Category: Films

As this film came closer to being released I was having mixed opinions about it. There were those stories about how it had overemphasised the success of using torture to tell the CIA what they needed. Then there were stories that it somehow defended torture (a misreading surely). On the other hand, I’d heard that…

[A continuation of my exploration of Hollywood screwball comedies of the thirties and early forties in the BFI’s season. See part one here.] And so the BFI’s Screwball season continues, and I’ve seen a few more films. A couple of weeks ago there was an illustrated introduction to the season from Peter Swaab. He’s the…

If there’s a genre films I really love, it’s screwball comedies. His Girl Friday has always been one of my favourite films, and alongside Bringing Up Baby, epitomises what I love in the genre. The rat-a-tat dialogue, strong female characters, the prevalent design – lots of art deco, and in general the sheer delight. These…

Beasts of the Southern Wild is a truly remarkable piece of cinema. We get a mix of magical realism alongside an almost conceivable life in the southern tip of Louisiana – “the Bathtub.” The young Hushpuppy (a truly amazing performance from a five or six year old Quvenzhané Wallis) lives with her dad (Dwight Henry)…

So four years later, we finally get a new Bond film. And what a cracker to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the series. I think it’s worth saying that I think you’re best off if you don’t know the plot in advance. So I’d recommend not reading a great deal further until you’ve seen it…

I went to see the new documentary, The Imposter at the weekend. All I’ll say here is that it’s very good, and tells the story of a child who goes missing in Texas in the 90s, but who then seemingly shows up in Spain a few years later. It’s not worth me saying much more…

I was at university when the 1990 “original” version of Total Recall came out in cinemas, with Arnold Schwarzenegger playing a somewhat unlikely worker who had dreams of being a spy. Unless, he was a spy anyway. Over the years, the film has become something a classic – albeit a camp classic. The fact that…

There’s no Matt Damon, and importantly, there’s no Paul Greengrass is this follow up to the Bourne series of films. That doesn’t mean that they’ve recast Jason Bourne with a new actor, but it seems that Treadstone was just one part of the evil plotting going on deep within American security services. So we’re introduced…

I wrote recently about my travails in trying to pre-book a 2D screening of Prometheus. Come the release, there have been more 2D screenings made available than were listed for pre-booking. So I ended up heading over to the Hackney Picturehouse – a journey made considerably more complicated by Greater Anglia using the Jubilee Weekend…

I’ve spent a while away from the cinema recently, but the “award season” means that I have to face my hatred of multiplexes and get out to see a few films. Although with the exception of one film, I saw these films in somewhat nicer confines of Curzon and BFI cinemas. I really liked The…

Before I went to see the new film version of the Le Carré classic, I first sat down and watched – for something like the fifth time – the 1979 Alec Guinness version. I’ve seen this at least five times over the years, and together with Smiley’s People, it makes Guinness the definitive George Smiley.…

As the ads and trailers finally came to an end, the BBFC slide appeared on screen: “La Piel Que Habito – The Skin I Live In.” “So is this film in Spanish?” asked the man behind me very loudly. I tried not to laugh out loud. “Yes,” said the lady I presume was his wife,…

Last weekend I watched the Monaco Grand Prix. I wasn’t really planning to, and was going to go out, but I got caught up in it. Although I find the constant rule change over refueling or not refuelling tiresome, and the introduction of DRS seems like using some kind of turbo-boost in a video game,…