Film
Film: Bal (Honey)Thursday, 16 June 2011Final instalment of Kaplanoğlu's autobiographical Yusuf Trilogy, after Egg and Milk. Only the second Turkish film to win the Golden Bear. The trilogy runs in reverse chronological order. Honey explores Yusuf's early childhood. Trailer: http://www.... Read more... |
Bad TeacherThursday, 16 June 2011
As if the education profession wasn't beleaguered enough at present in America, along comes Bad Teacher, the Cameron Diaz vehicle dedicated to the proposition that the only sector of society more deserving of contempt than students is filmgoers.... Read more... |
PoticheWednesday, 15 June 2011
A potiche is a decorative vase but in this demeaning context it refers to a “trophy wife”. In this winsome French farce, from the reliably dynamic François Ozon, the “trophy” in question is the spousal equivalent of the World Cup: Catherine Deneuve... Read more... |
DVD: The Miners' HymnsTuesday, 14 June 2011
Bill Morrison’s film, mostly edited together from archive material, serves as an elegy to Britain's recent industrial past. The older footage has been handsomely restored, and often it’s only the clothes that give a sense of period. It focuses on... Read more... |
Life in a DaySunday, 12 June 2011
A teenage boy howls casually at the full moon; elephants in a river take a midnight dip, glossy with water and moonlight; a drunk on a park bench can’t hold back the laughter as he listens to an iPod. What were you doing on 24 July, 2010? It’s a... Read more... |
Film: The Round-UpSaturday, 11 June 2011The Holocaust comes to Paris in the summer of 1942. Directed by Rose Bosch, starring Jean Reno and Melanie Laurent. Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXvQXQS3ahE Read more... |
DVD: Kiss Me DeadlyFriday, 10 June 2011
AI Bezzerides, who scripted Kiss Me Deadly (1955) for director Robert Aldrich, thought Mickey Spillane’s pulp novel was trash. Spillane, offended that Bezzerides changed so much, couldn’t understand why the film became a cult favorite in France; one... Read more... |
KaboomFriday, 10 June 2011
The playfully titled, deliriously deadpan Kaboom doesn’t so much explode onto the screen as briefly sparkle then fail to ignite. Superficially it’s an intriguing confusion of murder mystery, Generation Sex romp and slacker comedy, and is... Read more... |
Point BlankThursday, 09 June 2011
You could reduce the theme of Fred Cavayé's Point Blank to "man races to save kidnapped wife", but that wouldn't give you the full flavour of the movie's remorseless pace or devilishly wrought internal mechanism, or the quality of its performances.... Read more... |
Kung Fu Panda 2Tuesday, 07 June 2011
The appeal of fat, foolish, good-hearted panda Po (Jack Black) as a cartoon action hero is predictably diluted in this sequel. A fully trained and socially accepted martial arts master by the original’s end, he offers Kung Fu Panda 2 less pathos and... Read more... |
Interview: Film Director Ron PeckTuesday, 07 June 2011
The identity of British independent film, and its future directions, has always been a matter of some contention – and with the ongoing transfer of authority on funding issues from the now-defunct UK Film Council to the British Film Institute, it’s... Read more... |
DVD: True GritMonday, 06 June 2011
As shoes to fill go, John Wayne’s dusty cowboy boots are about as big as it gets. So when the Coen brothers decided to take their shot at True Grit – the Charles Portis novel that finally won Wayne his Oscar – the world sat back with folded arms to... Read more... |
