|
|
Tom Slater
If a film is this pretty, who cares if it’s true?
In Bombay Beach, Alma Har’el uses artistic licence to tell the melancholy tale of an abandoned wannabe boomtown.
|
 |
| Thursday 26 January 2012 |
David Bowden
The roots of the riots: found in translation
Forget British TV’s feeble attempts to explain urban disarray - look to Scandinavian drama instead.
|
|
| Friday 20 January 2012 |
Tom Slater
What a Shame: taking sex addiction at face value
Steve McQueen’s latest film offers an unconvincing portrayal of a promiscuous yuppie at the mercy of his sexual urges.
|
|
| Tuesday 17 January 2012 |
James Woudhuysen
Making a molehill out of a mountain
Clint Eastwood’s biopic of J Edgar Hoover is more about the man’s personal identity than his historical significance.
|
|
| Friday 13 January 2012 |
Tom Slater
The Artist: giving film fans the silent treatment
Michel Hazanavicius’ black-and-white movie manages to be both a homage to Hollywood’s past and wittily original.
|
|
| Friday 6 January 2012 |
Tom Slater
The girl who was hard to take seriously
David Fincher’s slick adaptation of Stieg Larsson’s bestseller fails to do justice to its central character.
|
|
| Thursday 22 December 2011 |
Tom Slater
On the road
movie - again
An Argentinian take on the well-trodden road-movie genre is hugely uneventful - but it is worth staying till the end.
|
|
| Friday 16 December 2011 |
Tom Slater
Another Earth: sci-fi mimics reality
Not only has NASA just found the Earth’s ‘twin’, this indie flick also reflects real-life attitudes to exploration of self and space.
|
|
| Friday 2 December 2011 |
Duleep Allirajah
Football can’t be reduced to number-crunching
Moneyball shows how statistics helped to change baseball. But maths won’t deliver football silverware.
|
|
| Thursday 24 November 2011 |
Tom Slater
When reality is horrific enough
A chilling film about the ‘Bodies in the Barrels’ murders in Australia favours realism over sensation.
|
|
| Friday 18 November 2011 |
Tom Slater
There’s nothing Gonzo about this slapstick romcom
Despite the best efforts of both star and director, The Rum Diary does little justice to Hunter S Thompson’s prose.
|
|
| Friday 11 November 2011 |
Tom Slater
The Future: toying with the indie formula
In her latest feature, Miranda July barely strays from the staples of indie flicks: quirky sets, handheld cameras and off-beat music.
|
|
| Friday 4 November 2011 |
Tom Slater
Hollywood and politics don’t mix
With his new thriller, The Ides of March, George Clooney shows Democrats can be personally flawed, too - just like his film.
|
|
| Monday 31 October 2011 |
Tom Slater
We need to talk
about suspense
Lynne Ramsay's film adaptation of We Need to Talk About Kevin manages to make a school shooting look tedious.
|
|
| Friday 21 October 2011 |
Tom Slater
Tyrannosaur: it’s time these class clichés died out
Middle-class charity shop volunteer finds unlikely companion in gruff estate-dweller. How corny can a film get?
|
|
| Friday 14 October 2011 |
Tom Slater
Red State: it’s one sermon versus another
Kevin Smith’s darkly humorous horror film is spoiled by tacking on a hamfisted message about American politics.
|
|
| Monday 10 October 2011 |
Tom Slater
Warrior: a daft movie with a kick in the tale
It may be a hackneyed promo for mixed martial arts, but Gavin O’Connor’s film still moves you in the end.
|
|
| Monday 3 October 2011 |
Brendan O’Neill
The Melancholia of the middle classes
Lars von Trier’s new film brilliantly teases out the link between the rot of the bourgeois mind and the rise of apocalyptic fantasies.
|
|
| Thursday 29 September 2011 |
Tom Slater
A true triumph of style over substance
Combining a cool, kitsch soundtrack, extreme violence and a tooth pick, Drive is a brilliant, profound play upon the action movie.
|
|
| Friday 23 September 2011 |
Tom Slater
Did the world need another Jane Eyre?
Cary Fukunaga’s new adaptation of Charlotte Brontë’s classic is beautifully shot and acted, but a bit pointless.
|
|
|
