Alicia Vikander

News, Reviews & Features

Review: Earthquake Bird: who is he, what is his net worth, who is his wife?

Movie Review | Luke Whiston | 25th November 2019

If making lots of one thing is an objective measure of goodness, then Netflix are really good at these thrillers where the protagonist is having a tough time clinging on to reality. Yes I know sometimes they just buy the distribution rights. This year alone we've had Fractured, The Perfection, In The Tall Grass, and several more; it's as if their recommendation engine is stuck in a feedback loop. The 'unreliable narrator' I believe the gimmick is called, and it's a solid framework for building mysteries - just add a setting, a creepy secret, a few dead women, et voila: cinema. Well, the Netflix equivalent.

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The Danish Girl

Movie Review | Matt Looker | 3rd January 2016

Put down the plastic lightsabers and sweep the Kylo Ren and Captain Phasma toy figures from your desks. Unfortunately, we can no longer simply indulge in the delightfully familiar screech of a new TIE Fighter, or marvel at the warm, welcoming visual hug of grizzled wookiee hair. No, now we have to consider character arcs and nuanced acting and fucking lighting, because there's no escaping it: awards season is all we have for the next couple of months. So letâ€™s try to move on from Star Wars if we can. I know it is still all anyone is talking about and it looks set to be the highest grossing movie of all time, etc, etc but let's try to refrain from thinking about it at all for now and instead talk about Eddie Redmayneâ€™s erâ€¦ new hope for Oscar success.

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What to watch: Your guide to this year's BFI London Film Festival

Movie Feature | Matt Looker | 2nd September 2015

The full programme of the 2015 BFI London Film Festival has finally been released and you may be left wondering "What are all these films I haven't heard of?", or "How come so many of them are foreign? This is the LONDON Film Festival", or indeed "When's the next Hunger Games movie out again?". Well, fear not - we have all the answers right here. Well, all except for the ones to those three specific questions.

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The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

Movie Review | Matt Looker | 12th August 2015

The action hero has come a long way since the 60s. Once calm, unobtainable specimens of perfection have gradually morphed into tough, emotionally closed anti-heroes, and then into testosterone-fuelled musclemen, and now they're flawed and troubled characters in touch with their - ugh - feelings. Superheroes are forever in search of their own life purpose (the clue is in the word 'superhero', guys), lone wolf cops have money worries, even Tom Cruise is now contractually obligated to have his character make at least one mistake in his movies. And James Bond cries now. He actually cries. So call it an adaptation, a rehash, another unoriginal concept in a Hollywoodland bereft of creativity, or whatever - The Man From U.N.C.L.E. is still one of the most refreshing action films you'll see this year.

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Testament Of Youth

Movie Review | Matt Looker | 16th January 2015

Vera Brittain's Testament Of Youth is considered to be one of the most important war memoirs ever published, a tragic real-life tale of love, loss and the atrocities of war. Its depiction of the impact of World War I on the women left behind as their men joined the army, not to mention the middle classes in general, is taught in schools both as a vital historical document and as a valuable piece of feminist literature. So bear with me while I try to criticise this film without sounding like a cynical, sexist Nazi.

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The Fifth Estate

Movie Review | Ed Williamson | 10th October 2013

You are the Fifth Estate, it says on the poster. That's right, you. Not me: I'm busy with other stuff, but I'll cover for you when you're on holiday if you like. What this means is that, in the digital age (*spits*), beyond the realm of the news media, all of us have a voice and so all of us are responsible for holding institutions and elected officials to account. Shit, and all we've been using it for is highlighting the fact that Russell Crowe has a wang on his hat.

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