Film Review: Love
Gaspar Noé has been working hard to build up a reputation as the enfant terrible of modern film-making. In his previous outings, I Stand Alone, Irreversible and Enter the Void, he set about assaulting the viewer; using the camera as a weapon of violence to beat the audience to a bloody pulp. In his new …
DVD Review: Closely Observed Trains
If you ask most people in this country to name a famous Czech writer it’s odds on that the response will be either Franz Kafka or Milan Kundera. However, if you were to ask the same question in Prague or Brno you’re likely to receive a different reply. There’s a good chance the response you’ll …
DVD Review: The Fallen Idol
Given it’s Noirvember, now seems the perfect time to rediscover one of cinema’s almost forgotten film noir classic. Directed by Carol Reed and adapted from his own book by Graham Greene (both were nominated for Academy Awards for their troubles), The Fallen Idol is an impressive yet simple film. The pair most famously collaborated together …
Incoming: The Lady in the Van
A man forms an unexpected bond with a transient woman living in her car that’s parked in his driveway. Starring Maggie Smith. The Lady in the Van is out in cinemas today.
Incoming: Steve Jobs
Set backstage at three iconic product launches and ending in 1998 with the unveiling of the iMac, Steve Jobs takes us behind the scenes of the digital revolution to paint an intimate portrait of the brilliant man at its epicentre. Steve Jobs is in cinemas on Friday.
DVD Review: Stop Making Sense
There are very few bands which combine the artistic ethos, lasting appeal, critical integrity and the reputation for live shows as Talking Heads did. David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth, and Jerry Harrison achieved almost cult-like status over a 25 year period until they disbanded in 1991. However, they were at the height of their …
Film Review: Tell Spring Not To Come This Year
Writing this on Remembrance Sunday, there’s no better time to meditate on the human cost and victims of modern warfare. There have been many documentaries and films written about the futility of war, but in the modern arenas of Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan (to name but a few) the emphasis is normally about the involvement …
Film Review: Warriors
Most sport seems to be rife with corruption and cricket is no exception. In the superb Death of a Gentleman, Johhny Black, Sam Collins and Jarrod Kimber exposed the hold a few rich men have over the game. Young Maassai Warriors take cricket to their hearts in Barney Douglas’s documentary Warriors, using it as a …
Film Review: Tangerine
With the development and widespread access to new technologies the price of making a film has rapidly dipped. No longer do you need reels of film, a huge crew and a long post-production process. Under house arrest and banned from making films, Jafar Panahi got creative and used an iPhone to make This is Not …
Incoming: He Named Me Malala
He Named Me Malala is an intimate portrait of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai, who was targeted by the Taliban and severely wounded by a gunshot when returning home on her school bus in Pakistan’s Swat Valley. The then 15-year-old (she turns 18 this July) was singled out, along with her father, for advocating …