Reviews in a nutshell
More penguins, more dancing set-pieces is what Happy Feet writer-director George Miller gives us again, probably because they make for vibrant family entertainment. Short of the penguin musical, the second film that had some huge boots to fill after the Award-winning first is rather a colourful, sing-song whirl of incoherent plot-lines and snatched, throwaway character …
A comedy about bird watching – or ‘birding’, as it’s officially known – is such a random concept that it must surely be one of great mockery of the pastime. But Marley & Me and The Devil Wears Prada director David Frankel’s The Big Year manages to give it a little eccentric charm and grounded purpose, …
John Carpenter may well be the master of horror filmmaking, but that’s not to say that someone else can’t tackle his esteemed previous work. In fact, Dutch filmmaker Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.’s 2011 version of The Thing could be argued as a brave career choice, considering the 1982 film’s cult following. Not to be confused …
At first glance, Moneyball will ignite interest among Brad Pitt fans. On second glance, it will turn some away because of its baseball subject matter. Sports films are an acquired taste and will never fully convert those who are not into the sport in question. Therefore, as one of the latter, Moneyball is a real …
Writer-director Jeff Nichols stays close to his Southern roots again with another intensely powerful look at complex family relationships in Take Shelter, starring his Shotgun Stories lead, Michael Shannon, once more. Admittedly, Take Shelter is one of the most original familiar studies to come to the big screen in a long time, set against an …
As wartime dramas go, one begins to feel very much like another. But what debut feature-film writer-director Amit Gupta has created is an alternative 1940s ‘reality’, based on a fascinating novel by Owen Sheers, about what if the Nazis had succeeded with their invasion plans of Old Blighty. Resistance actually reignites our interest in the …
No stranger to staging well-paced crime thrillers, like The Bank Job, The Recruit and No Way Out, director Roger Donaldson is about as qualified as any to bring this gritty story of crime and revenge to the screen – all set in one of the most exciting cities in the US, New Orleans. But although …
Remember last year’s The Way Back, starring Colin Farrell, Jim Sturgess, Ed Harris and rising Hanna star Saoirse Ronan, where Siberian gulag escapees seem to walk half the planet to reach a safe destination, and defy all of nature’s odds? Well, writer-director Stéphane Rybojad’s new French action drama Special Forces feels much the same, only …
Reviewing an animated family Christmas film is rather like looking at a small child’s enthusiastic doodle – you try really hard to say something positive and glowing about it but feel wicked if negative thoughts pop into your head. It’s probably the toughest thing to do in this job, and sadly, does depend on your …
