Amy

News, Reviews & Features

Review: Wine Country is a waste of a great ensemble cast

Movie Review | Luke Whiston | 17th June 2019

One thing that fascinates me about film-making is not the how of how movies are made, but the when. We see stars grow in real time these days and very often, once their careers have developed enough, they become producers - meaning the shows and films we watch follow their whims. That explains why we get a glut of movies about having babies, followed by a wave of thirties singleton rom-coms, and these subjects mould the wider zeitgeist. And now we're entering what should be the most interesting phase, where all your favourite stars are burnt out and holding grudges: the mid-life crisis. Fight! Fight! Fight!

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Review: Knock Down The House captures the highs and lows of hope

Movie Review | Luke Whiston | 15th May 2019

How can it be that every week feels like the series finale of America? The dumpster fire of Donald Trump's presidency that has engulfed our lives and timelines since 2016 can't be good for the collective psyche, and it's strange to think that a mere three years ago this constant gnashing background noise wasn't the norm. But US politics has measures in place to course-correct, namely a series of midterm elections whereby successful candidates can win a Senate seat, thus increasing their party's reach within Congress. At least that's what I understand from Wikipedia. I live in England, where we bow to whoever has the tallest top hat or the fanciest swan. Before today everything I knew about the American political system I learnt from The Simpsons.

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Review: Pet Sematary is flatter than a run over cat

Movie Review | Becky Suter | 5th April 2019

The long list of Stephen King adaptations run from the great (The Shining, Misery), the so-so (original Carrie), to the just downright silly one where everyone gets alien bum worms called "Shitweasels" (Dreamcatcher). Following on from the passable remake of It, where Pennywise became a sewer daddy for thirsty millennials wanting to bang clowns, the latest of King’s books to be resurrected is a confused and uninspiring mess that proves, as one character helpfully puts it, sometimes dead is better.

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Review: Vice shows Dick Cheney as a man with few virtues and ohhh, I see what you did there

Movie Review | Becky Suter | 21st January 2019

My knowledge of Dick Cheney pretty much started and ended with knowing him as the veep who shot a guy in the face whilst on a hunting trip. Had I bothered to actually watch all of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart episodes I've recorded over the years, I would have known that Cheney has always been the dark heart of American politics; a man rotten to his very core, which itself is a tiny black hole from which no joy or light can escape, who's been haunting the White House long before President Trump gleefully served McNugget BBQ sauce out of the Lincoln silver gravy boats to those footballers. Luckily, Adam McKay is here again to distil complex information to dummies like me, although newsflash - the political system is like, totally corrupt, you guys.

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Deconstructing Pixar's Inside Out, the film I admire most

Movie Feature | Ali Gray | 29th July 2018

There are films that I loathe, there are films that I tolerate and there are films that I enjoy, but there are few films that I truly admire. With some movies I find it best you don't think too carefully how the sausage was made, because nothing spoils the illusion of cinema more than peeking behind the, uh, sausage curtain. Remember the pre-release behind the scenes photos of Robert Zemeckis' The Walk, that showed Joseph Gordon-Levitt doing a tightrope walk on a massive green plank? Cheers for saving me £12.50, idiots. Some movies, on the other hand, practically invite you to climb into the filmmaker's headspace; they want you to know just how much effort went into its creation. Pixar's Inside Out is one of those movies, where you can't help but marvel at the myriad thought processes that led to its genius inception and flawless execution. It's the movie I admire most and I still can't stop thinking about it.

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Inside Out

Movie Review | Matt Looker | 26th July 2015

We've all seen the list of Pixar's story concepts throughout the years, right? 1995: What if toys had feelings, 1998: What if bugs had feelings, etc until we get to the Inside Out punchline: What if feelings had feelings? It's an apt joke, not just because you can imagine that this formula for success was actually decided years ago in a boardroom somewhere, but because Inside Out really does feel like the ultimate Pixar film. In terms of fun, emotion, gags and - yes - cries, Inside Out meets the very best of what the studio has done to date, and it does so within a simple, lovable realisation of an incredibly complicated abstract concept. This really is Pinnacle Pixar.

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Amy

Movie Review | Becky Suter | 2nd July 2015

Three young friends lark about with a video camera, filming themselves eating sweets and making private jokes like typical teenagers. They start to sing Happy Birthday to the girl holding the camera, but one voice stands out – a rich, soulful and mature voice completely at odds with the young face its coming out of, one that will be later compared to the likes of Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald. It’s an astonishing opening to Asif Kapadia’s moving portrait of tragic singer Amy Winehouse, and it’s as sad as fuck.

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BoJack Horseman: season one

TV Review | Ed Williamson | 2nd September 2014

It's a cartoon about a drunk horse, but I still think it has something interesting to say about contemporary celebrity. I will not let this Media Studies degree go to waste.

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American Hustle

Movie Review | Neil Alcock | 7th December 2013

American Hustle does not fuck about setting out its stall. Its first glorious image is of a pudgy Christian Bale in a bathroom mirror, his face sheltering beneath a jacked-up haystack of atrocious seventies hair, methodically and painstakingly attempting to sculpt his ludicrous combover into a presentable form. It's immediately hilarious and tragic, and tells us that what we're about to watch is concerned with appearances, deceit, aspiration, unfathomable fashion choices and hair. Lots of hair.

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#LFF2013: The Sacrament

Movie Review | Christopher Ratcliff | 22nd October 2013

Deep within a heavily armed camp in South America, a group of sober-living hippies under the influence of a safari-shirted old man known only as The Father, have relocated to begin a new life away from the evils of modern society – mediocre broadband speeds, ill-matching Tupperware lids, Starbucks constantly spelling their names wrong - that sort of shit.

Within the congregation of hemp-oil smelling beatniks is Caroline, the sister of Vice magazine journalist Patrick. Seeking to rescue his sister from the cult, Patrick travels to the remote commune with fellow Vice journalist Sam (AJ Bowen, the bearded guy from You're Next) and cameraman Jake (Joe Swanberg, also from You're Next) who intend to document the family reunion, expose this bizarre gathering and interview the charismatic leader. As you can imagine, things get much shitter from there.

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