CINEMATIC GRAB-BAG: Beauty And The Beast (2017) & Get Out

Beauty And The Beast (2017)

Obligatory “tale as old as time” reference.

Disney’s original Beauty And The Beast holds a special place in my heart: it was, according to my parents, the first film I ever saw in the cinema; aged just eighteen months.

London Film Festival 2016: 10 films to get excited about

Well, it’s that time of the year again.

It’s a well-known but little commented upon phenomenon that each year Christmas comes to London roughly three months early – at least for capital-based cinema buffs – as, each October, the BFI hosts the London Film Festival.…

The Theory of Everything forgets about the numbers so ends up playing by them

 

James Marsh’s new film, a biopic of legendary astrophysicist Stephen Hawking and his first wife Jane Wilde, is firstly a very traditionally British film; which is to say, a very reserved one.

In the face of tragedy – the gradual debilitation of a vibrant person – there’s nary a tear shed.…

Thor: The Dark World makes for a fun, forgettable outing in the MCU

 

Marvel Studios is the cinematic juggernaut of our time, perhaps all time.

Spanning eight films over five years, it has so far grossed in excess of $5 billion. Bi-annual releases were common in Phase 1 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe – films ranging from 2008’s Iron Man to The Avengers last year – and, as of 2013, seems likely to become standard practice.…

Joss Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing is Shakespeare everyone can get excited about

 

Say what you want about old Bill Shakespeare, but he was certainly brave with his titles.

No contemporary writer would give their play a title that so openly embraced it being a farce, a comedic situation in which a great deal is made of very little.…

PODCAST: Mission: Impossible – Fallout & Skyscraper [Electric Shadows]

Ep 48 of The Electric Shadows Podcast sees Robs Daniel & Wallis pulling a late nighter to talk about Mission: Impossible – Fallout.

Our intrepid casters in pod had just seen the film and were both suitably impressed by Tom Cruise’s latest attempt to risk life and limb to provide maximum entertainment to his audience.…

REVIEW: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

“How’s things in the coloured-people-torturing business?”

It’s been five years since Martin McDonagh’s second film, the deeply violent, profoundly meta—, occasionally strangely touching Seven Psychopaths, swept through cinemas. Since then his older brother, John Michael McDonagh, has overtaken him in the cinematic stakes with his second and third film.…

RETROSPECTIVE: New Battles without Honour or Humanity

Few things can be relied on to sell a movie like sex and blood.

Packaging is, however, important; especially in terms of genre. As audiences slowly grow disenchanted with old reliables – as Americans did with Westerns and musicals back in the mid-‘60s – it’s important for studios to get one step ahead.…

REVIEW: The Big Sick – a relationship comedy where one party is out for the count

It’s been said that comedy is a natural response to tragedy; indeed, humour is proven to speed recovery.[none]Patch Adams can still fuck off, though.[/note]

Even so, taking perhaps the worst period of your life and turning it into a romcom, that most disposable of genres, is certainly a bold move.…