Blog Archives

The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance - teaser

31/5/2019

Can this live up to the original film?

Skin - trailer

30/5/2019

Will this be powerful and relevant?

It Chapter Two - teaser trailer

29/5/2019

The first instalment was overrated.

Terminator: Dark Fate - trailer

28/5/2019

Nothing in this lacklustre franchise has come close to the first two.

Out To Own Today: Burning and Destroyer

27/5/2019

Out to own today:

Burning

“To me, the world is a mystery,” Jong-su (Ah-In Yoo)

Six for six from director Lee Chang-dong. 148 minutes of gripping, creeping emotional devastation. Class and gender discourse are mixed into a story concerning crushing loneliness. BURNING’s skill is being both despondently contemporary as well as perennial. It was a long wait since the filmmaker’s previous, POETRY (2010), and it was worth it, delivering perhaps his best so far, rivalling PEPPERMINT CANDY (1999). If you haven’t already, do yourself a favour and treat yo self to his back catalogue.
[To read more, click here.]

Destroyer

“You chose to play cops and robbers, and you lost,” DiFranco (Bradley Whitford)

With this and WIDOWS (2018), cinema is reclaiming the crime thriller from television in spectacular fashion. From THE WIRE and BREAKING BAD to FARGO and TRUE DETECTIVE, it looked like movies were out for the count. A Rocky-style resurgence is under way this year in Hollywood. (The genre is alive and well on the international stage, e.g. THE YELLOW SEA (2010) from South Korea, GANGS OF WASSEPUR (2012) from India, and THE WORLD OF KANAKO (2014) from Japan.) What the excellent lawbreaking flicks have in common is laser focus. DESTROYER is lean and ambitious, with a sense of gut-tightening dread.
[To read more, click here.]

Westworld III - teaser

24/5/2019

A third season is not necessary, but am of course looking forward to it nonetheless.

Blinded by the Light - trailer

23/5/2019

From Gurinder Chadha, director of BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM and VICEROY’S HOUSE.

The Addams Family [2019] - teaser trailer

22/5/2019

Another reboot?! Yawn.

Pain and Glory - teaser trailer

21/5/2019

Director Pedro Almodóvar’s collaborations with actor Antonio Banderas have always been fruitful.

Out To Own Today: The Front Runner and The Upside

20/5/2019

Out to own today:

The Front Runner

“The world changes when young people give a damn,” Gary Hart (Hugh Jackman)

Brexit and Trump. We are currently saturated with politics. Have we got to this situation because too many voters over decades were complacent/selfish/foolish? THE FRONT RUNNER, unfolding in the 1980s, hones in on a sea change that offers one examination of the modern world: Politics as entertainment. As media blood sport. THE FRONT RUNNER is political tragedy. Are we going to see more of these pieces from Hollywood in the coming years? Contemporary films are perhaps too much to ask for in a daily news cycle barely able to keep up. More FRONT RUNNERs showcasing missed opportunities would be welcome.
[To read more, click here.]

The Upside

“Have you ever taken care of anybody?” Phillip (Bryan Cranston)

A completely unnecessary remake of the French film, THE INTOUCHABLES (2011), but THE UPSIDE ends up winning you over with charisma and charm. Of course it helps that Bryan Cranston, Kevin Hart and Nicole Kidman are part of the cast. Based on a true story, but transported to America, it is about a bromance across class, race and disability. Okay, it is sentimental (which normally I intensely dislike), but the film does not patronise. When you look at your dearest amigos, what do they all have in common? THE UPSIDE touches on, with broad brushstrokes, what true friendship is: The ability to be painfully honest with one another, loyalty, and your life enhanced because they are in it.
[To read more, click here.]

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