Tsotsi is a teenager gangster in the slums of Johannesburg. He's a bad guy “ this much is clear, or at least that's what he wants everyone to think. His façade at least is all tough guy “ maybe that's how he's survived, a creation of his environment. Take the opening sequence in which he and his gang murder a man on the train for his cash. When one of their number, Boston, … [Read more...]
Review: If a Tree Falls – A Story Of The Earth Liberation Front (2011)
Nominated for the 2011 Oscar for Best Documentary Feature at the 84th Academy Awards, this story of the ELF is directed by Marshall Curry who's last film was the excellent 2006 Oscar nominee Street Fight. As one will notice, the title uses "A Story Of¦" rather than "The Story Of¦" which is for two reasons. Firstly this documentary revolves primarily around the story of just … [Read more...]
Review: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2012)
September 11th, 2001 is a day that will forever live in the memories of those who were alive when it happened. The whole world came to mourn the tragic loss of life as various targets around the US were attacked, most notably in New York where the World Trade Centre was destroyed by commandeered planes. From this moment on, security was tightened, peoples sensibilities toward … [Read more...]
Review: The Woman in Black (2012)
School is over! Harry, (oops! I meant Daniel...sorry) has well and truly graduated from the Hogwarts School of Child Actors and puts his acting chops to the test in the quintessentially spooky The Woman in Black. Daniel Radcliffe plays Arthur Kipps, a young, widowed lawyer who is told that he must successfully travel to the north east of England and settle the estate of the … [Read more...]
Review: The Muppets (2012)
The Muppet Show was a much treasured children's TV Show created by Jim Henson in 1976. It was a great success, and was one of the first children's shows that could be enjoyed by adults just as much as it could be enjoyed by kids. This was down to it's witty scripts, enjoyable characters, and smart humour. In 1979, we got the first big screen Muppet adventure, appropriately … [Read more...]
Review: Red Riding: In the Year of Our Lord 1980 (2009)
Adaptations of popular television shows into films are a reasonably rare occurrence these days, but even rarer are television films that later get a theatrical release. This was however the case for the Red Riding trilogy produced by Channel 4 that was so acclaimed that all three films were released in theatres in the US in 2010. Based on the four novels by David Peace, the Red … [Read more...]
Review: When We Were Kings (1996)
The 1996 Oscar winning documentary When We Were Kings covers the build up and spectacle of the 'Rumble In The Jungle' - a world heavyweight title boxing match between George Foreman and Muhammad Ali held in Zaire in October 1974. The film is generally made up of archive footage in a similar style to Senna which in a similar way makes it a more interesting piece of history to … [Read more...]
Review: A Dangerous Method (2012)
Based on The Talking Cure by Christopher Hamptons and A Most Dangerous Method by John Kerr the David Cronenberg-directed A Dangerous Method explores the birth of psychoanalysis and the key people involved in its inception Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung and Sabina Spielrein. It is a Canadian-English production and was one of the films that helped star Michael Fassbender win the London … [Read more...]
Review: The Counterfeiters (2007, Austria)
The Counterfeiters was the winner of the Best Foreign Language Film at the 80th Academy Awards. It's an extraordinary story, based on real events, although some have been fictionalised to slightly to fit the narrative. The protagonist is Salomon ˜Sally' Sorrowitz, based on the real Salomon Smolianoff. A Russian Jew living in Germany just prior to the outbreak of World War 2, … [Read more...]
Review: Jane Eyre (2011)
Jane Eyre is one of the most famous literary works of Charlotte Bronte and one that has been adapted numerous times for stage and screen. 2011 saw the release of Cary Fukunaga's take in the canonical work, using the script penned by Moira Buffini sees the casting of Mia Wasikowska as the titular character and Michael Fassbender as her Rochester. It took a healthy $32m at the … [Read more...]