Carey Mulligan

News, Reviews & Features
  • LFF 2015: Suffragette

    Movie Review | Matt Looker | 14th October 2015

    The gender-discriminated world of Suffragette is so far removed from my everyday life as to be completely unrecognisable, much less relatable. Which means that I should either a) credit how far we have come as a society since then, or b) immediately own up to the fact that I am a 30-something white male who has never had to contend with any prejudices or glass ceilings in his life. Either way, join me as I nervously criticise a film about the kind of tragic societal injustice of which I am entirely unqualified to discuss thanks to my having a penis.

  • #LFF2013: Inside Llewyn Davis

    Movie Review | Neil Alcock | 16th October 2013

    "If it was never new and it never gets old, then it's a folk song," mutters Inside Llewyn Davis' titular muso between performances from a dimly-lit Greenwich Village stage. Those might just be the folkiest words ever uttered, but while they're perfectly accurate, they could just as easily be applied to the Coen brothers' best work. The reassuring familiarity of the Coenverse's unique characters, patois and situations, which sit at ninety degrees to reality, is one of modern cinema's greatest pleasures, and the knowledge that they could take you anywhere is never less than tantalising. Inside Llewyn Davis delivers that old magic in spades, and includes an award-worthy performance from a cat to boot. What's not to love?

  • The Great Gatsby

    Movie Review | Matt | 19th May 2013

    If you could attend any party hosted by a Hollywood director, you'd want it to be Baz Luhrmann's, wouldn't you? I reckon he just beats out J.J. Abrams' cosplay event in the fun stakes, and you'd certainly want to avoid the intimate get-together round Lars Von Trier's house (*shudder*). Luhrmann clearly knows how to pull out all the stops - as evidenced in the ridiculously extravagant Gatsby gatherings here. The problem with this film, however, is that once we've seen one magnificently ostentatious evening, everything after fails to live up to the spectacle. Luhrmann basically invites us to the world's greatest party, but it's one that slowly sours over the course of the following two hours. At least James Cameron's uncompromising pool party would be consistent.

  • The 10 greatest Gatsby trailer faces

    Movie Feature | Ali | 5th April 2013

    Baz Luhrmann: master of subtlety.

  • #LFF: Shame

    Movie Review | Ali | 20th October 2011

    My uptake of films from the London Film Festival has been pretty slow so far – curse you, day job! – but with Shame marking another notch on my metaphorical bedpost, I'm three for three for excellent movies so far. If I were a Radio 1 DJ, I might describe it as "a non-stop hit parade of massive club bangers", but I'm not, so I'll just say I've seen three cracking films in a row, and hooray for that.

  • Trailer for Michael Fassbender's Shame, aka Sir Nobs-A-Lot

    Movie Trailer | Ali | 16th October 2011

    In X-Men: First Class his special ability was attracting metal; now in sex drama Shame, Michael Fassbender is a full-time fanny magnet.

  • Drive

    Movie Review | Ali | 18th September 2011

    That Ryan Gosling: so hot right now. It's easy to forget he started his career as a Disney Mouseketeer in the same stable as Britney, Christina and Justin, but today Baby Goose finds himself with two critically-acclaimed movies out on the same day and a Clooney Oscar-grabber still to come. Ladies, if you thought he was hot stuff in Crazy Stupid Love as a spray-tanned, six-packed womaniser, then prepare for your ovaries to implode when you see him play a strong-and-silent getaway driver with a penchant for deep, meaningful gazing sessions. "Hey girl," he seems to say. "I'm capable of astonishing violence, but I'll make a good makeshift father for your son, too." Make no mistake: he's husband material.

  • Never Let Me Go

    Movie Review | Anna | 12th February 2011

    It's difficult to know where you stand with Never Let Me Go. It's dystopian sci-fi, yet it's set in the recent past, not the future. There's a timeless quality to the film: it could just as easily be the 1960s as the '80s or '90s - how many sci-fi films are there where the protagonists look like they've tumbled out of a 2-for-1 jumper sale at Oxfam? - but at the same time, it taps into something very contemporary. It contains by no means a far-fetched concept; the technology and knowledge exist to make what happens in this movie a reality. At some point the ethical barrier holding us back will crumble, and then what?

  • Brothers

    Movie Review | Kirsty | 24th January 2010

    Is it just me, or has there not been a good comedy out in months? Thanks very much, Oscar season, for a series of thoughtful, harrowing dramas that put you right off your popcorn in the harsh, cold light of day. Yeah gang, let's all go to the movies on a Friday night! That'll be fun! (*sigh*)

  • An Education

    Movie Review | Anna | 28th October 2009

    When we meet Jenny (Carey Mulligan), she lives a regimented existence of Latin homework and lectures from her father (Alfred Molina) about the importance of getting the grades to make it to Oxford University. This is 1960s Britain and the education Jenny and her peers receive shows them how to bake cakes and walk in a straight line with a book balanced on their heads.