Reviews in a nutshell
We’ve seen conflict in Afghanistan played out on the big screen before. What makes Peter Berg’s gripping drama, Lone Survivor, a little different is the uncompromising assault on the senses that begins as soon as the four-man team of US Navy SEALs lands on a mountainside to monitor a Taliban stronghold. This film holds one …
Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney, winner of the LFF 2012 Best Documentary prize for Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God returns this year with an equally absorbing film that literally puts professional cyclist Lance Armstrong on the spot. Oprah has been there, trying to get the truth. Now it’s Gibney’s turn, especially …
Although the latest Coen Brothers’ film, Inside Llewyn Davis, follows a tired-out character in the misfortunate Llewyn the musician, superbly played by actor-singer Oscar Isaac, the sumptuous-looking film is as fresh and Coen cool as any before. Mostly notably, it becomes one of the filmmakers’ most memorable with its musical renditions that pause the protagonist’s …
It is with very heavy heart to inform those whose interest has been pricked by the union of two screen ‘boxing’ legends, Robert De Niro (Raging Bull) and Sylvester Stallone (Rocky) that Grudge Match is a lacklustre attempt at capitalising on the ringside magic that made them famous. The fact is the actual fight takes …
Jason Bourne has created such a high benchmark for any non-007 action film that all seem a poor imitation in comparison. Even more unfortunate is Jack Ryan is a much admired character from the Tom Clancy school of espionage brilliance and very different from Bourne, but the action part of any film adaptation will always …
The ‘found footage, handycam horror’ effect is fast becoming the norm in the horror flick stakes because it appears to suggest an ‘authenticity’ to forthcoming filmed events, like CCTV footage. Paranormal Activity paved the way for a new kind of cinematic style. Directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett’s Devil’s Due borrows from this, with nods …
If the Devil were running a company, Stratton Oakmont, the dubious stocks-and-shares brokerage house founded by infamous (former) white-collar criminal Jordan Belfort would be it. In fact, Belfort was possibly Satan incarnated. The 80s/90s antics of the real-life character – now a respectable businessman who has a cameo at the very end – is pure …
Colin Firth has done some of his finest work recently since The King’s Speech, reaffirming his dominance in British screen drama. Therefore, a film based on the memoirs of British WW2 veteran Eric Lomax, who survived the gruelling hardship of working on Burma’s railway as a POW, and starring Firth as Lomax promises another resounding …
Star Vince Vaughn is up to his usual tricks in Ken Scott’s Delivery Man; that of ‘man child’ forced to grow up with the help of ‘the family’. Admittedly, he does curb some of his usual stream of prattle in this. There is a sense that the comic actor is trying to find the right …
