Is Parker worth a trip to the cinema or just settling down in front of the telly?
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Flight is a film trip well worth the making
Robert Zemeckis’ Flight is the most character-driven film of this year’s Academy Award contenders, which is impressive given the broad and eclectic range of performances on display.
Spielberg’s Lincoln is just as much about slavery and the passing of the 13th Amendment as it is the title character, though Daniel Day Lewis brings much-needed subtlety to the role in a film that might otherwise seem overly celebratory given the issues on display.
A Good Day to Die Hard could mark the death of a once great franchise
Bruce Willis is arguably the only star of the ’80s not to have slipped into self-parody or senescence (his recent appearance in The Expendables 2 notwithstanding).
Unlike his contemporaries Schwarzenegger and Stallone, Willis is not above taking supporting roles in smaller offbeat films like Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom and Rian Johnson’s Looper.…
Hyde Park on Hudson is torn between comedy of manners and Freudian melodrama
The last three years have done some interesting things with the legacy of King George VI.
Colin Firth’s sensitive portrayal of the speech-impaired monarch who led Britain through the Second World War rightfully won the Oscar (though the film that showcased it, The King’s Speech, was something of a “worthy” choice for the Best Picture of 2010).…
Hitchcock has too much makeup and not enough blood
“My name is Alfred Hitchcock…”
Thus begins both Alfred Hitchcock Presents, the anthology TV series hosted by The Master of Suspense, which ran from 1955 to 1965, and Hitchcock, the biopic of his life, directed by Sacha Gervasi (Anvil!…
Lincoln is showcase cinema at its best
One hundred and fifty years since the Emancipation Proclamation was signed into existence, slavery has once again become a hot-button topic in American cinema.
Arguably two of the biggest cinematic releases on show at the moment are Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained and Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln.…
Django Unchained lets Tarantino loose with a bloody tale of race and revenge in antebellum America
Is there a more outwardly exciting director at work today than Quentin Tarantino?
It’s been three years since the release of Inglourious Basterds, Tarantino’s revisionist history cum Spaghetti Western account of Nazi killers and vengeful Jews in occupied France, and a further fifteen since he arguably created a whole new type of cinema with Pulp Fiction.…
Gangster Squad assembles all the old cliches to little effect
Post-war L.A. The glitzy and glamorous City of Angels is under the thrall of brutal mob boss Mickey Cohen, with mob slayings on every corner and half the police force on the make.
Or so Gangster Squad, the third feature of director Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland, 30 Minutes or Less), would have us believe.…
Life of Pi (or, Piscine’s Wager) is a minor miracle of cinema
The first time that Ang Lee’s Life of Pi truly seized my attention, it’s protagonist was skittering across the wind and rain-swept of cargo freighter, shouting to the turbulent heavens like some underage, subaltern Lear.
However, what Piscine Molitor Patel – named for a Parisian swimming pool – sees as God putting on a show is nevertheless deadly: we watch as, on the cargo deck below, we an unknown, faceless sailor is swept overboard by the invading sea.…
The Hobbit: An Unremarkable Journey – A Deconstruction
If you haven’t yet seen the first part of Peter Jackson’s new trilogy based on the esteemed fantasy novel/children’s book by JRR Tolkien and don’t wish to have it tainted by misanthropic grumblings and general pedantry, stop here.
There are some very strong and mixed feelings bubbling up within me as I write this and many of them carry with them spoilers.…