The second film in trilogies are always difficult to handle. The setup is done in the first film, while the conclusion is handled in the third, so the second film has to get stuck in straight away and normally end with a cliff-hanger ending, while still trying to have its own 3 act structure to avoid pacing issues. The Empire Strikes Back is the high benchmark of middle films, … [Read more...]
Review: Frozen (2013)
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: 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: 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: The Selfish Giant (2013)
Using Oscar Wilde's children's story The Selfish Giant as the starting point for this bleak but beautiful social-realist tale might seem unlikely but it's an inspired idea. … [Read more...]
Review: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)
Following the conclusion of the mega-franchises of Harry Potter and Twilight, there was a gap in the market to be filled. Various pretenders attempted to lift the vacant crown, but it wasn't until The Hunger Games was released in 2012 that the successor was found. It catapulted the career of lead Jennifer Lawrence, who later went on to win an Oscar, and after only a year since … [Read more...]
Review: Gravity (2013)
Just above the Earth, 3 astronauts are performing routine upgrades to a satellite. Veteran Matt Kowalski (George Clooney) is enjoying the final moments of his final mission, Shariff (Phaldut Sharma) is horsing around with his umbilical-like chord and Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) is attaching a prototype to the satellite, annoyed by the other twos behaviour. They then receive a … [Read more...]