Category Reviews

March 30, 2020, Posted in  Reviews Comments: One comment

Director: Sam Ashurst

Writer: Sam Ashurst

Cast: Elf Lyons, Hazel Townsend, Dane Baptiste

Producers: Sam Ashurst, Elf Lyons

Music: Lottie Depresstival

Cinematography: Sam Ashurst

Editor: Sam Ashurst

Cert: 18 (TBC)

Running time: 76mins

Year: 2020

What’s the story: Film director Stanley Durall (Ashurst) records an audio commentary to accompany his once-banned debut film, God’s Lonely Woman, plus interspersed behind-the-scenes footage. As Durall recounts the shoot, disturbing revelations come to light.

What’s the verdict: After his memorable debut Frankenstein’s Creature, Sam Ashurst again proves large budgets are not required to produce exciting cinema, and that good ideas are free.

Channeling the spirit of 70s Euro-horror...

March 4, 2020, Posted in  Reviews Comments: One comment

Director: Leigh Whannell

Writer: Leigh Whannell, H.G. Wells (source novel, uncredited)

Cast: Elisabeth Moss, Aldis Hodge, Harriet Dyer, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Michael Dorman

Producers: Jason Blum, Kylie Du Fresne

Music: Benjamin Wallfisch

Cinematography: Stefan Duscio

Editor: Andy Canny

Cert: 15

Running time: 124mins

Year: 2020

What’s the story: When Cecilia (Moss) escapes abusive boyfriend Adrian Griffin (Jackson-Cohen), she believes the worst is behind her. But, as odd and unsettling occurrences mount, Cecilia begins to think Griffin may still be close by.

What’s the verdict: Leigh Whannell’s adaptation of H.G. Wells’ irresistibly premised 1897 source novel is a case of “interesting subtext, shame about the telling”.

February 8, 2020, Posted in  Reviews Comments: No comments

Director: Cathy Yan

Writer: Christina Hodson

Cast: Margot Robbie, Rosie Perez, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Ella Jay Basco, Ewan McGregor

Producers: Sue Kroll, Margot Robbie, Bryan Unkeless

Music: Daniel Pemberton

Cinematography: Matthew Libatique

Editor: Jay Cassidy, Evan Schiff

Cert: 15

Running time: 109mins

Year: 2020

What’s the story: After splitting up with the Joker, Harley Quinn (Robbie) has Gotham’s criminal underworld gunning for her, including mob boss Roman Sionis aka Black Mask (McGregor)...

December 20, 2019, Posted in  Reviews Comments: 2 comments

Director: J.J. Abrams

Writer: J.J. Abrams, Chris Terrio (story and script), Derek Connolly (story), George Lucas (characters)

Cast: Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, John Boyega, Carrie Fisher, Anthony Daniels, Ian McDiarmid, Richard E. Grant, Domhnall Gleeson, Billy Dee Williams, Kelly Marie Tran, Keri Russell

Producers: J.J. Abrams, Kathleen Kennedy, Michelle Rejwan

Music: John Williams

Cinematography: Dan Mindel

Editor: Maryann Brandon, Stefan Grube

Cert: 12

Running time: 141mins

Year: 2019

What’s the story: When Emperor Palpatine (McDiarmid) returns, the Resistance must find his base before he brings destruction to the galaxy. First Order Supreme Leader Kylo Ren (Driver) hunts both the Emperor and fledgling Jedi Rey (Ridley).

December 8, 2019, Posted in  Reviews Comments: 2 comments

Director: Sam Mendes

Writer: Sam Mendes, Krysty Wilson-Cairns

Cast: George MacKay, Dean-Charles Chapman, Colin Firth, Mark Strong, Andrew Scott, Benedict Cumberbatch, Daniel Mays

Producers: Pippa Harris, Callum McDougall, Sam Mendes, Brian Oliver, Jayne-Ann Tenggren

Music: Thomas Newman

Cinematography: Roger Deakins

Editor: Lee Smith

Cert: 15

Running time: 118mins

Year: 2019

What’s the story: 1917, France. Lance Corporal Blake (Chapman) and Lance Corporal Schofield (MacKay) are sent on a mission through No Man’s Land and into enemy territory. Their orders are to stop an ill-conceived attack on German forces that would mean the death of 1,600 British soldiers.

What’s the verdict: If Skyfall was Sam Mendes doing for Bond what ...

December 4, 2019, Posted in  Reviews Comments: No comments

Director: Edward Norton

Writer: Edward Norton (script), Jonathan Lethem (novel)

Cast: Edward Norton, Bruce Willis, Alec Baldwin, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Willem Dafoe, Ethan Suplee

Producers: Michael Bederman, Bill Migliore, Daniel Nadler, Edward Norton, Gigi Pritzker, Rachel Shane, Robert F. Smith

Music: Daniel Pemberton

Cinematography: Dick Pope

Editor: Joe Klotz

Cert: 15

Running time: 144mins

Year: 2019

What’s the story: In 1950s New York, private eye and Tourette’s sufferer Lionel Essrog (Norton) takes it upon himself to solve the death of his mentor Frank Minna (Willis). His investigation partners him with city worker and activist Laura Rose (Mbatha-Raw), pitching him against real estate tyrant Moses Randolph (Baldwin).

What’s ...

November 25, 2019, Posted in  Reviews Comments: No comments

Director: Jennifer Kent

Writer: Jennifer Kent

Cast: Aisling Franciosi, Sam Claflin, Baykali Ganambarr, Damon Herriman, Michael Sheasby

Producers: Kristina Ceyton, Bruna Papandrea, Steve Hutensky, Jennifer Kent

Music: Jed Kurzel

Cinematography: Radek Ladczuk

Editor: Simon Njoo

Cert: 18

Running time: 136mins

Year: 2018

What’s the story: 1825, Tasmania. Following a terrible assault on her and her family by British soldiers, Irish ex-convict Clare (Franciosi) pursues them through harsh wilderness to exact revenge.

What’s the verdict: After scoring a bullseye with debut feature The Babadook, Jennifer Kent returns with the ferocious, and ferociously intelligent, The Nightingale.

The basic plot echoes grindhouse rape-revenge mov...

November 24, 2019, Posted in  Reviews Comments: One comment

Director: Mirrah Foulkes

Writer: Mirah Foulkes

Cast: Mia Wasikowska, Damon Herriman

Producers: Michele Bennett, Nash Edgerton, Danny Gabai

Music: François Tétaz

Cinematography: Stefan Duscio

Editor: Dany Cooper

Cert: 15

Running time: 105mins

Year: 2019

What’s the story: In a town called Seaside, nowhere near the sea, Judy (Wasikowska) and Punch (Herriman) plan to relaunch their puppet show. But, when Punch commits a terrible wrong, Judy plots revenge against him.

What’s the verdict: Australian writer-director Mirrah Foulkes turns the traditional Punch & Judy story on its head, with Judy’s nagging shrew replaced by a vengeful heroine for the #MeToo generation.

So, is the actor-turned-director’s revisionist retelling of t...

October 27, 2019, Posted in  Reviews Comments: No comments

Director: Tim Miller

Writer: David S. Goyer, Billy Ray, Justin Rhodes

Cast: Linda Hamilton, Mackenzie Davis, Natalia Reyes, Gabriel Luna, Arnold Schwarzenegger

Producers: James Cameron, David Ellison

Music: Junkie XL

Cinematography: Ken Seng

Editor: Julian Clarke

Cert: 15

Running time: 128mins

Year: 2019

What’s the story: Dani (Reyes) is targeted for termination by a time travelling cyborg (Luna) and protected by enhanced human soldier Grace (Davis). Joining them is legendary “mother of the future” Sarah Connor (Hamilton).

What’s the verdict: The Terminator franchise is one based on a contradiction.

“The future is not set” might be the mantra at its heart, across the series passed down from father to mother to son and b...

October 24, 2019, Posted in  Reviews Comments: No comments

Director: Abner Pastoll

Writer: Ronan Blaney

Cast: Sarah Bolger, Andrew Simpson, Edward Hogg, Jane Brennan, Rudy Doherty, Macie McCauley

Producers: Guillaume Benski, Junyoung Jang

Music: Matthew Pusti

Cinematography: Richard Bell

Editor: Abner Pastoll

Cert: 18

Running time: 97mins

Year: 2019

What’s the story: In Northern Ireland, recently widowed Sarah (Bolger) cares for her two kids, Ben (Doherty) and Lucy (McCauley). Her life becomes more complicated when criminal Tito (Simpson) busts into her flat with drugs stolen from a fearsome local gangster (Hogg).

What’s the verdict: A Good Woman is Hard to Find is equal parts Ken Loach, Shallow Grave, Dead Man’s Shoes and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance...