In a household where mealtimes are for celebration, fellowship and good eating, three members of this tight-knit family are diagnosed with diabetes over the years. Animated short 3 Teaspoons Of Sugar is an informative health message warmly wrapped in a witty tale about South African family relationships. That setting isn’t just a way of delivering… 3 Teaspoons Of Sugar (Short Film) Read More
Why Don’t You Just Die 4.5 stars
Matvey has just one objective: to gain entry to his girlfriend’s parents’ apartment and kill her father Andrey with a hammer to restore her honour. But Matvey’s attempts to bludgeon the family patriarch to death don’t quite go to plan as Andrey proves a more formidable opponent than he anticipated… and Matvey, for his part,… Why Don’t You Just Die Read More
Impetigore trailer: do you really know your family?
Impetigore, the upcoming horror from Satan’s Slaves director Joko Anwar, now has a trailer – and “blood-soaked” seems like an understatement. If you’re generally sanguine about the weirder members of your family, check it out below. Maya (Tara Basro), doing her best to survive in the city with best friend Dini (Marissa Anita), realises she… Impetigore trailer: do you really know your family? Read More
Astronaut 4 stars
A lonely widower battles his family, ill health and time to win a competition for a golden ticket to space. One of the reasons I love films about older people fulfilling their desires is that they make me feel, at 49, like I still have time to achieve something – anything! – before my time… Astronaut Read More
My Spy 2.5 stars
A CIA operative is given the job of surveilling a single mother and her young daughter Sophie in their apartment block – but the tween quickly works out what’s going on… JJ (Dave Bautista) may be ex-Forces with military commendations as long as his bicep circumference, but as a spy he’s on the ropes with… My Spy Read More
Little Women 3.5 stars
If you’re a struggling writer, don’t google what Jo March’s $20 payment for her short story, offered by a publisher who thinks all literary heroines should end up married or dead, works out as in today’s money. You’ll only start crying, and as an author you need to save those tears for Beth dying, I… Little Women Read More
Vivarium (London Film Festival 2019) 4 stars
A young couple looking for the perfect home find themselves trapped in a mysterious labyrinth-like neighborhood of identical houses. *** Read my interview with Vivarium director Lorcan Finnegan *** Everyone has their own line in the sand which they will not cross when it comes to settling down. Mine is those massive white canvasses with… Vivarium (London Film Festival 2019) Read More
Mickey And The Bear 4 stars
Hank, a veteran of the Iraq War, now spend his days looking for ways to dull the pain of PTSD and his painkiller addiction. His daughter Mickey, nearly 18, looks after him, their parent-child relationship turned on its head in too many ways. A coming-of-age drama about trying to escape when others are trying to… Mickey And The Bear Read More
Trick Or Treat 3 stars
I loved the characters in Halloween crime thriller Trick Or Treat, particularly new dad and ex-criminal Greg – who moans so much about the dullness of life with a wife and new baby he doesn’t even let up while driving round with brutal henchman Clarence in a quest to find his ne’er-do-well brother Dan, and… Trick Or Treat Read More
Good Heart – kids’ review! (short film – London Film Festival 2019) Short Film 4.5 stars
At the start I didn’t understand what was happening but then I realised. The pictures look like they’ve been drawn with crayons. It’s from Russia but it doesn’t matter because the family in it just grunt. There is a family of Stone Age people and when the boy goes to collect apples he comes back… Good Heart – kids’ review! (short film – London Film Festival 2019) Read More
The Farewell (Sundance London) 5 stars
The Farewell is writer-director Lulu Wang’s second feature, and it’s a funny, bracing, tender and profoundly moving film. “Sexy but poor” is how Billi (Awkwafina) describes herself half-jokingly to her mother, visiting her parents while trying to avoid the apartment she always owes rent on. Her parents also live in New York, the whole family… The Farewell (Sundance London) Read More
Playmobil: The Movie 3 stars
I have a soft spot for Playmobil, and not only because it’s easier on parental feet when you tread on it in the dark than arch-nemesis Lego, which like its tie-in films is considerably sharper-edged than this smooth German rival. But while Playmobil:The Movie lacks the bite of the Lego films, this is still a colourful,… Playmobil: The Movie Read More