Director: Raoul Peck I am a white male and citizen of the UK. I'm coming up on 34 years old at the time of writing. I do not live in a racially diverse part of the country, nor have I at any point in my life. One might refer to me as sheltered and privileged and … Continue reading Review: I Am Not Your Negro
Director: Lone Scherfig Stars: Gemma Arterton, Bill Nighy, Sam Claflin What is the purpose of populist cinema? It's a question that Scherfig's latest film pries into with industriousness as she brings Lissa Evans' 2009 novel to cinemas via a screenplay from Gaby Chiappe. That all three creative driving forces behind this film are women is entirely … Continue reading Review: Their Finest
Director: F. Gary Gray Stars: Dwayne Johnson, Charlize Theron, Jason Statham While he may look and act like a Mr Potato Head that somehow came to life, and who then got a bit too greedy at a festive lunch and has now been left half-dozing in a bleary-eyed food coma of slurred speech and dulled faculties, Vin Diesel … Continue reading Review: Fast & Furious 8
Director: Park Chan-Wook Stars: Kim Min-hee, Kim Tae-ri, Ha Jung-woo "Kinky as a coiled rope" was one of the juicier and more memorable press clippings that came attached to Peter Strickland's sensual lesbian drama The Duke Of Burgundy a couple of years ago and it's a soundbite that one might happily apply to Park Chan-Wook's latest, which … Continue reading Review: The Handmaiden
Director: Pablo Larraín Stars: Luis Gnecco, Gael García Bernal, Mercedes Morán Hot on the heels of his exemplary English language debut Jackie, Chilean maestro Pablo Larraín returns to home soil for another biopic and again he manages to buck many of the trends that dog the genre and leave it languishing in cinematic irrelevancy. The year … Continue reading Review: Neruda
Female Prisoner 701: Scorpion (1972), Female Prisoner Scorpion: Jailhouse 41 (1972), Female Prisoner Scorpion: Beast Stable (1973), Female Prisoner Scorpion #701's Grudge Song (1973) What follows are four shortish reviews written separately for the above Japanese exploitation films, each a summation of my feelings written immediately after seeing the applicable film for the very first … Continue reading A Song Of Vengeance: Female Prisoner Scorpion
Director: Olivier Assayas Stars: Kristen Stewart, Lars Eidinger, Sigrid Bouaziz When anyone asks what Maureen (Kristen Stewart) is doing in Paris, she tells them she is "waiting". The first time we hear this it is out of context for us. We are left to wonder what it is she is waiting for. And though Assayas … Continue reading Review: Personal Shopper
Director: Ben Wheatley Stars: Sharlto Copley, Brie Larson, Armie Hammer Made in quick succession with last year's anarchic J.G. Ballard adaptation High-Rise, Free Fire finds Ben Wheatley in looser form. Where High-Rise evoked the rise of Thatcherite Britain and the societal divisions that blossomed from that rotten seed, Free Fire is less consciously political, despite the central conceit … Continue reading Review: Free Fire
Director: Rupert Sanders Stars: Scarlett Johansson, Pilou Asbæk, 'Beat' Takeshi Kitano Do you ever find yourself stiff-necked only to realise with horror and contempt for yourself that it's because you've been craning to read your smartphone for too long? The Ghost In The Shell live action remake takes this mild stunting of our natural evolution and expands … Continue reading Review: Ghost In The Shell (2017)
