Paul Popplewell

News, Reviews & Features
  • Journeyman

    Movie Review | Ali Gray | 28th March 2018

    Paddy Considine delivered a heart-stopping directorial debut with Tyrannosaur in 2011, the kind of grim, unforgettable movie that left dirt under your nails and needles under your skin. His long-awaited follow-up, boxing movie Journeyman, initially feels like it pulls its punches in comparison to its predecessor's savagery, but don't be fooled; the fancy shorts and bright lights of the ring dress up an equally complex story of recovery and redemption.

  • Tyrannosaur

    Movie Review | Ali | 5th October 2011

    One of the major problems people seemed to have with Joe Cornish's Attack The Block was that the protagonists were essentially thugs – armed youths who kicked off the movie by mugging a nurse. It's a tough job to have audiences rally round such a loutish lot and requires one hell of a knack for character to win them over. Well, Tyrannosaur opens with the lead character kicking his own dog to death. Just imagine how hard Peter Mullan and Paddy Considine have to work to make amends for that.