FIlm Review
Film Review: Cobain: Montage Of Heck
Nirvana were undoubtedly a huge band by any measure. However, the untimely death of Kurt Cobain propelled them into musical folklore. The cost of Nirvana CDs suddenly spiralled and a whole new swathe of fans appearing out of nowhere. There have been several films about the mercurial lead singer, but Brett Morgen’s Cobain: Montage of …
Film Review: Force Majeure
Relationships are based on trust and understanding. There’s a tendency to bury issues and try to continue on with the relationship as if nothing is wrong. Often unsaid anxieties and issues are brought to the fore by seemingly unrelated or unusual events. In Force Majeure, director Ruben Östlund plays on these uncertainties using a ‘Force …
Film Review: Furious 7
The Fast and The Furious franchise has always raised a lot of questions for me. Why aren’t there more cars? Why did the fifth installment, Fast Five, resort to the word ‘five’ rather than the number? What’s the deal with Tokyo Drift? And why has the Fast been dropped for Furious 7? Trying to move …
Film Review: Jauja
Myths and legends of mythical lands and places have been predominant throughout the world since the dawn Humankind. The most famous examples are probably El Dorado, Shambhala and Shangri-La (we’re all agreed that Atlantic existed, right?). The former capital of Spanish Peru, Jauja, obtained a mythical status due to its riches; entering into Spanish folklore …
Film Review: Altman
Robert Altman was one of the most important, challenging and visionary American directors off the last 40 years. Despite myriad setbacks and periods in the wilderness, he made some of the most influential films in modern American cinema. Despite never winning an Oscar for any of his movies, he was recognised by the Academy with …
Film Review: The Dark Horse
The New Zealand film industry is hardly a powerhouse in world cinema. Every so often it throws up a gem, but the early work of Peter Jackson aside, it tends to be a rare event. Whale Rider is probably the country’s most well known success, but it’s the powerful Once Were Warriors which is probably …
Film Review: Wild Card
FADE IN: INT. LIVING ROOM OF TERRACED HOUSE, SHEFFIELD SMILING BOBBY is watching Neighbours on the television. The phone rings. SMILING BOBBY mutes the television and answers the phone. SMILING BOBBY Hello. EXT. HOTEL POOLSIDE, LOS ANGELES – DAY FILM EXEC Hey Smiling Bobby! How you doin’? INTERCUT PHONE CONVERSATION SMILING BOBBY Fine, fine, …
Film Review: Home
A new outing from DreamWorks Animation is always something to look forward to. They’ve brought us Kung Fu Panda, Shrek and, one of my personal favourites, the circus afro sequence in Madagascar 3. The latest addition to the DreamWorks catalogue is Home. The Boov are on the run from the Gorg and after sidelining humans …
Film Review: Blind
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences loves to reward actors for playing a character with a physical or mental disability. However, they tend to only award Oscars to those who are either drowning or thriving in their adversity. In Eskil Vogt’s film Blind, Ellen Dorrit Petersen plays a woman who is still coming …
Film Review: Cinderella
Once upon a time, around about the 1970s, there was a Ladybird book called Cinderella. This book was so beloved, not only because it recreated the story for a whole generation of children, but most notably because Cinderella attended the ball on three different evenings, wearing three different dresses, which was simply amazing. This book …