In 1995, fledging animation house, Pixar released their first ever feature film, and the first film to use only CGI throughout, its name was Toy Story. Based on a short film called Tin Toy and using recognisable toy characters from the past, Toy Story became a critical and commercial smash hit and revolutionized animation and immediately made Pixar one of the most exciting … [Read more...]
Review: The Castle of Cagliostro (1979)
In 1979, Hayao Miyazaki made his first movie, The Castle of Cagliostro. He had previously co-directed 6 episodes of the anime series based around the character Lupin III, a world renowned master thief. The Castle of Cagliostro is the most well-known Lupin III film (and there are many), but the least well-known Miyazaki film. It was probably forgotten due to Miyazaki always … [Read more...]
Review: The Princess Bride (1987)
It˜s testament to modestly-budgeted 1987 fairy tale The Princess Bride that decades later, the mere mention of this film elicits gushing from young and old viewers alike, followed by recollections of everyone's favourite quotes and characters. Most will either wax lyrical over the love story between Buttercup (Robin Wright - before the Penn) and her farm-boy turned … [Read more...]
Review: Safe House (2012)
Tobin Frost (Denzel Washington) is a rogue CIA agent who is attempting to sell some calssified documents to the highest bidder. After being pursued a group of less-than-savoury characters through the streets of Johannasburg, South Africa, he opts to hand himself in to the US embassy and is imediately taken to a safe house, where rookie agent Matt Weston (Ryan Reynolds) is … [Read more...]
Review: The Woman in the Fifth (2012)
The Woman in the Fifth is very much a multinational movie. Directed by a Pole, Pawel Pawlikowski (My Summer of Love), it's leads are an American, Ethan Hawke and a Brit, Kristin Scott Thomas. And the whole thing is set in Paris (the fifth of the title, refers to the fifth arrondissement, an area of Paris, where Scott Thomas's eponymous character lives). … [Read more...]
Review: The Tree of Life (2011)
Terrence Malick is a polarising director. Initially making a staggering debut with Badlands, his follow-up Days of Heaven lead to a 20 year break before The Thin Red Line announced his return to working behind the camera. His films split critics more regularly than any other as he seems to walk the line between pretentious, artistic, genius and self-indulgence. The Tree of … [Read more...]
Review: Hell and Back Again (2011)
These days, any documentary film maker looking to tell any kind of Iraq story is entering a bloated genre full of award winning stories covering almost every aspect of war. It would perhaps therefore be foolish to try and create anything that would try to add to the genre without it being lost in the background but photojournalist and first time film maker Danfung Dennis has … [Read more...]
Review: Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory (2011)
Nominated for the 2011 Oscar for Best Documentary Feature, Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory is an HBO documentary, and is, as the title would suggest, the third in a series of documentaries covering the story of the 'West Memphis Three'. The story revolves around the chilling triple murder of three adolescents in 1993 in a small town in Arkansas and the subsequent trial and … [Read more...]
Review: What Dreams May Come (1998)
What Dreams May Come a film that has slipped under many a fantasy-lover's radar. It follows one man's journey through the afterlife to reunite his family and poses the age-old question; how far would you travel for true love? Robin Williams stars as Chris, a loving father and husband who not only loses his two children in a car accident, but then tragically meets his own … [Read more...]
Review: Rampart (2012)
When Martin Scorsese released Taxi Driver in 1976, he invited the film-going audience into the head of a sensational character. Travis Bickle, played to perfection by method genius Robert De Niro, has become one of the most socially inept, borderline sociopathic and iconic monsters in film history. Dave Brown (Woody Harrelson), the focal point of Oren Moverman's Rampart is … [Read more...]