Reviews in a nutshell
Could this be twice-nominated Bradley Cooper’s time at the Oscars? It’s highly unlikely given the competing talent, but what you can admire is the actor’s full immersion in the part of American Sniper Chris Kyle – and bulking up for it. This is perhaps the first method acting we’ve seen from Cooper, and it’s very …
This may well have Oscar baiting stamped all over it, but no one can deny the life story of Louis Zamperini is not made for the big screen. If it weren’t a true story, the screenwriters would be accused of ‘over egging the war hero’ pudding. It’s also clear why director Angelina Jolie fought to …
Beasts of the Southern Wild child star Quvenzhané Wallis drags the character of Annie kicking and screaming into the 21st Century in the 2014 remake. For starters, she often reminds us she’s “not an orphan” but a “foster kid” – a term more commonly recognised these days with unconventional families the norm. She’s still singing …
It’s the end of an era – and an adventure for a Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins (played by Martin Freeman – who has long dumped his The Office persona) that started in 2012. What better way to conclude it than an almighty battle to define all battles. This episode is much like writer-director Peter Jackson’s The Lord …
Continue reading “The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies (3D) ****”
“Brave the deep. Find the gold. Trust no one” is one of a couple of taglines that tells you all you need to know. It’s a submarine heist with the added pressure (literally) of several tonnes of water to make retrieving heavy gold bars all the more difficult. And with a suspension of reality – …
Never mind mansion tax, what if you had a lodger who could live in your inheritance until their death by law – and you had to pay them rent? This quaint piece of French jurisdiction known as a ‘viager’ is the premise for respected playwright Israel Horowitz’s screen adaptation of his successful play, My Old …
The third installment of The Hunger Games saga has arrived, and without having any prior knowledge of the Suzanne Collins books, it’s the darkest and most relevant film (and story) so far that can be enjoyed without any insight (or interest) in the killing games. It’s also boosted again by the striking and formidable figure …
Continue reading “The Hunger Games – Mockingjay – Part I ****”
The life of the brilliant-minded Alan Turing is not known by most. That will certainly change after this film, The Imitation Game, with the genius British logician and cryptologist forever associated with cracking the Nazis’ Enigma Code and helping the Allies win World War II. But inventor of the modern-day computer – as is suggested here, …
Paul Haggis (of Crash fame) has gone for the ‘romance’ route this time in exploring relationship highs and lows. That’s not to say he’s gone all rom-com slushy, rather his interwoven tale, Third Person, starts out to be three separate troubled affairs that eventually connect by the end credits. The story plays out in New …
