The Case Against 8 – Sundance London Review Christopher Preston May 6, 2014 Reviews The Case Against 8 is a never-more-than-ordinary documentary about a never-less-than-extraordinary series of events. Needless, theatricality proves to be its main undoing. In one scene, Ted Olson reads back...
CEL Mates: Fear(s) of the Dark Conor Morgan April 28, 2014 CEL Mates, Features, Independent CEL Mates is a new feature about alternative animated films you may not have seen, but probably should; all outside of the Disney/Pixar, Dreamworks and Studio Ghibli fare that dominate the world of animation....
Dinosaur 13 – Sundance London Review Tom Bond April 27, 2014 Reviews 1 Comment The dusty world of fossil digs might seem boring, but Dinosaur 13 is a documentary that gives heart to those weathered bones. You’re drawn in by the passion and excitement of Pete Larson & co. as they...
The Trip to Italy – Sundance London Review Tom Bond April 26, 2014 Reviews 1 Comment La bella Italia, La Dolce Vita – it’s all on display in this glorious Grand Tour, full of good friends and good food and, most of all, full of laughter. Brydon, and Coogan in particular, are less...
Under the Electric Sky – Sundance London Review Christopher Preston April 25, 2014 Reviews Under the Electric Sky is a ridiculous film which exhibits ridiculous people. Shot during 2013’s Electric Daisy Carnival it offers zero accessibility and little of interest to anyone not already associated...
Frank – Sundance London Review Christopher Preston April 25, 2014 Reviews 1 Comment “What goes on inside that head?” Michael Fassbender goes one better than Karl Urban’s Judge Dredd in the bizarrely sublime (or is that sublimely bizarre?) Frank. This is a film which, given a chance...
Fruitvale Station – Sundance London Review Christopher Preston April 24, 2014 Reviews 2 Comments Shuddering footage extrapolated from a cellphone shows a group of black men sitting on a station floor. One is thrown down and a bang stings the air. Fruitvale Station begins with an ending. Michael B. Jordan...
The One I Love – Sundance London Review Christopher Preston April 23, 2014 Reviews The One I Love is a crumpled-up love letter being tumble-dried inside one of the drums of The Twilight Zone. Charlie McDowell manages to crack open a window and pump a fresh breeze into a genre bloated with...
Drunktown’s Finest – Sundance London Review Christopher Preston April 22, 2014 Reviews Drunktown’s Finest is Sydney Freeland’s directorial debut on a feature - and it shows. This film, which combines the increasingly interwoven stories of three young Native Americans, is never quite able to...
Transcendence – Review Christopher Preston April 21, 2014 Reviews Which is worse: a bad film or a disappointing one? Transcendence manages to be both at the same time. Wally Pfister’s directorial debut is a fractured crazy pavement, cementing together thick slabs of...
Calvary – Review Christopher Preston April 14, 2014 Reviews A darkness hangs over Calvary; as bleak and angry as a pregnant thundercloud. Those hoping for a thematic sequel to The Guard will quickly discover that they won’t find it here. Calvary isn’t perfect; the...
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 – Review Christopher Preston April 9, 2014 Reviews Calling Marc Webb’s perfunctory remixing of Spider-Man’s origins "Amazing" was an audacious claim back in 2012. Now, less than two years later, comes the web-slinger’s greatest battle: to remain...
The Double – Review Christopher Preston April 3, 2014 Reviews 1 Comment The Double sees Jesse Eisenberg thumping his two favourite masks - milksop and scumbag - together as if they were a pair of cymbals. This doppelgänger nightmare is something we should want to digest...
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...
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...