I love the initial minutes of dystopian storytelling; how a society got to this point, the new realities of everyday life, and the capacity of the human spirit to absorb horrific change without challenging it. How much do they agree? How much are they hoping someone else will save them? Or maybe they just don’t… Fahrenheit 451 (Cannes 2018) Read More
Solo: A Star Wars Story (Cannes 2018) 3.5 stars
Solo is terrific fun, a blast, a movie that never feels too long. But also doesn’t quite reach the heights it aspires to. WARNING – this is slightly spoilery, including Han and Chewy, so if you want to go into the cinema in blissful ignorance about this and some other plot points, leave now, with… Solo: A Star Wars Story (Cannes 2018) Read More
At War (Cannes 2018) 3 stars
I’ll admit that as someone who hails from the North East of England I was both surprised and delighted that Stephane Brize’s latest film, about industrial unrest in France, references Sunderland, the city just south of my birthplace. Though in some ways it’s not that unlikely, as it has long been an industrial area, despite… At War (Cannes 2018) Read More
Sink Or Swim (Cannes 2018) 3 stars
This comedy (its French title is Le Grand Bain) about a group of mostly middle-aged men joining a synchronised swimming team doesn’t dive that deep, and at times it’s as focussed as the random splashing when they first jump in the pool. But it’s funny, and the issues it highlights are real and devastating: unemployment,… Sink Or Swim (Cannes 2018) Read More
“3 Days In Cannes” Pass For Film Lovers Aged 18-28
THIS IS AN ARTICLE FROM 2018 AND HAS NOT BEEN UPDATED FOR 2019’S CANNES FILM FESTIVAL *** UPDATE 2018: If you have any concerns or need clarification about the 3-day pass, you can contact the Festival directly. There is a general contact form here: https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/contact and they have a practical guide here: https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/participer/guide. The festival website… “3 Days In Cannes” Pass For Film Lovers Aged 18-28 Read More
New York Film Festival Round-Up & Tips
I’m back from a week at NYFF. I hadn’t been to Manhattan since the mid-90s, when I lived in London and was used to people thinking I was going to murder them if I made eye contact. Now I live in a small town where even if not everybody knows my name (“that blonde one”… New York Film Festival Round-Up & Tips Read More
Did You Wonder Who Fired The Gun? (New York Film Festival 2017) 3 stars
A documentary murder mystery about the filmmaker’s family, set in lower Alabama. It’s an odd title as who fired the gun that killed Bill Spann, a 46 year old African American man in Dothan, Alabama that night in 1946, is not in doubt. It was director Travis Wilkerson’s great grandfather, SE Branch, in his convenience… Did You Wonder Who Fired The Gun? (New York Film Festival 2017) Read More
Last Flag Flying (New York Film Festival 2017) 3.5 stars
Thirty years after they served together in Vietnam, a former Navy Corpsman Larry “Doc” Shepherd re-unites with his old buddies, former Marines Sal Nealon and Reverend Richard Mueller, to bury his son, a young Marine killed in the Iraq War. Doc Shepherd’s son has died, shot in the head in Baghdad. He can be buried… Last Flag Flying (New York Film Festival 2017) Read More
Meyerowitz Stories (New & Selected) (New York Film Festival 2017) 4.5 stars
“Maybe he’s undiscovered for a reason,” says Matt (Ben Stiller) about his sculptor father Harold. But for his half-brother Danny taking away the myth of their dad’s undiscovered greatness will destroy their excuses for Harold’s terrible parenting and four marriages: “if he isn’t a great artist that means he was just a prick.” This is a… Meyerowitz Stories (New & Selected) (New York Film Festival 2017) Read More
Thelma (New York Film Festival 2017) 4 stars
A confused religious girl tries to deny her feelings for a female friend who’s in love with her. This causes her suppressed subconsciously-controlled psychokinetic powers to reemerge with devastating results. Out hunting with his little blonde daughter in the forest, there’s a deer in his sights, and his gun is at the ready. But instead… Thelma (New York Film Festival 2017) Read More
Faces Places (New York Film Festival 2017) 4.5 stars
Director Agnes Varda and photographer/muralist J.R. journey through rural France and form an unlikely friendship. Charming, eye-opening, and consistently hilarious, this photographic road trip through a series of French villages by two new friends, the 88 year old director Agnès Varda and 33 year old JR, a hipster artist known for his enormous photographs pasted… Faces Places (New York Film Festival 2017) Read More
Zama (New York Film Festival 2017) 3.5 stars
Based on the novel by Antonio Di Benedetto written in 1956, on Don Diego de Zama, a Spanish officer of the seventeenth century settled in Asunción, who awaits his transfer to Buenos Aires. It’s fair to say that Zama is one of those movies I’m enjoying more in retrospect that I did while actually watching it. As… Zama (New York Film Festival 2017) Read More
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