Film
Piranhas review - riding with the teenage gangs of NaplesThursday, 23 July 2020
Roberto Saviano’s book Gomorrah shone a blinding light on the Camorra crime clans of Naples, and spun off an acclaimed film and equally admired TV series. This film version of his 2016 novel La paranza dei bambini (“The Children’s Gang”) isn’t in... Read more... |
DVD/Blu-ray: A Rainy Day in New YorkTuesday, 21 July 2020
“Know thyself” is the theme of A Rainy Day in New York. Woody Allen’s 48th film as writer-director, is – despite what you may have heard – at once his funniest and most reflective movie in years. Either wilfully archaic or stubbornly nostalgic... Read more... |
Blu-ray: Scorsese ShortsMonday, 20 July 2020
At this year’s Oscars Bong Joon Ho brought the audience to its feet in honour of the director whose words had struck a chord with him as a film student. The comment, simple but difficult to adhere to in the cut-throat, risk-averse movie business,... Read more... |
DVD: Who You Think I AmSunday, 19 July 2020
Imagine, if you will, that the Internet doesn’t allow you to see other people. Because that is the premise upon which Safy Nebbou's Who Do You Think I Am rests. It smacks of an idea that hails from the days of Friends Reunited (one for the... Read more... |
Come As You Are review - a road trip with a differenceSaturday, 18 July 2020
At a point in the early noughties, every third film was a teen comedy about a road trip to lose one's virginity. It’s a genre most were glad to see the back of. What a pleasant surprise Come As You Are is then, which brings much needed heart and... Read more... |
Good Manners review - compellingly eerieSaturday, 18 July 2020
Stylish, eerie and unexpectedly moving by the time of its apocalyptic finish, the strangely titled Good Manners makes for a genuine celluloid surprise. Written and directed by Juliana Rojas and Marco Dutra, this genre-defying Brazilian... Read more... |
Clemency review - devastating death row dramaThursday, 16 July 2020
“All we want is to be seen and heard,” explains a lawyer to a death row inmate, paraphrasing a line from Ralph Ellison’s novel Invisible Man, from which Chinonye Chukwu’s new film Clemency takes inspiration.Chukwu’s film, like Ellison’s... Read more... |
DVD/Blu-ray: MoffieTuesday, 14 July 2020
Characterised by jarring juxtapositions of intense, appalling violence and the serene beauty of South Africa, Oliver Hermanus’ fourth feature is the story of a young man coming to terms with his sexuality against the background of apartheid and... Read more... |
Blu-ray: Black RainbowSunday, 12 July 2020
Aged 87, director Mike Hodges is due another revival, with Flash Gordon soon to join this Blu-ray resurrection of 1989’s Black Rainbow, an atmospheric, enigmatic Southern Gothic which, like much of his work, was barely released. Its prologue... Read more... |
Love Sarah review - missing key ingredientsSaturday, 11 July 2020
The cakes look great, but it's back to the recipe books in almost every other way for Love Sarah, a subpar film from director Eliza Schroeder about the struggles of a west London patisserie in the age of Brexit. The emergence of Schroeder's... Read more... |
Scoob! review - mostly bark, little biteSaturday, 11 July 2020
Scooby fans have waited over 50 years for a proper big screen adaptation of everyone’s favourite cowardly dog (sorry Cartoon Network’s Courage). The 2003 live-action version starring Matthew Lillard and Sarah Michelle Gellar failed to capture the... Read more... |
Finding The Way Back review - alcoholism on the reboundFriday, 10 July 2020
Gavin O’Connor has made a career out of sturdy films that make grown men cry. His best was Warrior - a hulking, tear-jerking tale of male fragility and addiction. His latest Finding The Way Back is a potent, raw drama that... Read more... |
