Out to own today:
Carrie Pilby
 | “Finally, the recognition I’ve been craving,” Carrie Pilby (Bel Powley) A 19-year-old genius searches for happiness. CARRIE PILBY is trite and annoying. If you are going to portray intellectual brilliance, surely your movie should strive at least for intelligence? While Powley is a more than competent thesp, bordering on a regular scene-stealer, the character given to her never comes across as anything but a grating rom-com/dram heroine. The film’s raison d’être is to find someone prodigally accomplished, yet maladjusted, a boyfriend. Groan. [To read more, click here.] |
A Monster Calls
 | “How does the story begin?” Conor O’Malley (Lewis MacDougall) Who would have guessed a fantasy film, involving Liam Neeson as a giant speaking tree, would make grown men cry? Myself, one did not tear up, but being choked up yes. Sentimentality is rife in cinema, and to actually discover a movie that earns its emotions is uncommon. The opening grabs us: A church collapses as the lead boy tries to save his mother. He is haunted. We become haunted. To worry for a mainstream movie protagonist’s psychological well-being seldom crops up. James Bond, Ant-Man, Kylo Ren are flimsy at best, inane at worst. A boy about to lose his mother, while verbal sparring with a talking yew, is not a straightforward hero. [To read more, click here.] |
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