Disney's tradition of taking and adapting famous fables and tales continues with Frozen, their version of The Snow Queen. In the land of Arendelle, young Princess Elsa (Idina Menzel) has the elemental power to make and control snow and ice. While playing with her sister Anna (Kristen Bell), she accidently injures her and in a desperate attempt to protect them both the King and … [Read more...]
Review: Saving Mr. Banks (2013)
The two decade crusade by Walt Disney to bring his daughters favourite book Mary Poppins to the screen forms the dramatic thrust of Saving Mr. Banks. Based on a script that was on the ˜Black List' of Hollywood's best unmade films in 2011, director John Lee Hancock has brought it to the screen in a charming and sometimes heart-breaking fashion. … [Read more...]
Review: Blue is the Warmest Colour (2013, French)
Based on Julie Maroh's graphic novel, Abdellatif Kechiche's Blue is the Warmest Colour was this year's winner of the Palm d'Or at Cannes - arguably the film industry's most prestigious award - and became the first film where the prize was awarded to both the director and the lead actresses. It quickly becomes clear why. … [Read more...]
Review: Stardust (2007)
It's not often you get to see Robert De Niro playing a cross-dressing pirate, but that's exactly the world you get in Stardust. Based upon the novel by Sandman legend Neil Gaiman, it is directed by Matthew Vaughn from a script penned by Kick-Ass adaptor Jane Goldman. … [Read more...]
Review: In Fear (2013)
Directed by Jeremy Lovering, In Fear revolves around two almost-strangers, Tom (Iain De Caestecker) and Lucy (Alice Englert) who met at a bar and hit it off. A couple of weeks later, Tom invites Lucy to come with him to a music festival with some of his friends. On their way there, he told her that he took the liberty of booking them a hotel for the night, deep in the Cornwall … [Read more...]
Review: Upstream Colour (2013)
After the strange but compelling lo-fi sci-fi of Primer released in 2004, director Shane Carruth went quiet for some time, working on a couple of different projects before resurfacing in 2013 with Upstream Colour, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. … [Read more...]
Review: Dom Hemingway (2013)
Strolling through prison under a cascade of toilet paper, Dom Hemingway is the titular cockney geezer in Richard Shepard's latest film. Played with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer by Jude Law, the character is an amalgam of a number of 1970s British ex-prisoner archetypes. But in a World that has any number of cheeky chappies vying for our attention in low-budget British … [Read more...]
Review: Carrie (2013)
Pig's blood, telekinetic powers, a religious mother and the ultimate Prom-gone-wrong. The reboot of the now classic Carrie hits all the right notes without ever really breaking free of the legacy of the original. Like Brian De Palma's original and the Stephen King novella upon which both are based, Kimberley Pierce's somewhat modernised version only really introduces some … [Read more...]
Review: Primer (2004)
Shane Carruth seems to be a pretty determined kind of individual. The kind of person that, once he decides something should get done, it gets done, regardless of how difficult that may be. He also seems to be the kind of person who gets things done his way, or no way at all. I don't know Shane Carruth, but the fact that Primer ever got made suggests this first aspect of his … [Read more...]
Review: JFK (1991)
In every discussion of conspiracy theories, one historical event and figure comes up time and time again. United States President John F. Kennedy was shot and killed on November 22nd 1963 by a lone gunman Lee Harvey Oswald. That is if you believe the findings of the Warren Commission, which it is clear that director Oliver Stone does not. His 1991 film JFK sought to show the … [Read more...]