Directors: Julie Cohen, Betsy West With biopic On The Basis Of Sex currently playing in cinemas, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is having something of a career victory lap at the movies. Complimenting the dramatised version of her life starring Felicity Jones (or perhaps showing it up) is this delightful documentary from Julie Cohen and … Continue reading Review: RBG
There are certain things too rich or strong, too full-bodied or intense, to fully appreciate on first approach. We all have these shock encounters in our childhoods, be it our first exposure to whisky, red wine or a blue cheese, as examples. They are at odds with the palette range we were accustomed to, and … Continue reading 180: The Dour Strength of Bastards
Director: Lee Chang-Dong Stars: Yoo Ah-In, Steven Yeun, Jun Jong-Seo The first we know of Lee (Yoo Ah-In) is a wisp of smoke curling out from around a wall in the opening shot. Over the course of two and a half languid, beguiling hours, this sinuous trail will become an emblem of sorts. His chain-smoking travels ultimately take him … Continue reading Review: Burning
Director: Barry Jenkins Stars: KiKi Layne, Stephan James, Regina King In 2005 my grandmother succumbed to bowel cancer in our home and I could hear her dying cries. I was laid up at the time following corrective knee surgery. That same summer my sister's partner was murdered. And I got my heart broken, maybe the … Continue reading Review: If Beale Street Could Talk
Director: Christopher Landon Stars: Jessica Rothe, Phi Vu, Israel Broussard One of the many things that Christopher Landon did right with 2017's super-fun surprise Happy Death Day was keep it (relatively) simple. A girl, Tree (Jessica Rothe), finds herself in a time loop after being stalked and killed by a masked slasher. To break the loop … Continue reading Review: Happy Death Day 2U
Director: Nicolas Pesce Stars: Mia Wasikowska, Christopher Abbott, Laia Costa I remember reading Ryu Murakami's Audition in the hopes of decoding some of the more surreal occurences in Takashi Miike's masterful adaptation and being struck by the direct voice apparent in the translation. Favouring this, I also read Piercing; a novella that similarly popped off the page, and … Continue reading Review: Piercing
Director: Steven Soderbergh Stars: André Holland, Zazie Beetz, Kyle MacLachlan It's worth noting when approaching High Flying Bird that Steven Soderbergh's name was hovering around Moneyball before it got passed to Bennett Miller. Some ten years later, the indie perennial has finally made his own iteration, filmed on an iPhone and distributed via Netflix. The streaming giant … Continue reading Review: High Flying Bird
Directors: Mike Mitchell, Trisha Gum Stars: Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett Remember 5 years ago, when everything was awesome? Before Trump got elected? Before Brexit? It was a time of such utopian simplicity that none of us could possibly have appreciated it. Do you know happiness when it's happening? Back in the halcyon days … Continue reading Review: The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part
Director: Robert Rodriguez Stars: Rosa Salazar, Christoph Waltz, Keean Johnson Back in the 90's, the OAV (Original Animated Video) was one of the best ways of encountering high-concept Japanese anime, and Battle Angel: Alita was one of the crown jewels of the era. Based on the manga series Gunnm by Yukito Kishiro, it saw a young … Continue reading Review: Alita: Battle Angel
Director: Nadine Labaki Stars: Zain Al Rafeea, Yordanos Shiferaw, Alaa Chouchnieh The third film from Lebanese director Nadine Labaki sets its eyes squarely on the abject poverty of her home country's least empowered people, acting as a sobering lesson for those of us sitting in the privileged comfort of our western armchairs. Cabernaum has been lauded, … Continue reading Review: Capernaum
Director: Dean DeBlois Stars: America Ferrera, Jay Baruchel, Cate Blanchett How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World begins in murk, with the enterprising viking heroes of the first two films liberating a number of caged dragons from hunter/trapper Grimmel (F. Murray Abraham). The sequence sees characters emerging from the mist in a variety of … Continue reading Review: How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World
Director: Dan Gilroy Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Zawe Ashton, Natalie Dyer There's so much content these days. Dan Gilroy's latest film, Velvet Buzzsaw, has arrived on Netflix as unceremoniously as anything else. In fact, in light of the arrival of yet another of their ten-a-penny original shows stealing its thunder when you log in, you'll probably have … Continue reading Review: Velvet Buzzsaw
