Drama
Pig Review
Whoever said ‘You catch more flies with honey than vinegar’ (a honey salesman, probably) was surely referring to Nicolas Cage’s arc in Michael Sarnoski’s directorial debut Pig. Marketed (wrongly, or perhaps sneakily) as a swiney John Wick, this is a film that shows its subject as much tenderness and care as Cage’s character shows every ingredient he uses in its grand finale. For those expect...
Annette Review
“So may we start?” sing Sparks and the cast at the beginning of Annette, a film that asks its audience’s permission before proceeding with surely one of the most unique cinematic experiences they’ll have this year. It is the English language debut from bizarro French auteur Leos Carax (Holy Motors) that Wikipedia describes as a ‘musical romantic drama film’ but that IMDb classifies as a documentar...
Nine Days Review
A man sits at an antique desk with a clipboard and poses you this scenario: you’re a prisoner of war and your son just tried to escape, and all that stands between him and a hanging is a chair. If you do not kick the chair out from under him, your son, you, and all the other prisoners will be killed. Do you kick the chair? It’s the heaviest question I’ve ever heard in a job interview, but we are d...
In The Heights Review
I just love IN THE HEIGHTS. Right from the beginning, I was hooked! That opening number, ‘In the Heights’? It’s a whirlwind of a song. We meet Usnavi (our hero, played by Anthony Ramos), most of the people in the neighbourhood, and of course, Washington Heights itself. The real star of IN THE HEIGHTS is Washington Heights. It’s a Latino American neighbourhood in New York City. And always under thr...
A Quiet Place Part II Review
I don’t appreciate jump scares, Mr Krasinski. I expected as much from A Quiet Place: Part II, but there is still much to like about this sequel to the very successful 2018 monster feature that created a silence in the cinema I hadn’t experienced since seeing The Strangers by myself. Would this new installment garner the same shut-the-hell-upness among its audience? Mostly yes. Part II opens ...
Two of Us Review
TWO OF US is a French film about true love, never giving up, and deciding, ‘to hell with what my children think’… Nina and Madeleine have a love story for the ages. Together for decades, they now live on the top floor of an apartment block. Different apartments, for appearances’ sake, but the doors are never locked. For all intents and purposes, they live and love together. But their ...
Those Who Wish Me Dead Review
Those Who Wish Me Dead is the new feature from Taylor Sheridan, who knocked it out of the park with his screenplays for Sicario, Hell or High Water and Wind River (the latter of which he also directed.) It stars Jon Bernthal, Aidan Gillen, Nicholas Hoult and a little lady (you probably haven’t heard of her) called Angelina Jolie. From the trailer I was expecting a Hollywood rendition of Firewatch ...
Fatale Review
Remember that episode of The Office where the employees of Dunder Mifflin spent company time debating whether or not Hilary Swank could be considered ‘hot’? That accurately describes my experience watching Fatale, the new film written by David Loughery (not to be confused with talented filmmaker David Lowery) and from director Deon Taylor, whose highest rated work currently sits at 52%...
Six Minutes to Midnight Review
SIX MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT is a good, old fashioned, British spy thriller. I’m talking secret meetings, murder, double crosses, enemy agents, ticking countdowns: the whole lot. All set in a beautiful English coastal town, just on the edge of autumn. It is so much fun. It’s August, 1939. In a few day’s time, Germany will invade Poland. Britain will declare war on Nazi Germany. The world will be ...
The United States vs. Billie Holiday Review
How much did I love THE UNITED STATES VS. BILLIE HOLIDAY? Well, I went right on down to my library and checked out the book it’s based on. How much did everyone else love it? I’m not even joking: the cinema burst into applause as the final credits rolled. THE UNITED STATES VS. BILLIE HOLIDAY is not your usual biography film. It’s actually based on a chapter of ‘Chasing the Scream: The First and ...