animation
Blu-ray: La Belle et la bêteFriday, 10 August 2018
Jean Cocteau’s La Belle et la bête had been planned as a slice of wartime escapism, a distraction from the privations of war. The film was also a chance for Cocteau to give his male lead Jean Marais a less overtly sexy role than his fans were used... Read more... |
Incredibles 2 review - worship these superheroesWednesday, 11 July 2018
Age cannot wither her nor custom stale her infinite stretchiness… Time has been kind to Elastigirl, the superhero mom voiced by Holly Hunter and dreamed up by Brad Bird. Fourteen years have passed since The Incredibles seduced adult critics and... Read more... |
DVD/Blu-ray: CocoTuesday, 22 May 2018
The brightness and colour are deceptive; at its heart, Lee Unkrich and Adrian Molina’s Coco is an affecting reflection on death, remembrance and the redemptive power of music, dressed up as a frenetic and gag-stuffed Disney comedy. I’d place it... Read more... |
Isle of Dogs review - canine caper with a messageFriday, 30 March 2018
This isn't a feature about London's former docklands (although much of it was made in a studio nearby), but rather Wes Anderson's second foray into stop-motion animation (after 2009's Fantastic Mr. Fox) and a quiet hymn to two of his... Read more... |
Early Man review - delight for football fans and kids alikeThursday, 25 January 2018
Nick Park’s utterly charming new animation channels the spirits of so many cinema and comedy ghosts that its originality can be overlooked – but it shouldn’t be. This is a fresh narrative in an era where films aimed at young audiences are dominated... Read more... |
DVD/Blu-ray: When the Wind BlowsTuesday, 23 January 2018
Adapted by Raymond Briggs from his best-selling graphic novel, When the Wind Blows was released in 1986 and stands up so well that you’re inclined to forgive its flaws: namely David Bowie’s leaden theme song and an abundance of fairly flat black... Read more... |
Paddington 2 review - Hugh Grant’s superior baddie boosts sequelThursday, 09 November 2017
Paddington 2 is that rare thing, a sequel that is more engaging than the original by dint of having a far better baddie. In the first film Nicole Kidman’s villainess was a bleached rehash of Cruella De Ville or Morticia – and it was far from her... Read more... |
Loving Vincent review - Van Gogh biopic of sorts lacks language to match its visualsFriday, 13 October 2017
Loving Vincent was clearly a labour of love for all concerned, so I hope it doesn't seem churlish to wish that a Van Gogh biopic some seven or more years in the planning had spent more time at the drawing board. By that I don't mean yet further... Read more... |
DVD/Blu-ray: My Life as a CourgetteFriday, 15 September 2017
Describe the plot of My Life as a Courgette to someone who’s not been lucky enough to see it and they'll find it hard to understand how a film with such a bleak premise can be so funny and emotionally involving. Swiss director Claude Barras’s... Read more... |
Are video games an art form? UnquestionablyFriday, 30 June 2017
It is 2017 and we are still having this conversation: are video games art? We have been using computers to play games for at least 55 years. Arguably the first true computer game, Spacewar!, was developed in 1962 at MIT, although simple games had... Read more... |
theartsdesk Q&A: Claude Barras and Céline Sciamma on My Life as a CourgetteSaturday, 03 June 2017
If one were to stop at the title, My Life as a Courgette – from the French Ma vie de Courgette and unsurprisingly renamed for those insular Americans as My Life As a Zucchini – could be too easily dismissed as a juvenile or childlike frivolity. And... Read more... |
The Red Turtle review - Studio Ghibli loses its magic touchSaturday, 27 May 2017
A man is caught up in a storm at sea; giant waves like Hokusai crests throw him onto a deserted tropical island. Over the next 80 minutes, his struggle to survive occupies the screen. Curious crabs provide a little company, but not enough to stop... Read more... |
