Honeymoon – Review Stephen O'Nion September 29, 2014 Reviews Declining to note that honeymooning at an isolated cabin in the woods - “we’re gonna have the whole place to ourselves” - is asking for trouble, Honeymoon soon passes its table-setting cliché and...
The Babadook – Review Tom Bond September 23, 2014 Reviews Even for the occasional horror fan, The Babadook feels far too full of the usual clichés: a troubled child, a distressed (bereaved) mother and - what’s that? A haunted house? Writer and director Jennifer...
A Most Wanted Man – Review Tom Bond September 13, 2014 Reviews Go into A Most Wanted Man expecting the familiar tone and pace of fellow John le Carré adaptation Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and you won’t be disappointed. Corbijn’s direction is a little more gruff and...
Lucy – Review Cameron Ward August 14, 2014 Reviews 1 Comment Visually overflowing, and just about as ludicrous as it is "clever", Luc Besson's latest relies so heavily on pseudo-intellectualism that its outer world quickly falls away to pseudo-reality. Though...
The Congress – Review Tom Bond August 5, 2014 Reviews 1 Comment The Congress looks at the state of modern Hollywood - actresses battling ageism, the cannibalising presence of CGI and mo-cap – and reflects back a metafictional gem. Folman’s adapted script is cynical...
Joe – Review Cameron Ward July 30, 2014 Reviews 3 Comments Adapted from the late Larry Brown’s novel of the same name, Joe commands exceedingly tight performances within a morally bereft universe. All aspects point to open-ended nihilism, as Joe’s modern wasteland...
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes – Review Tom Bond July 19, 2014 Reviews 1 Comment The most astonishing achievement of Dawn is that within seconds you forget that every ape, from chimpan-A to chimpan-Z, is played by a man in a skin-tight bodysuit. The dynamics of their new civilisation...
We’ll Never Have Paris – EIFF Review Cameron Ward July 9, 2014 Reviews 1 Comment Directed by both Simon Helberg and his (unfortunate) wife Jocelyn Towne, We'll Never Have Paris features Helberg's (cringingly) semi-autobiographical proposal story in what appears to be something akin to a...
Boyhood – Review Christopher Preston July 7, 2014 Reviews 1 Comment Richard Linklater’s expertise - or at least his largest triumphs - has been in the capturing of rapidly burning candles. By comparison, Boyhood (a project filmed over twelve years) is a great fire; burning...
Transformers: Age of Extinction – Review Christopher Preston July 4, 2014 Reviews 3 Comments Michael Bay isn’t a film director. He’s a demolition expert, and a damn good one at that. So much destruction explodes across Age of Extinction, in fact, that it appears to have shellshocked any semblance...
How To Train Your Dragon 2 – Review Christopher Preston July 3, 2014 Reviews Dragons really are the myth du jour. Daenerys Targaryen’s beastly brood continues to incinerate all of HBO’s competition, while Smaug, Tolkien’s monstrous kleptomaniac, is looking to drag another $1bn of...
Welcome to New York – EIFF Review Cameron Ward June 29, 2014 Reviews "Do you know who I am?" Devereux grunts, towel falling to the floor. Depardieu's outright sociopathic turn as George Devereux - the reported simulacrum to 2011's presumed French presidential candidate,...
Life After Beth – EIFF Review Cameron Ward June 27, 2014 Reviews Writer-director Jeff Baena's directorial and feature debut, Life After Beth, is equal parts tender satire and physical zom-com. Plaza and DeHaan deliver thoroughly accomplished performances, seamlessly...
Cold in July – EIFF Review Cameron Ward June 26, 2014 Reviews Adapted for screen from John Lansdale's novel of the same name, Cold in July retains its free-flowing pulp heritage, with violence and retribution galore. What sets Mickle's latest apart, however, is just...
We Are Monster – EIFF Review Cameron Ward June 25, 2014 Reviews 3 Comments Antony Petrou's racism-fuelled drama concerning the tragic real-life case of Zahid Mabarek shifts focus from the victim, instead opting to centre in on just what drove his fellow inmate, Robert Stewart, to...