The Peanut Butter Falcon infuses its message of autonomy and risk-taking with a sense of magic – as Zak, a young man with Down Syndrome who escapes his dreary, constricting care home for freedom and adventure, drifts on a raft through the stultifyingly hot river-ways of the American South with new friend Tyler and old friend… Peanut Butter Falcon (London Film Festival 2019) Read More
Freaks 3.5 stars
Freaks is a neat little sci fi thriller, heavy on allegory but satisfyingly self-contained – answering all the questions it sets up. My life is a search for answers, though usually of the “is that chewed-up paper next to the dog my film notes or my son’s homework” variety, so it was gratifying to get… Freaks Read More
First trailer for Top Gun: Maverick with Captain Cruise’s “love letter to aviation”
He’s back – and though he’s been busy in the intervening three decades, he’s missed out on a lot of promotions (same, Maverick, same). Scroll down for the trailer, and footage from Dan Diego Comic Con where Tom surprised the audience: “a love letter to aviation”, he calls the film. Directed by Joseph Kosinski, this… First trailer for Top Gun: Maverick with Captain Cruise’s “love letter to aviation” Read More
Dr Strangelove or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb 5 stars
*** Check out my interview with Matt Wells, director of Stanley Kubrick Considers The Bomb, the short film showing with the new 4k Dr Strangelove *** It shows how easily I slipped back into my 1980s-era Armageddon obsession when – on realising Stanley Kubrick’s classic Dr Strangelove is 95 minutes long – I decided to… Dr Strangelove or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb Read More
Us 4.5 stars
“I don’t feel like myself” says the nervy Adelaide, as they try to settle into their beach house for their holiday with their children Zora and Jason. “I think you look like yourself” says her husband Gabe. Doppelgangers both fascinate and repel us. They look like us but make us squirm. When we hear we… Us Read More
Crimson Tide 4 stars
*** Check out my submarine movies section *** “In the nuclear world the enemy is war itself” says Lt Commander Ron Hunter (Denzel Washington), during a rather spiky discussion with his war-hardened and instinctive Captain Frank Ramsey (Gene Hackman). Two men: one Hunter, one Killer, I mean Ramsey, with the fate of the world in their hands…. Crimson Tide Read More
Hunter Killer 3.5 stars
*** Check out my submarine movies section *** One side-effect of the current political situation is that films like Hunter Killer are stuck in that 1990s post-Cold War warm glow where protagonists and presidents are decent people who just happen to have been born on different sides of an arbitrary border. While their real life equivalents are… Hunter Killer Read More
Assassination Nation (London Film Festival) 3.5 stars
Assassination Nation – a noisy, bloody allegory for modern society – may feel like being whacked over the head by a righteously raging My Little Pony, but it’s also hugely entertaining. One of the problems with fighting back against a resurgence like Trump’s is that eventually people just get bored. They know he’s awful already. You… Assassination Nation (London Film Festival) Read More
The Meg, But Metal: Second Hunter Killer Trailer Is Here
…and a new red poster! The film’s out in Oktober so not long to wait now until Gerry saves me, I mean us, from World War 3. *** Read my Hunter Killer review now *** Check out the new trailer below – you can also see the first Hunter Killer trailer (released back in July)… The Meg, But Metal: Second Hunter Killer Trailer Is Here Read More
Mobile Homes 3 stars
*** Read my interview with Mobile Homes director Vladimir De Fontenay *** It’s part of the mythology of America that everyone can move on, starting afresh somewhere new, the slate wiped clean. Everybody deserves a second, third of fourth chance, even if in practice it often doesn’t work out that way for the very people… Mobile Homes Read More