Director: Alice Wu Stars: Leah Lewis, Alexxis Lemire, Daniel Diemer Alice Wu understands the rules of both the romantic comedy and the youth movie. Combining both in The Half Of It, she has researched and employed the most enduring trope and source of dramatic tension that these genres lean on; The Lie. Ellie Chu (Leah … Continue reading Review: The Half of It
Director: Johannes Roberts Stars: Sophie Nélisse, Corinne Foxx, Brianne Tju A couple of years ago horror filmmaker Johannes Roberts took the po-faced brio of Bryan Bertino's The Strangers and reconstituted it into the giddily enjoyable slasher throwback The Strangers: Prey at Night. Based on that gorgeous and bloody 90 minutes of nonsense, I'll happily follow him … Continue reading Review: 47 Meters Down Uncaged
Director: Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia Stars: Ivan Massagué, Zorion Eguileor, Antonia San Juan For the last two weeks here in the UK, maybe longer, we've been inundated with images of our supermarkets being ransacked as panic-buyers empty shelves in preparation for the End Times. The country is edging closer to lockdown as cases of COVID-19 continue to … Continue reading Review: The Platform
Director: Jeff Baena Stars: Alison Brie, John Ortiz, Toby Huss Alison Brie is Sarah, a wallflower-type in her 30's who works in a crafts store. In her spare time she enjoys horses (hence the name here) and her favourite TV show is a supernatural series called Purgatory. She also has a disconcerting habit of waking up … Continue reading Review: Horse Girl
Director: Noah Baumbach Stars: Adam Driver, Laura Dern, Scarlett Johansson Charlie (Adam Driver) and Nicole (Scarlett Johansson) were a happily married couple living in New York, until they weren't. Noah Baumbach's latest film - a mix of emotionally wrought drama and excruciating farce that plays out like a career summation - unpicks a marriage as … Continue reading Review: Marriage Story
Director: Martin Scorsese Stars: Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci The futility of gangsterism is the subject of Martin Scorsese's late career epic, arriving via streaming giant Netflix following a limited - cursory - flirtation with cinematic release. The majority of people will experience its 209 minutes on the small screen. It's how I … Continue reading Review: The Irishman
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: 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
HBO's phenomenal miniseries Chernobyl has recently come to a close. A five-part television drama that has garnered universal acclaim from critics and viewers alike, the show rigorously reconstructed the events that caused the 1986 nuclear reactor explosion and the dramatic and costly clean-up operation. It is, simply, essential viewing. It's 9.7 score on imdb (at … Continue reading The Line Between TV And Film Is Disappearing
Director: Brie Larson Stars: Brie Larson, Mamoudou Athie, Bradley Whitford Arriving in the wake of Captain Marvel, but shot back in 2017, Brie Larson's directorial debut lands this week on Netflix at arguably her commercial peak thus far (turns out leading a Marvel flick tops winning Best Actress at the Oscars (sigh)). Spending two years in … Continue reading Review: Unicorn Store
Director: Susanne Bier Stars: Sandra Bullock, Trevante Rhodes, Sarah Paulson In 1988 John Carpenter made They Live, an apocalyptic sci-fi yarn that spoke of the blindness in society to rampant, soulless consumerism and also complacent, illadvised trust in authority. It received lukewarm responses and achieved a middling box office performance. It has become a cult classic, as … Continue reading Review: Bird Box
Director: Clay Kaytis Stars: Kurt Russell, Darby Camp, Judah Lewis Christmas movies. To some they're the best part of the season. Shamelessly sentimental, cosy and familiar. Thanks to that ever-quickening calendar year they're among the movies we end up seeing the most, whether you have children or not. And regardless of quality. There's a get-out-of-jail-free … Continue reading Review: The Christmas Chronicles
Director: Daniel Goldhaber Stars: Madeline Brewer, Patch Darragh, Melora Walters Of all professions, the oldest is among the most stigmatised by cinema. Sex workers do not carry much credo on the silver screen, especially in horror where they are almost always unsympathetic victims to whatever raving lunatic is wielding a knife this month. Don't get … Continue reading Review: Cam
Directors: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen Stars: Zoe Kazan, Tom Waits, Liam Neeson The Coen Brothers have made Westerns before, and more than just the two 'obvious ones'; the Texan noir of No Country For Old Men and their adventurous remake of True Grit. In truth the West has scored through much of their cinema which is resplendent … Continue reading Review: The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs
Director: Alex Garland Stars: Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tessa Thompson Alex Garland's second (credited) feature as director is the first true victim of what I'm coming to think of as The Netflix Problem. Produced by Paramount, who are increasingly showing their cowardice toward new and original concepts, the film has been granted a scant … Continue reading Review: Annihilation
