DVD Review: Salute! Sun Yat Sen
When you’ve waited nine years since a director’s last proper feature, you’d be forgiven for expecting something a little special. Not Taiwanese filmmaker Yee Chih-yen, the director of Blue Gate Crossing, who instead chooses simplicity over flamboyant spectacular. Salute! Sun Yat-sen is an unusual mix of slapstick comedy, heist movie and social commentary. There are …
Incoming: Southpaw
Southpaw tells the story of Billy “The Great” Hope, reigning Light Heavyweight Boxing Champion of the World (Jake Gyllenhaal). Billy Hope seemingly has it all with an impressive career, a beautiful and loving wife (Rachel McAdams), an adorable daughter (Oona Laurence) and a lavish lifestyle. When tragedy strikes and his lifelong manager and friend (Curtis …
DVD Review: Listen Up Philip
There aren’t many modern films with such a high opinion of itself as Listen Up Philip. Sadly, like its self-obsessed titular character, Philip Lewis Friedman (Jason Schwartzman), Alex Ross Perry’s film likes to wallow in its own smug self-satisfaction and pungent aroma. Whilst it doesn’t do self-masturbatory in the same way as Birdman, there’s still …
EIFF Review: Above and Below
Las Vegas is one of the most iconic cities in the world. For me, it represents everything that’s wrong with America. Whilst The Strip is full luxury hotels and tourists with money to gamble, we rarely see the flipside. What happens to those living in the city who fall through the cracks? Whilst the city …
Incoming: Inside Out
Based in Headquarters, the control centre inside 11-year-old Riley’s mind, five Emotions are hard at work, led by lighthearted optimist Joy (voice of Amy Poehler), whose mission is to make sure Riley stays happy. Fear (voice of Bill Hader) heads up safety, Anger (voice of Lewis Black) ensures all is fair and Disgust (voice of …
EIFF Review: Welcome to Me
Kristen Wiig is destined to have a huge year. Along with The Diary of a Teenage Girl, her leading role in the brilliant Welcome To Me cements her place as one of the funniest actors working in Hollywood today. Viig is the glue which holds the film together, and her spellbinding performance ensures that a …
Film Review – Adrift: People of a Lesser God
Sometimes the content of a film is much more important than the actual film itself. One of the most pressing world problems and biggest tragedies of this century is that of people being trafficked from Africa to Europe. Thousands have died this year, which is already a huge increase on 2014 and it’s a situation …
Incoming: Ant-Man
The next evolution of the Marvel Cinematic Universe brings a founding member of The Avengers to the big screen for the first time with Marvel Studios’ “Ant-Man.” Armed with the astonishing ability to shrink in scale but increase in strength, master thief Scott Lang must embrace his inner-hero and help his mentor, Dr. Hank Pym, …
Film Review: The Wonders
The Wonders, the beautiful new film from Alice Rohrwacher, derives its power and majesty from a beautiful simplicity. In a world where cinema audiences increasingly demand to be emotionally jolted, it never goes further than a raised voice. The Wonders signifies change, not only as a coming of age film but also the decline of …
Film Review: The Salt of the Earth
Beautiful, harrowing, traumatising and uplifting, the new Wim Wenders film, The Salt of the Earth, only really deals in extreme emotions. The Oscar nominated documentary focusses on famous social and environmental photographer, Sebastião Salgado. Co-directed with Sebastião’s son, Juliano, Wenders’ reverence for his subject is clear, but so is the sheer beauty and horrific power …