Hope Gap – LFF 2019 Review
With Marriage Story prominent on the festival circuit, LFF's other divorce drama, Hope Gap, threatens to be overshadowed. Sadly, it's probably for the best. It's a muddled film; a painful little knot with...
Pokémon Detective Pikachu – Review
Based on the game of the same name, Detective Pikachu actually feels more the product of the Pokémon GO phenomenon with its mass-appeal stylings. The noir vibe helps; a lighter, less memorable Who Framed...
The Kindness of Strangers – Berlinale 2019 Review
As befitting its title, the characters with which Lone Scherfig populates The Kindness of Strangers prove the shining emotional heart of the drama. Getting them all together takes some contrivance, not to...
Sometimes Always Never – Review
This review was originally published as part of our London Film Festival coverage on 13/10/2019. Loss and longing has ripped through three generations of the Mellor family. The setup is bleak, the visual...
The Bookshop – Review
This film was previously reviewed on 19/02/2018 as part of Berlinale 2018. Charming and inconsequential, The Bookshop perfectly evokes the sensation of losing yourself in a good book. Nothing too heavy –...
Short of the Week – The Hungry Corpse
https://vimeo.com/258683540 In the world of short films, animation is a popular genre. Populated by promising and flawed student films, it’s easy to miss the polished diamonds in among the rough...
The Bookshop – Berlinale 2018 Review
Charming and inconsequential, The Bookshop perfectly evokes the sensation of losing yourself in a good book. Nothing too heavy – more of a summer read than daunting prose – we are led stepping into its...
The Limehouse Golem – Review
The Victorian era has provided fertile ground for cinema’s lust for murder, mystery, and debauchery, particularly around the unsolved Jack the Ripper murders. What The Limehouse Golem offers is a precursor...
Their Finest – Review
Second World War-based films seem to be a particularly British obsession – but here comes Their Finest to remind us, in a rather shining example, why that's quite a good idea. A sweet, spiky and...
Dad’s Army – Review
At last - Britain has produced a true geri-action film. Albeit more geri and less action, Dad’s Army takes on Jerry with a troupe of the ablest British national treasures available. The new - and...
By The Book: I, Frankenstein
Welcome to By The Book. Every fortnight, we’ll compare a book with its visual adaptation. Are they faithful and delightful partners in storytelling or are the authors turning in their graves through these...
I, Frankenstein – Review
I, Frankenstein is one-part Mary Shelley to three thousand parts "makers of the Underworld quadrilogy". Apart from Frankenstein's Monster – here named Adam and unbelievably ripped for a quasi-zombie –...