REVIEW: ‘Us’ (2019)

Jordan Peele might be the most interesting filmmaker working in horror today – or at least the one using horror to do the most interesting things.

Get Out was not only a smash hit, but has arguably been responsible for the critical rehabilitation of the horror genre; looked down on for decades as the province of jump scares and slasher flicks.…

Star Wars: The Force Awakens recaptures much of the old magic, but leaves it to future installments to take the risks.

 

 A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…”

After the prequels more or less managed to strip the gloss off the franchise1, it seems apt that the opening lines of Star Wars: The Force Awakens refer to a sort of redemption.2

This long-awaited, almost mythical follow-up to the Holy Trilogy3 has the added advantage/burden of returning to the three characters we actually care about; namely Luke4, Han, and Leia.

12 Years a Slave is a stunning and necessary reminder of the insidious evils of slavery

 

12 Years a Slave is the tale of Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejifor), a free black man and professional violinist in the mid 19th Century northeastern United States who, in 1841, was kidnapped and sold into slavery.

The third film of Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave feels, from the off, like a more mature approach to “the problem” of slavery than either of its two most immediate predecessors.…