FIlm Review
Film Review: Dog Soldiers
There was a period during the first decade of the new century that Neil Marshall was the great hope of British genre cinema. With the release of The Descent back in 2005 it seemed like he could do no wrong and Hollywood beckoned. However, the relative disappointment of his follow ups, Doomsday and Centurion, meant …
Film Review: Honest Thief
Liam Neeson is not a man you want to get on the wrong side of. Despite being almost seventy, the Northern Irish actor seems to attract trouble. If Eastern Europeans aren’t kidnapping his wife or daughter then he’s stopping terrorists, wrestling wolves or snowplowing his way to revenge. Over the last decade he has become …
Film Review – Helmut Newton: The Bad and the Beautiful
There are many kinds of artists and there are many kinds of photographers, but there are few who pushed the limits of acceptability quite like Helmut Newton. The German-Australian visual pioneer became famous for his provocative and sexually charged photography, which graced the pages of magazines such of Vogue. His work was controversial and debate …
Film Review: Mafia Inc.
The Cosa Nostra, or the Sicilian mafia, can trace their routes back to the 19th century. From those shoots have sprouted numerous crime families, or syndicates. These early organisations were initially formed to provide protection, but nowadays their focus is often on drug trafficking and other more profitable ventures. Whilst their operations have traditionally been …
Film Review: Being a Human Person
In the film industry, there is no one quite like Roy Andersson. The Swedish director has the most distinct and unique voice in modern cinema. There are few, if any, filmmakers whose work is so instantly recognisable and so consistently surprising. He has been a part of the independent film furniture since he swept the …
Film Review: Max Winslow and the House of Secrets
When it comes to making movies aimed at teenagers, Hollywood doesn’t have the greatest track record. The huge surge in popularity of young adult fiction this century has spawned numerous franchises and successes. However, for every Hunger Games or Love, Simon there are countless Maze Runners or Divergents. Book adaptations are an increasingly dangerous game …
Film Review: Vicious Fun
There is, undoubtedly, a disgraceful lack of diversity within genre cinema. Despite the range of characters who contribute to horror films, the only voices we generally get to hear of those of the victims. What of the perpetrators? Who will stand up for them? The mass murderers and chainsaw wielding lunatics. Who will tell their …
Film Review: I Am Greta
Our climate stands at a tipping point, perched in the most precarious position it has been in since the last ice age. We now live in a truly global world where everything is connected. The decimation of the rain forests and the melting of the ice caps has dire consequences for everyone, wherever you may …
LFF Review: Wolfwalkers
Whilst animation has always been popular with cinema audiences, until recently it was only really Disney films which attracted mainstream attention. With the rise in popularity of Pixar, Studio Ghibli and Dreamworks, it’s a genre which has become commonplace on the big screen. However, it’s often the smaller studios which produce the most innovative and …
LFF Review: The Painter and The Thief
As Mark Twain once opined, “Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn’t.” As current events are demonstrating all too comprehensively, sometimes you just couldn’t make it up. When it comes to cinema, it can often be those true stories which are the most fascinating …