Focusing on the rich Park family and the poor Kim family who concoct a scheme to find jobs working for the Parks, Bong Joon Ho’s latest film Parasite is as much a film about architecture and levels as it is about the lives of families in different classes. The first shot we see is of […]Read More
I wasn’t that excited to see 1917. Firstly, it’s a war film, which as a general rule I don’t get along with: patriotism, toxic masculinity, the waste of human life. And then the cast: stalwart after stalwart of the Serious British Drama Film, pale, male and stale. I despise war narratives that depict the Western […]Read More
Cinema has been a lot this year. We’ve seen Robert Pattinson masturbating furiously in a stinky sea enclave, people burnt alive at a Swedish summer retreat, sad space travel, an imaginary Hitler, doppelganger-horror, pop-terrorism – even a space dungeon with a fuckbox. And so to end the year with quiet naturalism, a U-rated family drama […]Read More
There is something of an innocent quality strewn through Tomer Heymann’s latest documentary venture, which ultimately contrasts the film’s stark subject matter. Jonathan Agassi is the wunderkind of gay porn, an incredibly desirable but ultimately provocative star of adult movies who, at his height, was considered one of the greatest actors in porn. However, with […]Read More
From its opening shots, you might be tricked into thinking that Knives Out is going to be your standard whodunnit. Isolated mansion in unspecified location? Check. A score replete with screeching strings? Check. Various creepy trinkets, dolls and weird paintings on the walls? Check. And yet, director Rian Johnson perfectly satirizes this Agatha Christie-esque setting […]Read More
Tonally confused and accidentally hilarious, David Michôd’s big-budget Medieval caper The King is an unbelievably silly film – and only half the cast seem to be aware of it. Starring Timothée Chalamet as King Henry V and Joel Edgerton as Falstaff, we follow King Henry/Prince Hal as he goes from binge-drinking to the battlefield, navigating […]Read More
Prescient of its awful box-office opening and the swarm of terrible reviews, I went to see one of my most anticipated films of the year, The Goldfinch, with plenty of trepidation. Adapted for the screen from one of my favourite books – Donna Tartt’s Pulitzer Prize-winning bildungsroman of the same name – by director John […]Read More
Based on the novel of the same name by Garth Stein, The Art of Racing in the Rain is a heartwarming foray into the mind of Enzo the golden retriever. Voiced by Kevin Costner, our four-legged narrator guides us through the life of his owner Denny Swift (Milo Ventimiglia). On the surface, this film is a lighthearted […]Read More
The opening to Disney’s Lion King (1994) is utterly, and undeniably iconic. In this contemporary re-imagining of the classic animated feature, director Jon Favreau (The Jungle Book) matches the sequence almost shot for shot with a photorealistic remake and it is pure magic. From the opening notes of ‘The Circle of Life,’ you feel a […]Read More
If Yorgos Lanthimos thought he was the only one that could do creepy and cryptic symbolism with rabbits, boy, was he wrong. Jordan Peele doesn’t shy away from combining horror with happiness; if the squirmish discomfort caused by seemingly cute rabbits wasn’t enough, wait until you see someone bludgeoned to death to the tune of […]Read More
The long-awaited Captain Marvel, the first of the (twenty-one) MCU films that centres solely around a female lead, flew onto our UK screens on the 8th of March. The choice of releasing the film on International Women’s Day might seem on the nose for some, but it aptly ties in perfectly with the film’s overall […]Read More
Returning to Scotland in 1561, following the death of her husband, eighteen-year-old Mary (Saoirse Ronan) reclaims her rightful throne, settling into her role as Catholic Queen of Scotland. In neighbouring England, Mary’s cousin and Protestant Queen Elizabeth (Margot Robbie) is unmarried, childless and intimidated by the beauty, bravery and boldness of her fellow sovereign. Ensuring […]Read More
The 1930s saw the rise of two of the world’s finest comedy actors and performers, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. Earning fans from America to Australia, the dynamic duo soon became a power act that everybody wanted to see. Fast forward to 2018 and the story that inspired millions has been a huge box office hit. […]Read More
1879, Norway. A frustrated and belittled housewife decides to leave her ostensibly kind husband and children to try and find a life for herself after realizing that she has spent years living in the shadows. So goes the classic play by Henrik Ibsen, A Doll’s House, which shocked contemporary audiences who could scarcely believe that […]Read More
The legendary (if overused) tale of Robin Hood is back again in Otto Bathurst’s latest directorial adventure, featuring the skilled archer as he battles to save his land from the cunning leadership of the deceitful Sheriff of Nottingham (Ben Mendelsohn). Another failed iteration of a classic tale We’re introduced to Robin of Loxley (Taron Egerton), […]Read More
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