Stars: Sara Takatsuki, Kasumi Arimura, Nanako Matsushima | Written by Keiko Niwa, Masashi Ando, Hiromasa Yonebayashi | Directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi Many a tear will be shed in the presence of Studio Ghibli’s latest – and possibly last – feature film. The company holds such emotional sway over its audiences unrivalled by any other animation studio (except for, say, Pixar) […]
Stars: Carey Mulligan, Anne-Marie Duff, Helena Bonham Carter, Romola Garai, Meryl Streep, Ben Whishaw, Natalie Press, Brendan Gleeson, Geoff Bell | Written by Abi Morgan | Directed by Sarah Gavron Two of the most violent and disturbing films of the last year are both period dramas about voting rights. The first is Selma, the story […]
Stars: Randeep Hooda, Ali Momen, Sarah Allen, Waris Ahluwalia, Ali Kazmi, Steve Dhillon, Jag Bal, Gabe Grey, Dileep Rao, Gia | Written and Directed by Deepa Mehta Beeba Boys starts with a scene straight out of Goodfellas: six men drive to a rendezvous, telling jokes and ribbing one another. They arrive at the—, three expensive-looking cars meeting […]
Stars: Zhao Tao, Zhang Yi, Liang Jin Dong, Dong Zijian, Sylvia Chang | Written and Directed by Jia Zhangke Admitting this is the first film by Jia Zhangke that I’ve seen may lose me some street cred, but I was pleased to finally discover the filmmaker via his latest exploration of modern China, Mountains May Depart. A universal story of the […]
Stars: Adlane Djemil, Lamia Bezouaoui, Leila Tilmatine | Written and Directed by Merzak Allouache A pill-popping purse-snatcher by day and habitual terror to his mother by night, Omar (Adlane Djemil) is a young man we can all relate to. Living in an Algerian shanty town and making ends meet fencing stolen goods only to buy himself Artane tablets (also […]
Stars: Isabelle Carré, Andre Dussollier, Denis Lavant, Sergi López, Mathilde Monnier, Laurent Poitrenaux, Philippe Rebbot, Karin Viard | Written and Directed by Arnaud Larrieu & Jean-Marie Larrieu Shortly after her estranged mother’s death, middle-aged Caroline travels to her palatial house in the country to settle affairs and bury her. She intends to stop for a night, attend the ceremony […]
Featuring: Malala Yousafzai, Ziauddin Yousafzai | Directed by Davis Guggenheim Some people make you feel so damn lazy. Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani activist who was shot in the head by Taliban for speaking out about the importance of educating women, accomplished more by the time she was 17 than most of us will do in our entire lives. […]
Stars: David Dencik, Mads Mikkelsen, Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Soren Malling, Nicolas Bro, Rikke Louise Andersson, Lisbet Dahl | Written and Directed by Anders Thomas Jensen Looking for all the world like an absurd family farce directed by David Cronenberg (albeit in Danish), Men & Chicken certainly gets points for its commitment to oddness. Its premise sees two brothers, Elias […]
Stars: Daniel MacPherson, Grace Huang, Luke Hemsworth, Bren Foster, Luke Ford, Dwaine Stevenson, Louisa Mignone, Tess Haubrich, Harry Pavlidis | Written by Shane Abbess, Brian Cachia | Directed by Shane Abbess Sometimes all it takes to hook me into a movie is a solid premise. Other times it’s strong world building. And occasionally it’s the misguided […]
Stars: Louise Brealey, Lee Ross, Sheila Reid, Andrew Leung, Hannah Chalmers, Pippa Nixon, Luke McGibney, William Postlethwaite, Christos Lawton, Gabriel Senior | Written by David Lemon | Directed by Neil McEnery-West When deadbeat dad and failing artist Mark (jeez, close to the bone much?) wakes up in his dingy London council flat late one morning, […]
Stars: Ko Shibasaki, Hideaki Ito, Hitomi Katayama, Ebizo Ichikawa, Maiko, Toshie Negishi, Miho Nakanishi, Hiroshi Katsuno, Ikko Furuya | Written by Kikumi Yamagishi | Directed by Takashi Miike Time to fess up: I don’t know all that much about Japanese folklore. Knowing the source material for an artwork that leans heavily on popular cultural institutions isn’t a requirement when viewing […]
Starring: Tony Curran, Diana Vickers, Rupert Hill, Sophie Lovell Anderson, Peter Woodward, Adrian Bouchet, Charley McDougal | Written and Directed by Mark Murphy It’s grim up north. Or so many British horror films would have you believe. If you’re travelling across the Yorkshire Moors you damn well better not be travelling alone or – heaven forbid – […]
Stars: Danielle Jadelyn, Yael Grobglas, Yon Tumarkin, Tom Graziani, Fares Hananya, Steven Hilder | Written and Directed by Doron Paz, Yoav Paz Falling firmly in the goofy camp of horror gimmicks is Jeruzalem, an Israel-set shocker that uses the holy city as its canvas and Google Glass as its brush. We’ve seen POV films before (REC 2, Enter the Void), […]
Stars: Owen Wilson, Lake Bell, Pierce Brosnan, Thanawut Kasro, Chatchawai Kamonsakpitak | Written by John Erick Dowdle, Drew Dowdle | Directed by John Erick Dowdle Owen Wilson might seem like an unlikely action hero, but there was a time when he looked primed to become America’s next golden-haired champion of good and kicking ass. Roles in films like Behind Enemy Lines […]
Stars: Adam Sandler, Michelle Monaghan, Kevin James, Peter Dinklage, Josh Gad, Jane Krakowski, Brian Cox, Sean Bean, Ashley Benson | Written by Tim Herlihy, Timothy Dowling | Based on the short film by Patrick Jean | Directed by Chris Columbus During my bathroom trip following a screening of Pixels, a group of what I can only term lads yelled across […]
Stars: Tom Cruise, Rebecca Ferguson, Jeremy Renner, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Alec Baldwin, Sean Harris | Story by Christopher McQuarrie, Drew Pearce | Screenplay by Christopher McQuarrie | Directed by Christopher McQuarrie If there’s anything that connects the Mission: Impossible films in my head, it’s that I consistently come out of each new instalment wondering what the hell happened. The plots are […]
Stars: Reese Mishler, Pfeifer Brown, Ryan Shoos, Cassidy Gifford, Travis Cluff | Written and Directed by Travis Cluff, Chris Lofing You know the old saying less is more? Yeah, well, sometimes less is just…less. Such is the way with The Gallows, the new film from lo-fi horror producers Blumhouse (Paranormal Activity, The Purge), which managed the astounding feat of both dragging […]
Stars: Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, Evangeline Lilly, Corey Stoll, Michael Peña, Bobby Cannavale, Judy Greer, Wood Harris | Written by Edgar Wright & Joe Cornish and Adam McKay & Paul Rudd | Directed by Peyton Reed Dammit, Marvel. I was all ready to give up on you after Age of Ultron, a great stinking technicolour […]
Stars: Mila Kunis, Channing Tatum, Sean Bean, Eddie Redmayne, Tuppence Middleton, Douglas Booth | Written and Directed by Andy and Lana Wachowski A rich science-fiction world, full of weird and colourful characters who still ring true despite having massive animal ears or wings, with well-defined politics, an ancient conflict and a lead couple who […]
Stars: Chris Hemsworth, Leehom Wang, Wei Tang, Viola Davis, Holt McCallany | Written by Morgan Davis Foehl | Directed by Michael Mann About an hour into my viewing of Blackhat I was struggling to remain conscious from boredom. About an hour later I was glued to my seat, my eyes and ears on full alert for whatever the film was going to throw […]
