Category: Films
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Trumbo
I’m fascinated about the period of the Hollywood Blacklist – that post-war period, as the Cold War was getting under-way, when virulent anti-communists including Senator Joseph McCarthy started “investigating” perceived pro-Soviet beliefs and output in Hollywood. Before I went to see Trumbo, I thought I’d watch Fellow Traveller, a 1990 film made by the BBC…
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Spotlight
Spotlight tells they story of the Boston Globe investigate journalism unit – called “Spotlight” – who investigated the long-term cover-up of child abuse by a significant number of priests within the Catholic Church in Boston beginning in 2001. The film is based very much on the Spotlight team in the newspaper itself, and details how…
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Everest
This film is now out on DVD and download, but I actually saw it in the cinema and then failed to publish my review! I’d been meaning to see Everest for a few weeks, but there’d been a rush of decent films. I had to see this film however, because it’s a dramatisation of true…
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The Hateful Eight
Like many others, I have something of a love/hate relationship with Quentin Tarantino. Actually it’s more a love/whatever relationship. I admire him enormously as a film-maker, but he does have missteps and I don’t worship the feet he walks on. I’ve not actually yet seen his previous film, Django Unchained! I say this to put…
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The Program
Right at the beginning of The Program, the BBFC certificate popped up. The film is rated 15 for “strong language, use of performing-enhancing drugs.” Quite. (And I realise, I’m not the first person to note this.) The Program is Stephen Frears’ new film about Lance Armstrong, the seven-times winner of the Tour de France, before…
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The Martian and Sicario
There seems to be a spate of pretty decent films coming all of a sudden at the moment, so after a bit of a barren period when endless super-hero films haven’t inspired me to go to the cinema, I’m suddenly going a little more. The Martian is Ridley Scott’s new film, based on the book…
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Mistress America
I think it must be a surfeit of summer super hero films, but I’ve not been to the cinema much recently. However a new Greta Gerwig film is always something to look forward to, so I decided to head out to see Mistress America. I thought it’d be nice to see it locally so I…
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Visions of the Future: Mad Max and Tomorrowland
Mad Max: Fury Road, is just demented. In a good way. George Miller returns to his 1979 character, essentially re-imagining him, this time played by Tom Hardy. The film is very high concpet. Max is chased through the desert with Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) and a group of women the crazed leader of the “War…
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The Duke of Burgundy
Peter Strickland is one of my favourite directors at the moment, and basically I will watch anything he makes. He used an inheritance to make Katalin Varga, a fascinating little 2009 film in which a woman confronts the abusers of her past. It’s set in Romanian speaking Hungary and filmed in that language. But it…
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Scheduling Films
A regular moan, but it bears repeating. Do we have to have “awards season” films? What is the idiocy behind releasing every film Hollywood (and others) think is awards worthy over a 2-3 month period when there are so many barren times of the year? Yes – I understand that winning an Oscar/BAFTA has a…
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Films Sometimes Take A While
Last year at the London Film Festival, I went to the surprise film. It was Wong Kar Wai’s long awaited new film – The Grandmaster. Well I say, “new”, but actually I was watching it in October, when the film had actually come out in China in January 2013. The film had experienced a somewhat…
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The Imitation Game
I’ve long been fascinated by the story of Alan Turning. I first read Andrew Hodges’ book, on which The Imitation Game is based, sometime back in the late 80s or early 90s, although it was first published in 1983. Subsequently, I saw the TV version of Hugh Whitemore’s play, Breaking the Code, starring Derek Jacobi…
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Interstellar
A new Christopher Nolan film is always something to welcome. He’s been on quite a winning streak for a while now. And while I might prefer the original Norwegian Insomnia to his perfectly fine remake, and think that Christopher Priest’s novel of The Prestige is better than the film, I’m actually a fan. Interstellar is…