Nicolas Winding Refn

News, Reviews & Features

Review: Too Old To Die Young wallows in neon-soaked misery

TV Review | Luke Whiston | 22nd October 2019

"It's been 84 years..."
I gaze out upon the tundra, the sun slipping over the horizon as a bitter wind blasts ice shards across the landscape. I'm reminded of the seasons which have preceded me in the days, weeks and months now consigned to the past, and of the brave men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice on this arduous journey, of which I am the sole remaining survivor. We lost our captain early, driven mad by the unerring stillness. Five crew perished recovering a password. The first mate ventured outside searching for spare HDMI cables some days ago, never to return. But I write this final entry with a note of triumph in my heart - final, because once my frost-bitten hands have rested my pen I too shall be taking a stroll into the darkness, but not before making one last entry: I did it. I finished watching Nicolas Winding Refn's Amazon Prime Original series Too Old to Die Young.

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The Neon Demon

Movie Review | Matt Looker | 11th July 2016

Nicholas Winding Refn is proving to be one of the most divisive filmmakers working today. Between his last feature, Only God Forgives, and now this, it seems that Refn is intent on using surreal, striking imagery to replace conventional narratives. Is this iconic iconoclasm of the medium deliberate contempt for modern cinema or playful adoration? And is his output polarising purely because of his obvious, spiteful defiance of the mainstream or because it might actually lack merit? Either way, this kind of issue so often detracts from any real critique of his work. For example, I haven't seen anyone so far talk about the biggest problem with The Neon Demon: the inaccurate depiction of modelling. I've watched America's Next Top Model, and not once in this film did anyone 'smize', nor even 'poochie tooch'.

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Only God Forgives

Movie Review | Neil | 24th July 2013

First things first: let's get all the Drive comparisons out of the way, shall we? 1. Ryan Gosling is in it. 2. Nicolas Winding Refn directs it. Good, that's that done. Now forget about Drive, because Only God Forgives is about as similar to that film as I am to Ryan Gosling. And despite what you may have heard, that is, alas, not at all.

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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.

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