Laura Blundell
Laura hopes to one day have a video store within her house, to fill the Blockbuster-sized hole that the eradication of physical media left behind.
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent Review
See Nicolas Cage nail the Nouveau Shamanic acting technique in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent as Nick Cage, an enigmatic former star who plays Russian roulette with roles because it reminds him he’s alive (and he owes 600k to the hotel he’s been inhabiting throughout his divorce). Whether your favourite Age of Cage is his 90s action superstardom, his more meaningful outings from the likes...
Happening (L’Événement) Review
Not to be mistaken for that Shyamalan film featuring a very confused Marky Mark, Audrey Diwan’s Happening follows a young woman in 1960s France facing an unwanted pregnancy in her last year of university. Based on the semi-autobiographical novella of the same name (L’Evénement in French) by Annie Ernaux, the film tackles a confronting subject in uncomfortable detail, forcing its audience int...
Morbius Review
I’m not entirely sure what goes on at those culty gatherings hosted on MarsIsland (perhaps an Elizabeth Báthory approach to skincare) but it seems to work for probable real-life vampire Jared Leto, whose inability to age is, at this point, slightly concerning. It’s a shame, then, that his dedication to acting is not given the same priority as his quest for eternal youth. Known for going way too ha...
The Duke Review
Jim Broadbent is an idealistic (and wholly unsuccessful) poet who doesn’t think he should have to pay to watch telly in The Duke, the latest (and final) film from dear departed British director Roger Michell. Michell directed Hugh Grant at his floppiest-haired and most charmingly befuddled, and had the good sense to pull out of helming that second Craig-era Bond film that no one likes nor remember...
Blind Ambition Review
When it comes to wine, there are those of us who exhibit a Michael Scott level of knowledge – perhaps we buy based on the label or on the heaviest savings ratio at our local. Then there are others – four Zimbabwean refugees who fled their country separately and somehow ended up in a wine tasting team competing at an international industry event, let’s say – who can guess from a s...
Cyrano Review
Little did he know that when he made his 2005 adaptation of Pride & Prejudice, Joe Wright would be cementing his place in my bubble bath cinema of joy. Having rewatched his version countless times from the warm, sudsy confines of someone else’s bathtub, I feel the same sense of calm and contentment each time that only a two-hour massage or beta blockers bring. With his new film Cyrano (an adap...
Uncharted Review
From the director of Venom and a comedy short simply titled Masturbation comes the first entry in another video game adaptation, Uncharted. As one currently backseat gaming through Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, my expectations for how this inevitably shallow franchise starter would compare were…not high. Tom Holland looks nothing like Nathan Drake, Mark Wahlberg looks nothing like Paul Newman (or Vi...
Aline Review
Second only to Cher, I find a Celine Dion impression one of the most satisfying to absolutely nail. With the iconic 90s feel of Britney and Shania, and the nigh unreachable technical heights of Whitney Houston, it’s a certain type of achievement when you ace a rendition of “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now”. French actress Valérie Lemercier is competent at the impression (though the singing is perfo...
Belfast Review
In an interview with Stephen Colbert, Belfast Boy Kenneth Branagh speaks on the origins of his new, uncreatively-named film – an autobiographical account of his own childhood in the capital of Northern Ireland during The Troubles. His was a time of great change when the village he resided in was thrown into violence and turmoil in 1969 from fighting between Protestants and Catholics (or Unio...
Licorice Pizza Review
Gary Valentine (Cooper Hoffman, prodigal son of the late Philip Seymour) is a 15 year old student and part time actor with dreams of entrepreneurship. When he notices ’22’ (25) year old Alana Kane (Alana Haim of the eponymous family band) assisting with high school yearbook photos of his peers, he falls rather hard. We follow the saga of their not-quite relationship as they try to get ...
Swan Song Review
The first time I remember seeing Udo Kier, he was wearing a beautiful lime green jacket and info-dumping a great deal (in a dubbed American accent) on a dance student named Susie Bannion. Little did I know the magnetic charm that this German character actor had on some of the most unique filmmakers of our time; Kier counts among his frequent collaborators the likes of Werner Herzog, Lars Von Trier...
The Scary of Sixty-First Review
In Romy and Michele 2, the girls move into a possibly-haunted New York apartment previously owned by a very famous sex offender and strange things start to happen. I may have gotten that wrong, but Dasha Nekrasova’s debut feature The Scary of Sixty-First is full of vintage vibes and fascinating female dynamics. She directs, co-writes and stars in the film that channels Andrzej Żuławski’s Possessio...