An immigrant worker at a pickle factory is accidentally preserved for 100 years and wakes up in modern day Brooklyn. An absurdist and enormously entertaining takedown of both cancel culture and cancel “cancel culture” culture, An American Pickle is about reconnecting with one’s history in a world that hasn’t really changed as much as we… An American Pickle Read More
Impetigore 3.5 stars
Realising that she might inherit a property from the rich family she’s never met, Maya returns to her home village with best friend Dini – unaware of the danger waiting for her. Maya, the heroine of new Indonesian folk-horror Impetigore, goes on quite the journey – starting off a a classic horror victim, she tries… Impetigore Read More
Perfect 10 gets a release date & a new trailer
It’s available from Friday 7 August on Curzon Home Cinema and BFI Player. Perfect 10 is the debut feature film from Eva Riley, whose short film Patriot competed for the Short Feature Palme D’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Leigh, an aspiring teen gymnast who lives with her neglectful father, has her world is turned upside down with the… Perfect 10 gets a release date & a new trailer Read More
3 Teaspoons Of Sugar (Short Film) Short Film 3.5 stars
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?
*** My review and article are now live *** 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… 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