Reviews in a nutshell
There is an instant vitality and endearing quality to Swedish writer-director Lukas Moodysson’s new coming-of-age drama Vi är bäst! (We Are The Best!) that gradually warms from within. It’s not just the experimental buzz of youth and the promise of reliving your memories through the voice of punk music, but being placed in a privileged …
The Polsky Brothers, Alan and Gabe’s directorial debut, The Motel Life, is a gradual and quietly moving, low-key affair. It’s an adaptation of Richmond Fontaine frontman Willy Vlautin’s 2007 novel of the same name, pivoting on the central character-driven performances from Emile Hirsch and Stephen Dorff – the latter of which, especially, re-emphasises the actor’s …
Writer-director Jill Soloway does for Kathryn Hahn (Revolutionary Road) what Paul Feig did for Kristen Wiig in Bridesmaids, and given a very naturally funny lady a leading role – albeit, Wiig did co-write herself a part in the 2011 film. Hahn is a total triumph as bored, affluent Jewish housewife Rachel who has access to …
Exciting Iranian director Asghar Farhadi of Oscar-winning A Separation (2011) returns with French drama The Past (Le passé) that again touches on the remnants of divorce and its effects on the family. Far from being just an intense and deeply emotional experience – as most French relationship dramas tend to be, this one weaves in …
Referring to youth offenders sent to adult prisons because of their violent behaviour, Starred Up sounds like another gritty prison drama, as depressingly abundant in British cinema as the gritty gang-related flicks set on sink estates in the capital. In fact, Young Adam director David Mackenzie and debut screenwriter Jonathan Asser’s pressure cooker of incarcerated …
Terry Gilliam returns to his Brazil ideas in his latest film, The Zero Theorem, such as Big Brother watching/controlling, quirky romance and even quirkier surroundings that scream of escapism from the throng of daily life’s burden. All set in a future of some description – though hopefully, not one we have to look forward to, …
Director Wes Anderson’s mind is a fascinating one, managing to engage us with imaginative characters and locations that have a warm but barmy feel to them. The Grand Budapest Hotel is no exception, as theatrical and slightly obsessive as his others, but charmingly told. Ralph Fiennes has morphed into many characters over the years, and …
The mighty stag still holds a lot of comedy value, so much so Jon Turteltaub tried to do a geriatric version of The Hangover recently with Last Vegas that spawned a lukewarm response, even with a stellar cast onboard. Debut writer-director John Butler has tried to cash in on this fertile ground with his Irish …
Never mind the original 1981 film starring Brooke Shields by the open fire, Endless Love (2014) rebooted peddles out the age-old issue of good girls liking bad boys. It’s forbidden love for teens, like Mills & Boon sanitised. It also has two highly attractive Brit stars at its helm in Carrie’s Gabriella Wilde and Beastly’s …
