David Fincher’s film requires some justification: was there any need (except, of course, financially, for Sony) to make a second adaptation of Stieg Larsson’s 2005 best-selling novel? This new super-production does not add anything signific...
Wed 08 Feb 2012 by Alexandre Johnston | Read more »
Waltz with Bashir is an animated documentary, a potent exploration of director Ari Folman's own experience of war. It's told as he tries to piece together his fractured memories of the major Israeli incursion into Lebanon in 1982. Waltz with Bashir is ...
Mon 06 Feb 2012 by Anna Hafsteinsson | Read more »
In 2008 Mark Kermode called Chico & Rita 'One of the 10 best films of the year' and with its cracking soundtrack and charming visual aesthetic it's not too hard to see why. Talented Spanish director Fernando Trueba invokes the tradition of the...
Mon 06 Feb 2012 by Anna Hafsteinsson | Read more »
Wed 01 Feb 2012 by Matthew Macaulay | Read more »
"There are three ways to make a living in this business. Be first, be smarter, or cheat." Margin Call is the latest instalment in a growing body of films to cast light on the motives, doubts, and fears leading to the 2008 financial crisis. Thankfu...
Wed 01 Feb 2012 by Steven Campbell-Harris | Read more »
Steve McQueen’s latest cinematic offering, Shame, is an unflinching examination of the reality of sexual addiction. The film follows Brandon, a thirty-something New Yorker whose voracious sexual appetite prevents him from forging meaningful relat...
Wed 01 Feb 2012 by Matthew Macaulay | Read more »
Thu 19 Jan 2012 by Blair Dingwall | Read more »
Based on the novel by Hunter S. Thompson, The Rum Diary is an occasionally amusing if rambling tale of alcohol, the perils of corruption, and more alcohol set on the pristine island of Puerto Rico. Paul Kemp (Johnny Depp) stars as a journalist who has...
Thu 01 Dec 2011 by Steven Campbell-Harris | Read more »
Thu 01 Dec 2011 by Alexandre Johnston | Read more »
Wed 30 Nov 2011 by Blair Dingwall | Read more »
Allan Sekula is a literary artist. His essayistic photography and film material is informed more by literature and cinema than its static counterparts of painting and sculpture. Thus, his works are driven by narrative, and require concentrated reading....
Thu 24 Nov 2011 by Kathryn Lloyd | Read more »
Wuthering Heights is not an action-packed novel, so don’t expect this film to be either. Andrea Arnold’s interpretation, the latest contribution to a lengthy tradition of adaptations starring actors such as Sir Olivier, Ralph Fiennes and Ju...
Mon 21 Nov 2011 by Claudia Marinaro | Read more »
In the accompanying information, Richard Williams, Professor of Contemporary Visual Cultures at Edinburgh University, speaks of his life-long fondness for the SS United States ship. This sense of nostalgia is immediately apparent and adds an intimate, ...
Sun 20 Nov 2011 by Francesca Sobande | Read more »
In his début film, The Awakening, Nick Murphy tells the story of two characters who struggle with the burden of past hardships. Ostensibly a ghost story, The Awakening fails to properly capitalise on this promising theme, significantly undermini...
Thu 17 Nov 2011 by Oliver MacMahon | Read more »
Wed 16 Nov 2011 by Matthew Macaulay | Read more »
Wed 16 Nov 2011 by Callum A Macleod | Read more »
Based on the eponymous novel of Kathryn Stockett, The Help is a deeply affecting coming of age story about the quiet brutality of racial prejudice in 1960s Jackson, Mississippi. Skeeter Phelan (Emma Stone) stars as an unaccomplished but aspiring write...
Fri 11 Nov 2011 by Steven Campbell-Harris | Read more »
After Good Night and Good Luck this is George Clooney’s second foray into the world of high politics, this time with topical significance: the American election is looming large and the Republican primary is underway. The film is mostly set bac...
Thu 10 Nov 2011 by Alexandre Johnston | Read more »
Despite all of its failures The Hedgehog is a pleasant watch. Mona Achache, for her first film, has done a commendable job in adapting Muriel Barbery’s best-selling novel for the screen. The film remains broadly faithful to the events of the book...
Sun 06 Nov 2011 by Alexandre Johnston | Read more »
Wed 02 Nov 2011 by Ross Miller | Read more »