Film
Eating Animals review - a compelling tale of imminent disasterSaturday, 08 June 2019
Eating Animals begins as a David and Goliath tale of independent farmers versus industrial farming. Frank Reese specialises in rare-breed turkeys and chickens. He calls his farm the "Good Shepherd Poultry Ranch" because, for him, his traditional way... Read more... |
DVD: SinkSaturday, 08 June 2019
This debut feature from Mark Gillis is a film of real anger and considerable tenderness. The anger is both at the general situation it depicts, and reveals itself in the particular when his protagonist Micky Mason (Martin Herdman) repeatedly has to... Read more... |
X-Men: Dark Phoenix review - a grand finaleFriday, 07 June 2019
One day, when superhero films are as rare as westerns, we will appreciate the brilliant talent applied to the best of them. X-Men: Dark Phoenix moves with a classic’s smooth conviction from its very first scenes. The simple changing of a family’s... Read more... |
Late Night review - Emma Thompson star vehicle needs a serious rewriteThursday, 06 June 2019
“Get me rewrite!”: That’s likely to be a common reaction to Late Night, the well-meaning but surprisingly slipshod star vehicle for Emma Thompson set in and among the writing world of a New York late-night chat show that is hitting the skids.... Read more... |
Gloria Bell review - dancing away the heartacheThursday, 06 June 2019
With Gloria (2013), A Fantastic Woman (2017) and Disobedience (2018), Chile’s Sebastián Lelio has earned a deserved reputation as a sympathetic director of women. It may seem a strange move for him to remake Gloria only a few years after the Spanish... Read more... |
Blu-ray: Track 29Tuesday, 04 June 2019
A chronic recycler, Dennis Potter fashioned five feature films from his earlier TV dramas and another from one of his novels. The best of them are 1985’s Dreamchild (from the BBC's Alice, 1965) and Track 29 (1987), which he adapted from the BBC... Read more... |
Sundance London 2019 review - psychotic maniacs and old-fashioned weepiesSunday, 02 June 2019
This fifth edition of Sundance’s London offshoot covered the first moon landing in Apollo 11, probed philosophical pranksters The Satanic Temple in Hail Satan? and took a trip through the alt-right world of Steve Bannon in The Brink. In between... Read more... |
Godzilla: King of the Monsters review – spectacular stupiditySaturday, 01 June 2019
Just how many cinematic universes can one planet stand? Gareth Edwards’ 2014 Godzilla and Kong: Skull Island’s Apocalypse Now/ape mash-up suggested there might be useful room for old-school creature features amidst the superhero surfeit. As random,... Read more... |
Freedom Fields review - Libya’s next freedom fightersSaturday, 01 June 2019
Set in the months and years after the Libyan revolution, Freedom Fields follows several women aiming to compete in international football. The documentary finds the players excitedly preparing for their first overseas tournament. However, it soon... Read more... |
Thunder Road review - potent and poignant debut featureThursday, 30 May 2019
This is a painful and poignant study of character-disintegration, and a triumph for its writer, director and star Jim Cummings. He plays small-town police officer Jim Arnaud, a man trying to do his best while a rising sea of troubles threatens to... Read more... |
Booksmart review - teen sex comedy with shallow feminist credentialsWednesday, 29 May 2019
The release of Booksmart is perfectly scheduled for half term, this high school buddy comedy is guaranteed to tempt youngsters away from their exam revision. It’s fast and funny and packed with squirm-inducing sex gags and a peppy... Read more... |
Blu-ray: The Best of British Transport FilmsTuesday, 28 May 2019
The British Transport Commission was created in 1948 by the Atlee government, an ambitious attempt to organise rail, road and water transport under a single unwieldy umbrella (for a time it was the world’s largest employer, with a staff of over 900,... Read more... |
