Jane Got A Gun isn’t quite sure what to do with itself
While the social timeliness of the Western may not be what it once was — even in its most revisionist form it seems a bit old hat — the genre that once defined America seems determined to at least die with its boots on.
…In Eye in the Sky we say goodbye to Alan Rickman
Eye in the Sky is the type of film that lends itself to descriptors like “timely” and “prescient”.
It may not be the first drama to tackle the spectre of drone warfare – Ethan Hawke-starrer A Good Kill did so through the lens of a character study – but it is certainly has the weightiest cast.…
Ponderous and imponderable, Knight of Cups is, like its protagonist, easily led
Knight of Cups is a film you could drown in – a vast thematic ocean lapping against the distant shore of some grand, obscure vision. And I don’t have any f**king trunks.
As a director-philosopher (or should that be philosopher-director?),…
Eye in the Sky is a timely look at drone warfare (RIP, Alan Rickman)
Eye in the Sky is the type of film that lends itself to descriptors like “timely” and “prescient”.
It may not be the first drama to tackle the specter of drone warfare – Ethan Hawke-starrer A Good Kill did so through the lens of a character study – but it is certainly has the weightiest cast.…
Sunset Song is a lyrical but transitory ode to Scotland
The first impression you are likely to get Sunset Song, a long-awaited adaptation of the Lewis Grassic Gibson novel, is one of absolute lyricism.
Terrence Davies’ camera drifts circuitously over pale stalks of grain, which darken almost imperceptibly, perhaps as a cloud passes overhead.…
Midnight Special lays its light on us
The fourth film of 37-year-old Arkansan director Jeff Nichols, Midnight Special feels like a narrative made to fit its title.
Named for an old folk standard, it follows Roy (Michael Shannon), and his son, Alton (Jaeden Lieberher), a goggle-wearing preteen gifted with supernatural abilities.
Youth captures some of the mixed magnificence of life
One of the few statements you can make about life as a whole is that it’s much of a muchness— and that it ends.
The counter-intuitively titled Youth sees two older gentlemen, a retired composer and Stravinsky pupil, Frank (Michael Caine), and still-working director (Harvey Keitel), Mick, both coming to terms with this while on holiday at a Swiss spa; a spa inhabited by red-robed Buddhist monks, a Middle Eastern woman in a hijab, a morbidly obese celebrity with a Karl Marx back tattoo and Maradona hair.…
REVIEW: The Witch
The Witch is a theological nightmare that will get under your skin – and, just possibly, that bit deeper.
Is there a more potent symbol in American mythology than that of the witch? Though an export of the old world, the witch is also a symbol of modernity – a frightening sort of progressiveness.…
In 10 Cloverfield Lane, Abrams et al swing by Maple Street
One woman, two men, and an underground bunker.
As its residential title might suggest, 10 Cloverfield Lane is a far more localized affair than its so-called spiritual predecessor, found-footage monster flick Cloverfield.
Both the output of J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot production company, and released under similarly mysterious circumstances, those looking for large-scale destruction here will likely leave disappointed.