Posted by
Anna at 22:22 on 11 Aug 2010
French biopics, je t'aime. After La Vie En Rose, Coco Before Chanel, The Diving Bell And The Butterfly and most recently,
Gainsbourg, the great and the good across the Channel are getting a thorough cinematic seeing to. Carla Bruni better watch out.
Posted by
Anna at 22:36 on 04 Jul 2010
Heartbreaker is the rarest of specimens – a really great romcom. It nails both the romance and the comedy elements of the equation. The reputation of romcoms is understandably rock bottom as the Aniston-fuelled shit machine continues to churn, so it's good to be reminded that decent romantic comedies are possible and what's more, enjoyable. Remember the heady rush you got after watching When Harry Met Sally? That's what Heartbreaker delivers.
Posted by
Anna at 23:51 on 30 Jun 2010
Gervais and Merchant had a crack at it in
Cemetery Junction, now director Derick Martini is rifling through the musty brown corduroy of 1970s nostalgia and hanging it out on the line for a good airing.
Posted by
Anna at 21:44 on 01 Jun 2010
If you've seen the freaky poster for this movie, that should tell you all you need to know without having to purchase a ticket. This film is plastic, with no heart and very little brain. Fans of the TV series beware; this ill-advised sequel is a major letdown and it makes the first movie look like The Godfather in comparison.
Posted by
Anna at 23:33 on 19 May 2010
Ah, Nicolas Cage. Regulars to this site will know we're all pretty devoted to the mighty NC. If you're expecting an impartial review you better look elsewhere. It's been a rocky road for Nic of late, even we can see that through the smoke of adoration, but we can all breathe a collective sigh of relief at the news that, along with turning the Christmas lights on in Bath (okay, and a little movie called
Kick-Ass), Bad Lieutenant is Cage's best work in an age.
Posted by
Anna at 22:51 on 05 May 2010
"Terrorist cells have the same group dynamics as stag parties and five a side football teams," states director Chris Morris. It is this dynamic that he brings to Four Lions, his debut feature film about a group of young men from a city in the North of England planning to blow themselves up. In many respects Morris' protagonists could be planning the ultimate stag night or trying to win their five a side league; they just happen to be talking about suicide and murder.
Posted by
Anna at 15:37 on 18 Apr 2010
Polanski's first film in five years has been met with a very mixed response. Little White Lies said "the whole movie is actually Polanski being, well, shit." The Guardian, however, considers the movie to be Polanski's "most purely enjoyable film for years." I'm going to have to embrace my inner Lib Dem and come down squarely in the middle with a solid-but-not-mind-blowing three stars.
Posted by
Anna at 08:52 on 11 Apr 2010
Brace yourself for an education in jamming, whipping and blocking courtesy of Drew Barrymore and her fictional roller derby team. Essentially, roller derby is a sport for people who don't like sport; it's the anti-sport sport, attracting the girls who never got picked to be in the team and got sneered at by the jocks and cheerleaders. In other words it's the perfect set-up for a traditional underdog story.
Posted by
Anna at 19:10 on 22 Mar 2010
Documentaries made by self-righteous pricks overtly flaunting a ''message'' are an obvious but deserving target for satirists. You know the ones, second rate Michael Moores with a bee in their smug bonnet, out to change the world. It's the modern equivalent of standing on a high street with a placard saying ''Jesus loves you''. Imagine the sort of film Chris Morris could have made with this subject matter. In the hands of director David Williams however, Beyond The Pole is less sassy satire, more mediocre buddy movie.
Posted by
Anna at 22:35 on 16 Feb 2010
Did everyone in the 1960s walk around with perfectly bouffanted hair, expertly lined eyes, a martini glass poised in one hand and a cigarette hanging artfully from the other, chattering about the Cuban missile crisis? We, the modern audience, would like to think so and Tom Ford is only too happy to indulge us. Consequently, A Single Man has an unreal, dreamlike quality to it – this is life through a Vaseline smeared lens, the 1960s as seen in a vintage Vogue magazine.
