Her

News, Reviews & Features
  • What if Ethan Hawke played ALL the superheroes? Huh? What happens then?

    Movie Feature | Ali Gray | 27th August 2018

    Indie actor Ethan Hawke caused shockwaves in the nerd community this week when he dared suggest that superhero movies are not as good as Ingrid Bergman movies. So, Ethan Hawke thinks we're a group of illiterate and reactionary morons, huh? BURN ETHAN HUNT TO THE GROUND.

  • Am I Coen crazy: Blood Simple. (1984)

    Movie Feature | Matt Looker | 17th August 2018

    Welcome to a new semi-irregular feature in which I try to understand my general ambivalence towards the Coen brothers in the face of their overwhelming success and popularity. Do I lack the critical faculty to truly appreciate their work? Do I just not ‘get’ them? Am I an idiot? Most likely, yes, but let’s all go on a filmographical journey to confirm!

  • Review: Christopher Robin is a stark reminder that adulthood sucks ass

    Movie Review | Ali Gray | 14th August 2018

    If you hadn’t realised it from the twee, plinky-plonky marketing, Christopher Robin is a movie aimed more at large adult sons than it is small children - the kind of film that insists the key to happiness and the secret to being a better man, husband and father, is to be more childlike. That’s kind of Disney’s whole thing right now; the studio seems intent on arresting the development of adults around the world with superhero universes and space sagas and glitter-flecked versions of the movies they loved as children. But hey, if there’s any character that’s going to cut through corporate cynicism, it’s Winnie the Pooh, a bear after my own heart, living my trouserless dream, who is so loveable he could tell me he just disembowelled and stuffed the other residents of the Hundred Acre Wood and I’d still let him bumble around my house, stuffing his adorable face with £13-a-jar Manuka.

  • Your complete guide to every single one of Chucklevision's 292 episodes

    TV Feature | Ali Gray, Matt Looker, Becky Suter | 10th August 2018

    This week we bade farewell to a true titan of entertainment: rest in peace, Barry Chuckle. I have already started seeing badly drawn Facebook memes posted in your honour.

  • Mission: Impossible - Fallout

    Movie Review | Ali Gray | 17th July 2018

    Forget the rubber masks and the death-defying stunts: the Mission: Impossible movies' true gimmick is its insistence on hiring a different director for each outing, building a franchise that feels fresh and flavourful with every new installment. Fallout, however, is unique in that it marks the return of Rogue Nation director Chris McQuarrie, the first man to have a second go on Ethan Hunt. The results speak for themselves: what the series' first true sequel trades off in originality, it more than makes up for in dramatic tension and sky high stakes. Rooted deep within the franchise and connecting back to every other M:I movie, Fallout still feels uncomplicated and unbothered by baggage collected over 22 years. It's the most effective execution of the Mission: Impossible formula so far - a heady mix of humour, action and adventure, distilled to its purest form.

  • Let's take a deep dive into the first Aquaman poster aka Finding Greebo

    Movie Feature | Ali Gray | 17th July 2018

    I'm being forced to embrace the disjointed madness emanating from DC Headquarters right now, because while Marvel have cracked the formula and landed on a consistent tone for their cinematic universe, DC have got nothing to lose. They're playing discordant, cinematic jazz. We're fully in 'no bad ideas' territory with this insane new Aquaman poster: it's the last day of school term and the kids are running the classroom now. They're all over the fucking shop, is essentially what I'm getting at.

  • Tully

    Movie Review | Ed Williamson | 11th May 2018

    There are no ugly people in Hollywood, and as such the idea of ugging-up a bit for a role has become a "brave" one. It puts you in the awards conversation, as though peeling off some make-up or yellowing your teeth a bit reveals depth. This involves an acknowledgement that the profound is an exception, and I suppose that the industry is therefore preoccupied by surface sheen. For actresses this proposition also suggests that to be beautiful is to be shallow, which is a bit rich, since if they aren't beautiful they aren't allowed in the door. I think Charlize Theron largely transcends this, but she remains most critically celebrated when she's made to look her least pretty.

  • All 154 characters from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, ranked

    Movie Feature | Ali Gray | 25th April 2018

    Avengers: Infinity War signals the end of the first 10 years of Marvel movies and over the past decade we've gotten know the countless characters that have resided within the Marvel Cinematic Universe more intimately than our own weekend lovers. How better to pay our respects to the extended Marvel family than by systematically ranking each notable character from the MCU, pitting them all against one another in an arbitrary internet Royal Rumble? Fight! Fight! Fight!

  • Avengers: Infinity War

    Movie Review | Matt Looker | 25th April 2018

    In every way that matters – and it matters in every way – Avengers: Infinity War is basically the biggest movie ever. Ten years in the making, producing some of the highest grossing films on record and some of the most recognisable characters and franchises in the world, it’s astonishing that this climactic crossover event combining all of them in one big-screen adventure is even possible. What’s more astonishing is that it somehow meets every single impossible expectation you have for it.

  • Black Panther

    Movie Review | Ali Gray | 9th February 2018

    One thing the Marvel Cinematic Universe does not need more of is white privilege. Tony Stark with his billion dollar problems. Captain America with his government sanctioned patriotism. Thor, the blonde-haired blue-eyed Norse God with claims to the throne. Peter Quill, the self-appointment Star-Lord, the so-called guardian of the galaxy. We're good for white dudes. Arriving far too late to the party is King T'Challa, a storied hero from Africa with a rich heritage who is finally breaking the unremitting streak of white heroes on the Marvel payroll. Without wanting to disservice the people of colour who have served the MCU well to date - Anthony Mackie, Zoe Saldana and let's not forget Samuel L motherfucking Jackson - Black Panther is the character that the Marvel universe, the movie industry and the entire world needs right now. It's hard to imagine a more righteous movie arriving at a more necessary time.