Director: Spike Lee Stars: Teyonah Parris, Nick Cannon, Samuel L Jackson It seems like too long since a Spike Lee 'joint' was the cause for particular interest or comment. His last breakthrough commercial hit was Inside Man a decade ago, and even then it was something of a dud. As the years have gone by, little … Continue reading Review: Chi-Raq
Director: Oren Shai Stars: Jocelin Donahue, Kelly Lynch, Izabella Miko "Where is Rod Serling? I feel like I just entered an episode of The Twilight Zone!" So speaks one of a variety of eccentric characters in Oren Shai's deliciously stylish The Frontier; an example of self-aware dialogue in a film that seems to exist wholly within a set … Continue reading Review: The Frontier
Director: Amma Asante Stars: David Oyelowo, Rosamund Pike, Jack Davenport This year, as one might readily have anticipated, awards seasons is going to be about race. Whether the industry felt shamed by #Oscarsowhite (it should have) or whether this is a genuine reflection of our increasingly fractured times, the divides between us are now being brought to … Continue reading Review: A United Kingdom
Director: Mark Waters Stars: Billy Bob Thornton, Christina Hendricks, Kathy Bates Different types of movies serve different functions. Action blockbusters serve as pure escapism with their multi-million dollar firework displays. Documentaries and dramas depicting great social change ask us to reflect on the world around us, to challenge preconceived notions. Art house cinema provokes us … Continue reading Review: Bad Santa 2
Directors: Petr Kazda, Tomás Weinreb Stars: Michalina Olszanska, Marika Soposká, Klára Melísková Looking strikingly like a young Scarlett Johansson auditioning for the part of Mathilda in Luc Besson's Leon, Michalina Olszanska stars in I, Olga Hepnarová, a new film which attempts to dissect the life of its focus; a woman who, in 1973, deliberately drove a truck into … Continue reading Review: I, Olga Hepnarová
Director: Dennis Villeneuve Stars: Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Forest Whittaker Forget the beautifully handy universal translators of the Star Trek franchise, Dennis Villeneuve's latest - and best - film squeezes the brakes on the traditional sci-fi concept of first contact by digging deep into the dilemma of how to communicate with a totally alien species when … Continue reading Review: Arrival
Director: Tom Ford Stars: Amy Adams, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Shannon Have you ever found yourself at 8 in the evening on a Sunday, feeling like you want to watch a movie before calling it quits on the weekend, but finding yourself torn between the pulpy Texan noir of Cold In July and the weepy melodrama of, … Continue reading Review: Nocturnal Animals
Year: 1993 Director: Steven Spielberg Stars: Sam Neill (Dr. Alan Grant), Laura Dern (Dr. Ellie Sattler), Richard Attenborough (John Hammond), Jeff Goldblum (Dr. Iain Malcolm), Samuel L Jackson (Arnold), Joseph Mazzello (Tim), Ariana Richards (Lex), Wayne Knight (Nedry), Bob Peck (Muldoon), Martin Ferrero (Gannaro) Genre: Adventure / Sci-Fi After 2016's rather blighted season, it's quick, … Continue reading Why I Love… #88: Jurassic Park
Director: Sang-ho Yeon Stars: Yoo Gong, Soo-ann Kim, Dong-seok Ma Anyone who's had to rely on public transport during peak times knows; hell is other people. The ignorant, the dimwitted, the obnoxious, the unnecessarily ugly and their equally unappealing spouses, the drinkers, the drunks, the space-hogging cyclists and lets definitely not forget that special brand … Continue reading Review: Train To Busan
