[pullquote cite="" type="left, right"][amazon text=Amazon&template=carousel&chan=that film guy&asin=B00IE5B7S2][/pullquote] Based on a drunken email that Nick Frost sent to his producer, Cuban Fury marks the first time he's been on screen in the sole lead role and gives him the opportunity to have a go at something other than playing the supporting role to Simon … [Read more...]
Review: Locke (2013)
[pullquote cite="" type="left, right"][amazon text=Amazon&template=carousel&chan=that film guy&asin=B00JLBVACG][/pullquote] I will be there. A line uttered by Ivan Locke (Tom Hardy) to a woman named Bethan (Olivia Colman) who is having his baby. The twist, Bethan is not his wife, but she is about to find out about it. This sensationalist tabloid-esque story forms … [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: 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: Philomena (2013)
If ever proof were needed, which of course it isn't, of Dame Judi Dench's acting ability then Philomena will go down as a masterclass in poignancy and depth from one of the finest actors to have lived. Adapted from the book The Lost Child of Philomena Lee, itself based on a true story, Philomena is deftly directed by Stephen Frears from a script co-written by star Steve Coogan. … [Read more...]
Review: Sunshine on Leith (2013)
Following on from the success of his directorial debut Wild Bill, Dexter Fletcher turns his attention to adapting a stage musical. Sunshine of Leith is a musical drama set in Edinburgh to a soundtrack composed entirely of songs by The Proclaimers. … [Read more...]
The Wicker Man: Director’s Cut (1973) review by That Film Journo
The Wicker Man is the perfect cult film, one that comes with its own ready-made mythology and bizarre history. Its subject matter alone - a pious Christian policeman investigating the disappearance of a young girl on a remote Scottish island that's home to a pagan community - would have been enough to have raised eyebrows on its release in 1973. Add to this the mystery … [Read more...]
Byzantium (2013) review by That Film Guy
The vampire genre has undergone something of a transformation in recent years. With the advent of the ridiculously popular Twilight series, we've moved away from the passionate, bloodthirsty melodrama of the past, toward a more friendly, bloodless, teenage angst love story. So most films now either have to tackle the Twilight films head on, or avoid them like the plague. In the … [Read more...]
Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa (2013) review by That Film Guy
The step-up from television to film can be a dangerous excursion for beloved characters. In an attempt to fit within the three-act structure of films, there is a temptation for directors to place the characters in unfamiliar and unexpected circumstances to get the ˜film feel' needed to differentiate it from the television show. It is fortunate then, that Alan Partridge: Alpha … [Read more...]