Reviews in a nutshell
‘Unpleasant’ is the word that comes to mind to describe The Seasoning House – and not necessarily in a complimentary fashion either for such a thriller. This description is not only for the obvious and upsetting subject matter of sex slavery during wartime but also how debut director Paul Hyett uses this a little too …
Dwayne Johnson usually plays larger-than-life, powerhouse characters, full of wise retorts, rippling muscle and fixed stares. In Snitch, he attempts to tone down this full-frontal ‘The Rock’ assault a notch or three, going for serious drama in a fact-based story about drugs, their consequences and the somewhat harsh US laws. Although veering into the absurd …
Brad Pitt tries his hand at some zombie dodging in Quantum of Solace director Marc Foster’s new latter-day nightmare, World War Z. Just the title alone strikes fear into our hearts of global wipe-out, least an epidemic that could kill off mankind through some failing of our own making. It’s this that initially sets the …
Nothing quite stirs the emotions than a love triangle, and a period love triangle at that, set at the turn of the 19th Century where reserved nature and stuffy social standing all but marred many burning fledgling romances. The frustrations felt fuel the desire to see love served correctly and make for engaging cinematic material. …
Prepare for a darker, more brooding Superman film than before, hardly surprising given The Dark Knight Rises creator Christopher Nolan’s hand in this, co-writing with his Batman collaborator David Goyer. If the mood does not absorb you into the trials and tribulations of being a superhuman on Earth, then director Watchmen Zack Snyder’s action-packed scenes …
Michael Shannon first came to our attention fully in psychological hurricane drama Take Shelter back in 2011. Since then his natural talent for subtly portraying emotionally scarred characters dealing with inner personal turmoil has captivated and fascinated. Ariel Vromen’s The Iceman in which the actor plays the lead of the same name is the cream …
Think ‘Twilight on the English Rivera’ but all the more seedier and desolate, Neil Jordan style. The director who admits to being ‘fascinated by monsters and monstrous people’ shows a sensitive side to the plight of the creatures of the night in his latest film Byzantium, taking note of the recent appeal of vampire films …
Imagine a night where any crime is legal, including murder. Who would you ‘purge’ given half a chance? Writer-director James DeMonaco’s The Purge is more frightening in concept than conception, though it’s still a solid and watchable affair. It doesn’t offer any new chills that other under siege-style horrors haven’t already. It’s also not as …
