Transcendence gets stuck in the existential mud

As grand themes go, self-awareness is certainly one of the grandest. Descartes’ famous proposition “I think therefore I am” is arguably the foundation of all Western philosophy.

After all, without self, without thought, there can be no perception therefore no knowledge.…

Noah will have you in floods (of something)

 

When you think of marketable movie types, you probably think rom-com or superhero movie.

It’s unlikely your mind would go straight to Biblical epic. Cinematic tales of lions, Christians, and Roman arenas went out with Cecil B. DeMille.

Then again, to those long awaiting a resurgence, Darren Aronofsky is certainly a promising choice of director.…

Calvary is a profane, heartbreaking spiritual journey

 

There are plenty of filmmaking sibling duos out there – the Coen Brothers, the Dardenne brothers, the Wachowskis – but it’s rare for them to work completely independently of each other.

In 2008, playwright Martin McDonagh made his break into film with In Bruges, a dark comedy about two hitmen hiding out in the Medieval Flemish city; three years later, his brother John Michael McDonagh made his film debut in the form of The Guard, about a hedonistic but thoughtful Connemara constable.…

The Men Who Stare At Goats is a hippy-dippy look at an unlikely New Age army training unit

Meet the Jedi Knights.

They can become invisible to the human eye, phase through solid objects, even kill you with a single touch (though it may take several decades to come into effect). And they work for the U.S. Army. This was the remit of the First Earth Battalion and they were real.

Under The Skin gets to the heart of what it means to be human

 

For a film that features Scarlett Johansson as a skin-stealing alien seductress, there’s nothing remotely titillating about Under the Skin.

Based on a book by Scottish immigrant Michel Faber, it’s Jonathan Glazer’s first film since Birth back in 2004.…

Everything is awesome with The Lego Movie

 

Brand movies are notoriously not good.

Generally reliant on a calculated blend of nostalgia and big-budget cheesiness, they are essentially vampires of good will, and however much money they do make, it’s never quite enough.

Who, for instance, authorized a $200 million adaptation of Battleship, a children’s guessing game?…

The Grand Budapest Hotel is a confectionary treat

 

Whether you love him, hate him, or are simply indifferent, you have to admit that Wes Anderson is a unique director.

More so than any other filmmaker at work today, he has a personal style to which he is beholden.…

European wartime romp The Monuments Men is nothing to write home about

 

On the face of it, The Monuments Men should make for a great piece of cinema.

A classic “men on a mission” movie set in the dying days of the Second World War, directed by the talented and starring the never-less-than-charming George Clooney, backed by a whole roster of recognizable actors?…

Dallas Buyers Club is a life-affirming tonic of a film

 

If ever there was a film that just may have conceived to mint Oscars, Dallas Buyers Club might be it.

It concerns the exploits of a homophobic cowboy, Ron Woodroof, who contracts AIDS and pairs up with trans woman, Rayon, to begins selling unapproved drugs to the Dallas gay community.…

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit fails to fully surface

 

Has ever a hero been rebooted as repeatedly and with little aplomb as Jack Ryan? From Sean Connery-starrer Hunt for the Red October back in 1990 through to the present day, Tom Clancy’s best-known protagonist has grossed more than half a billion dollars.…