Category: Films
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American Hustle
The new David O Russell film, American Hustle is immensely enjoyable. We’re dropped in at the deep end, with some kind of con or undercover operation going on. And not going well. But we get quickly get into flashback as our narrator and main character Irving Rosenfield (Christian Bale), sets out in a life –…
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Captain Phillips and Saving Mr Banks
Tom Hanks managed to somehow both open and close this year’s London Film Festival with a pair of very different films that I managed to see within twenty four hours of each other. Some film-makers demand to be seen, whatever they do. And Paul Greengrass is one such film-maker. Captain Phillips opened this year’s London…
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The Grandmaster
One of the fastest selling tickets at any London Film Festival is always the surprise film. As you’d imagine, it’s not a film that anyone knows about in advance. In the past I’ve seen Far From Heaven and Capitalism: A Love Story at the LFF. And I know that last year they showed Silver Linings…
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The Armstrong Lie
I’ve been watching the Tour de France for as long as I can remember. Back in the eighties, I readily adopted the new sports that Channel 4 brought to air – cycling, NFL, although perhaps not kabbadi. I certainly remember seeing Greg Lemond beat Lauren Fignon in a final stage time trial in 1989, to…
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Northwest and Kon Tiki
The Northwest, or Nordvest, of Copenhagen seems to be rough part of town. Let’s put it this way, you didn’t see much of it in The Killing or Borgen. It’s where the impoverished working class live, with kids falling helplessly into a life of crime. Casper is a young lad who burgles for a living.…
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Nebraska and Pioneer
As the London Film Festival gets into gear, I’ve been trying to catch a few films before heading to Salford and the Radio Festival. Nebraska is the new film from Alexander Payne, whose breakout film was Election, but who has also made About Schmidt, Sideways and The Descendants. I’ve not seen all his work, but…
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Gravity
Wow. I’ve just seen Alfonso Cuarón’s latest film, Gravity, and, well, just… wow! It’s a stunning piece of work, and I was just blown away by it on every level. Fear not – I won’t be spoiling the film in any way, and will say as little about the plot here as I can. Because…
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The Worst Kind of Film Ads
From the title of this piece, you might already trying to decide whether I’m going to be talking about: – Trailers that give the entire plot of the film away; – Trailers that are seemingly more interested in the awards their actors have previously earned than telling us anything about this new film; – Ads…
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Frances Ha
Frances Ha is a wonderful little film, but it’s almost completely impossible to explain. The story focuses on Frances and her friends, as we see her life as a struggling dancer in New York while she tries to earn enough to pay the rent, and her relationships with those friends. Chief among those friends is…
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Some Summer Films
I’ve not really written a great deal here about the films I’ve seen recently, and as much as anything, I think that’s because I’ve not been to too many films lately. At least in the cinema. But there are one or two that I’ve caught up with. I should start with Star Trek Into Darkness…
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Viewing Options
Here’s a curious thing. The new Ben Wheatley film, A Field in England, is getting a truly multi-media launch on 5th July, by getting a simultaneous release in cinemas, on DVD, on video-on-demand and on the free-to-air Film4 channel! Having enjoyed both Kill List and Sightseers immensely, I’m really looking forward to Wheatley’s paranoid fantasy…
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Trance
A new Danny Boyle film is always something to be welcomed, and given that his last two ventures were the Olympics opening ceremony, and Frankenstein at the National Theatre, it’s been a while (although I did see Frankenstein at the cinema). Trance is a chance for Boyle to really let go of the reigns. In…
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Alex Cox on Kickstarter
I’m beginning to wonder if my new way of watching films is going to be via Kickstarter. I’ve now backed two films in the last two weeks. The first was the wildly successful Veronica Mars movie. That was always going to achieve its $2m goal, and indeed it hit its target within 24 hours. At…