Reviews in a nutshell
Fresh emerging talent Lena Dunham is cinema’s female answer to Jesse Eisenberg, all self-depreciation, quirky awkwardness, acute observation and razor-sharp wit for the trendy crowd. Tiny Furniture, which she wrote and directed at the age of 23, is almost a semi-autobiographical look at the beginnings of post-graduate life, following on from her 2009 college days …
There is an unquestionable deep respect for our British creative institution Aardman Animations, and eager anticipation for their next project. Don’t be put off by the fact that its geniuses have teamed up with Sony and added 3D – The Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists! is a quintessentially Aardman affair, bursting with fine detail that …
Continue reading “The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists! ***”
Shot in the heartland of London 2012, actor-turned-director Dexter Fletcher’s new gritty Brit drama Wild Bill could be set anywhere, if it wasn’t for the occasional skyline prompt. But unlike the gloomy, award-winning Junkhearts that follows a similar ‘deprived London’ vein – and was released at the same time as Fletcher’s directorial debut at last year’s …
This week’s ‘date movie’, director McG’s This Means War, is wrapped in an action blanket from the start for romcom lovers weary of lovelorn, sugary angst from the start. Thankfully, it doesn’t start in an idyllic Manhattan suburb either. It comes crashing into fun focus, James Bond style, in the oddly intriguing pairing of Tom …
Imagine throwing the party you’ve always dreamed of in a venue primed for purpose – pesky neighbours and law enforcement aside. Imagine all the coolest people attending and dancing to some kick-ass tunes. It’s the stuff of decadent dreams that this out-of-control juggernaut feeds off, tapping into a real deep-rooted deviance from our days of …
Charm and experience go hand in hand, and director John Madden (The Debt) has coaxed this potent combination effortlessly out of a truly stellar British cast of Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Maggie Smith, Tom Wilkinson, Penelope Wilton, Celia Imrie and Ronald Pickup. This film may have an older audience in mind, but its characters’ personal …
Co-writer and star Jason Segel and director James Bobin courageously embraced the arduous task of recapturing the magic of The Muppets for a new generation, safe in the knowledge that the adult ‘kids’ out there who remember the show first time around would only need a few bars of Sam Pottle and Jim Henson’s iconic …
High school reunion flicks are ten a penny, and play to our morose curiosity of what others are up now, and how better/worse others have faired since leaving education. Up in the Air director Jason Reitman has teamed up with Academy Award-winning writer Diablo Cody of his other hit teenage dramedy, Juno, to take this …
Our thirst for family adventure movies is never quenched, and the promise of yet another involving a mystical, far-off land packed with interesting creatures promises big things. Carving a niche in such a market is Canadian filmmaker Brad Peyton, the debut director of Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore that got mixed reviews …
