived subplot concerning the film-within-a-film needing some of its weaker...

Take one pint-sized actress and mix in hunky male (piercing blue eyes optional). Add geographic distance/serious illness/drastically opposed lifestyles, or all three. Scatter clichés generously. Take care not...

The debate about drones is only in its infancy, but Drone proves that there’s plenty of discussion to be had. Interviews with former drone pilots in the US and human rights lawyers in Pakistan highlight...

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...

How a CG movie can be released eight years after the video game it’s based on and have significantly worse graphics, not to mention story and characterisation, is unfathomable. Yet Heavenly Sword is just...

From the moment Ty Simpkins throws open the hotel window shutters and we first see a sweeping aerial view of Jurassic World, with John Williams’ iconic score blaring out triumphantly, you know you’re in...

This oral history documents the inexplicable rise, and inevitable fall of Golan and Globus; the pioneers of schlockbusters, whose fierce passion for filmmaking (whatever the cost) led to exploitation on and...