Ciro Guerra's Oscar nominated Embrace Of The Serpent acts like a constrictor on its audience; slithering into the consciousness as it begins weaving it's wily dual narrative, before tightening in its second hour until the viewer feels utterly consumed by its unsuspected force. If this somewhat laboured metaphor sounds oppressive, the truth of the experience is … Continue reading Review: Embrace Of The Serpent
Back for more? Outstanding. With this level of fine, highbrow journalistic content, I've no idea why I'm still doing this for free. If you've arrived at this page randomly, well done, you're reading the crazed ramblings of a man spending his day watching all four Free Willy films. Two to go. This page will cover my exploits with Free … Continue reading Willython: All Free Willy, All The Time (Part 2)
Hi. Welcome to another one of these things I said I'd never do again. My usual stance of credit-where-credit's-due and looking for the loftier intentions in all things cinema are temporarily suspended while I marathon an improbable or just plain idiotic franchise to see exactly how steep the downward curve of watchablity is. Because it … Continue reading Willython: All Free Willy, All The Time (Part 1)
Longtime readers may remember that I wasn't overly generous to The Conjuring - James Wan's first venture into the supernatural tales of God-fearing paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren - criticising it for coming across like a shrewd, generic, confused and plagiaristic endeavour. I've rewatched the film since and my opinion has changed very little. It's watchable, … Continue reading Review: The Conjuring 2
If the heartbreaking news is true, then When Marnie Was There represents quite probably the final feature film to be released by the long-standing animation house Studio Ghibli, who for nearly 30 years have been producing rich and beautiful films, many of which have become beloved across the globe. This title, released in its native Japan back … Continue reading Review: When Marnie Was There
"You have no idea who I am." Intruders, the directorial debut from Adam Schindler, plays expertly with notions of expectation and assumption, both those made by the film's small cast about one another and those the audience is perhaps predisposed to making based on years of generic precursors. In the process it packages into 90 … Continue reading Review: Intruders
Having penned the Lethal Weapon films, Last Action Hero and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (also his directorial debut), Shane Black has already proved himself wise to the tropes and the traps of the Hollywood action movie. He's got a proven track record of jimmying open a tired cliché and emptying its contents out onto the table, in the process … Continue reading Review: The Nice Guys
Whit Stillman's Jane Austen adaptation Love & Friendship takes a dangerous gamble early doors by setting it's opening action to Beethoven's 5th, openly calling to mind its iconic usage in Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange; one of the most memorable beginnings in film history. While Stillman's film uses a more classical interpretation of the piece (and his period … Continue reading Review: Love & Friendship
