Reviews in a nutshell
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 …
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 …
A film without dialogue is unusual in this day and age. A survival film with an older protagonist is even more so. JC Chandor’s ocean drama, All Is Lost is so simple in its execution that is offers its 77-year-old star Robert Redford a blank canvas to show off his exceptional acting talents at this …
The second film in The Hobbit trilogy was always going to have its work cut out to be a worthy piece of cinema in its own right, with Peter Jackson and team trying to give the fans what they want, while keeping focus and excitement brewing for the finale, There And Back Again next year. …
The ‘most Hollywood of French directors’ Luc Besson has some fun with his new black comedy, The Family, toying with an impressive A-list cast, and placing lead actor Robert De Niro straight back into his Mafioso comfort zone – even spoofing it at the end. The film may seem a tad odd tonally, but it …
It’s the perfect time of year for a scary movie about killer flu wiping out a population. Simply named Flu, this is a typical disaster movie, South Korean style, from The Warrior writer-director Sung-su Kim. However, it contains the drama within the boundaries of the district of Bundang, the suburb of Seoul – supposedly one …
Part 2 brings the next cinematic chapter of The Hunger Games saga to waiting fans – and it does just that and no more, filling in the next part of the story before the inevitable revolution breaks out. The film hangs on the natural appeal of its lead, Jennifer Lawrence as the stoic and fearless …
It’s hard to fathom the big picture of the anticipated Ridley Scott-Cormac McCarthy collaboration, The Counsellor, apart from the obvious that greed is bad news, as is being embroiled in the drugs trade at any level. As a thriller, it’s stuffed with well-intentioned but wordy statements uttered by a crowd-pulling cast looking rather grand, including …
The promise of Sandra Bullock and George Clooney battling to stay alive in Space, within a 2001: A Space Odyssey context is a great pull, as much as Gravity itself. The added buzz is the film is Children of Men director Alfonso Cuarón’s creation. All good so far. However, Space alone is mesmerising to watch …
