Directors: Will Becher, Richard Phelan Having debuted in the beloved Wallace & Gromit short A Close Shave, Shaun The Sheep has gone on to become the figurehead of Aardman's efforts catering specifically to a younger audience. His TV show is a hit around the world and he already has one feature under his belt. Farmageddon is … Continue reading Review: A Shaun The Sheep Movie: Farmageddon
Director: Justin Dec Stars: Elizabeth Lail, Jordan Calloway, Talitha Bateman At the time of writing there's a news cycle that won't die; a stir caused by Martin Scorsese calling comic book movies 'theme park rides' instead of real cinema. It's become the question to ask anyone in the business who'll answer and, as such, objectivity when … Continue reading Review: Countdown
Director: Tim Miller Stars: Mackenzie Davis, Linda Hamilton, Natalia Reyes In hindsight, perhaps we ought to be thankful for just how dire Terminator Genisys turned out to be. That movie - which pissed all over a pretty well sodden franchise - ended with the threat of further sequels. Fortunately, those plans have been terminated (ha!). Dark Fate … Continue reading Review: Terminator Dark Fate
Director: Babak Anvari Stars: Dakota Johnson, Armie Hammer, Zazie Beetz It makes perfect sense that Annapurna Pictures would snap up the first English language property from Babak Anvari, the British-Iranian director responsible for the deeply effective chiller Under The Shadow. Anvari seemed fully formed right out the gate; a safe bet to deliver an indie … Continue reading Review: Wounds
Director: Steven Soderbergh Stars: Meryl Streep, Antonio Banderas, Gary Oldman Soderbergh is one of those directors whose work ricochets with some volatility, hitting peaks and troughs sometimes within the span of the same year. Yet in spite of this erratic stream of output, its reassuring to have him around. He also keeps threatening retirement. Yet … Continue reading Review: The Laundromat
Director: Jake Scott Stars: Sienna Miller, Aaron Paul, Christina Hendricks Jae Scott - son of Ridders - steps back onto the stage with this muted, quietly impressive little indie, but to the world at large it might seem as though it isn't even there. The internet discourse is wrapped up in Joker still, while cinema … Continue reading Review: American Woman
20 years ago this week, David Lynch's atypical road movie The Straight Story debuted. It seemed like an outlier in his career (at least on the surface). That trademark 'Lynchian' craziness was tempered for the most part. The narrative fitted its title. A Disney financed U certificate film, it charts the true-life exploits of 73-year-old … Continue reading The Straight Story and Slowing Down
Director: Vince Gilligan Stars: Aaron Paul, Robert Forster, Charles Baker Breaking Bad ended pretty well. Goddamn well, actually. That final run of episodes was TV dynamite, and an almost fully-formed exercise in how to close out a supremely popular cultural phenomenon (not always easy, is it, Game of Thrones?). Head honcho Vince Gilligan and his … Continue reading Review: El Camino – A Breaking Bad Movie
Directors: Jen Soska, Sylvia Soska Stars: Laura Vandervoort, Mackenzie Gray, Hanneke Talbot To 'stan' has become part of the cultural parlance, and even a quick Google will give the uninitiated a definition: To "be an overzealous or obsessive fan of a particular celebrity". In general usage its applied more casually, I've found. Why bring it … Continue reading Review: Rabid (2019)
Director: Alejandro Landes Stars: Sofia Buenaventura, Moises Arias, Julianne Nicholson We in the West, with our soft comforts and first world problems, can grumble about the varying responsibilities resting on our shoulders, but have you ever been entrusted with a hostage in the Colombian wilds at the tender age of sixteen? Thought not. That's the … Continue reading Review: Monos
Year: 1972 Director: Stanley H Brassloff Stars: Marcia Forbes, Evelyn Kingsley, Harlan Cary Poe The first word we hear in Toys Are Not For Children is a husky, lustrously whispered "Daddy". Jamie (Marcia Forbes) is lying naked on her bed with a large toy soldier. She's in the throws of a sexual fantasy, and the … Continue reading Why I Love… #109: Toys Are Not For Children
Director: Todd Phillips Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Frances Conroy, Zazie Beetz We've all been had. Depending on where you look, Todd Phillips' Joker is either a new renaissance in cinema and high water mark for comic book movies, or the most dangerous tosh to get carted out all year, ready to recklessly incite violence in the maladjusted … Continue reading Review: Joker
Director: Rupert Goold Stars: Renée Zellweger, Jessie Buckley, Darci Shaw As pandering biopics of singing legends start cluttering award shows, the arrival of Judy seems both fortuitous and unsurprising, but the casual viewer expecting more of the same perhaps ought to be forewarned. Rupert Goold's film - featuring a career-best and maybe the year's best performance … Continue reading Review: Judy
