Two women, friends since childhood, see their make-up business face disaster after a cosmetics mogul tries to buy them out. Considering how old-fashioned Like A Boss feels, I was expecting wall-to-wall matte plum lipstick and a sea of Rachel cuts. While it tries to position itself as current, its tale of a rapacious female boss… Like A Boss Read More
Crude Oil (short film) Short Film 4 stars
A young woman breaks free from an overbearing friendship after learning to recognise and assert her own talents and desires. Saying more in 15 minutes than many a big budget drama, this short, uplifting film about a long, constraining friendship is pithy, witty and warm. It’s also realistic; Jenny (Andreina Byrne) knows her friendship with… Crude Oil (short film) Read More
Faulty Roots (short film) Short Film 4 stars
Two teens with different genetic conditions are forced to form a friendship. Ella Greenwood’s film – which she wrote, produced and directed when she was only 18 – is a sharp reminder that it’s easy to retain lingering prejudices about mental illness even when we think we’ve cast them aside. Greenwood plays Lola, a teenager… Faulty Roots (short film) Read More
Jumanji: The Next Level 4 stars
Like Olympians declaring on camera after winning Gold that they’re never going to run / row / swim again, the four teens who ended up in the Jumanji video game two years ago were adamant that was it. No more sudden, shocking deaths before falling from the sky with one less life inked on their… Jumanji: The Next Level Read More
UK DVD and digital release for festival favourite Giant Little Ones announced
Giant Little Ones, which showed successfully at UK film festivals BFI Flare and Canada Now earlier this year, will be released by Lionsgate Home Entertainment in the UK next spring – on digital download on 3 February 2020 and on DVD on 10 February. The critically acclaimed (including by me!) coming of age drama was… UK DVD and digital release for festival favourite Giant Little Ones announced Read More
Shaun The Sheep: Farmageddon 3.5 stars
*** I’ve got a Shaun The Sheep: Farmageddon blu-ray to give away – find out more (UK only) *** The joy when writing about Shaun the Sheep movies partly comes from not having to spend time afterwards trying to decipher key quotes that I’ve written down in the dark. No one actually speaks, except to utter… Shaun The Sheep: Farmageddon Read More
Nest – kids’ review! (short film – London Film Festival 2019) Short Film 4.5 stars
There’s a big bird with pink feathers that wants to be friends with a little bird and its friends. It chases the little bird to make the little bird like him but the little bird gets scared. Then the big bird makes a lovely nest on the ground and the little bird and its friends… Nest – kids’ review! (short film – London Film Festival 2019) Read More
Jerich0 – kids’ review! (short film – London Film Festival 2019) Short Film 5 stars
This is my favourite of all the short films I’ve watched this week. It’s about a robot lizard and it’s only one minute long. When I heard “Jericho” I thought that sounds like a lovely name and I think the lizard might be called Jericho. It starts off not much sad. The robot lizard crawls… Jerich0 – kids’ review! (short film – London Film Festival 2019) Read More
The Penguin Who Couldn’t Swim – kids’ review! (short film – London Film Festival 2019) Short Film 4 stars
This film is five and a half minutes long. There’s a penguin who can’t swim because he has a short wing. Nobody speaks but that doesn’t matter. There isn’t much detail in their faces. Sometimes you can only see their eyes but you can still tell how they are feeling. He watches his friends swimming… The Penguin Who Couldn’t Swim – kids’ review! (short film – London Film Festival 2019) Read More
Peanut Butter Falcon (London Film Festival 2019) 5 stars
Zak runs away from his care home to make his dream of becoming a wrestler come true. 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, escapes his dreary, constricting care home for freedom and adventure. As Zak (Zack Gottsagen)… Peanut Butter Falcon (London Film Festival 2019) Read More
Shiny Shrimps 3.5 stars
The Shiny Shrimps, a comedy about a team of useless water polo players heading to the Gay Games, comes, um, warm on the heels of last year’s La Grand Bain (known as Sink Or Swim in the UK), about a useless men’s synchronised swimming team training for a championship, and Swimming With Men, a film about… Shiny Shrimps Read More
Princess Emmy 2 stars
What small child wouldn’t like to be able to talk to animals? It’s got to be more interesting than listening to parents wittering on about “the olden days” (ie 1995). Princess Emmy is what we should probably call a Horse Chatterer, a tween princess whose best friend is a horse called Ceasar. There are 24… Princess Emmy Read More