“These late eclipses in the sun and moon portend no good to us.”
— William Shakespeare, King Lear, Act I, Scene ii
Wind rustles the dry grass; in the distance the shriek of cannonade, the resounding boom of cannonballs in dirt.…
Pacific Rim stands on the edge of being a halfway decent film
We’re roughly half way through the summer season with Man of Steel and World War Z recently past and Elysium and The Wolverine shortly approaching (among others).
As such, a little $190 blockbuster about giant robots vs. giant aliens could well pass under the radar: less superfluous than Disney’s The Lone Ranger but by no means a guaranteed money-maker, it makes sense that fantasy horror legend Guillermo Del Toro would be asked to bring some much-needed credibility to the project.…
Renoir is a sumptuous, sun-drenched picture that harnesses the beauty and power of its subject’s work
With its overwhelming presence in our everyday lives, it’s easy to forget that film – in fact, media in general – is a medium still in its infancy.
It’s been less than 120 years since the first motion picture was displayed before an audience.…
There’s no real trick to Now You See Me
I’ve always been slightly puzzled when people talk about the magic of cinema.
Sure, cinema can amaze and enthrall – Orson Welles called it a ribbon of dreams – but, unlike magic, it needs to be explicable.
However much The Prestige went on about the final act, the denouement, being the most important, it only works if it feels like what’s preceded has built up to it.…
Stories We Tell is a minor miracle of documentary film-making
“Why would anyone care about our family?”
In the case of a family other than filmmaker Sarah Polley’s that might well be a valid concern. Polley’s relatives, however, are such an engaging, lively, immensely likeable bunch that it’s a pleasure spending time in their company.…
The East is a timely thriller well worth heading to the cinema for
Has there ever been a better-timed tagline than the one for The East: “Spy on us, we’ll spy on you.”
With the NSA scandal over warrantless surveillance still playing out in the US, a lot of people are pretty pissed with the government intelligence agency and the corporations that aided them.
… This Is The End takes refuge in audacity, not entirely successfully
The most expensive comedy of all time, Evan Almighty, sequel to Bruce Almighty, also happens to be an enormous flop.
When it comes to making people laugh throwing money at the screen rarely seems to have the desired effect.…
The long-awaited World War Z is, surprisingly, not a shambling mess
It’s the end of the world as we know it. At least for the film industry.
Steven Spielberg and George Lucas recently gave a talk at the USC School of Cinematic Arts where they discussed what they think’s in store for the future of the medium.…
Before Midnight is a flawless deliberation on what happens when romantic love becomes real work
As I commented in my recent review of Stuck In Love, I’m not what you would call a fan of romantic movies.
Regardless of the suffix (romcom, romdram, rom sci-fi), the tropes of filmic love – eyes meeting across a crowded room, the initial dislike, the banter, repartee, the eventual kiss – do nothing for me.…
Summer in February is rainy afternoon of a film
If there’s one thing the British film industry has over our brasher, better-financed American cousins, it’s our monopoly over the formal period drama.
Summer in February is a fictionalized account of the documented love triangle between aspiring artist Florence Carter-Wood (Emily Browning), land agent Captain Gilbert Evans (Dan Stevens) and rural painter AJ Munnings (Dominic Cooper).