Reviews in a nutshell
The dynamic trio of filmmakers, Dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon and Bruno Romy who gave us the delightfully enrapturing Rumba in 2008 have brought their dance/mime format back for another outing, The Fairy (La fée). Theirs is an old-fashioned, visual performance art that translates brilliantly on screen and is simply delightful to watch and totally unique …
If the experiences of sex industry worker, amateur boxer and sports-betting expert Beth Raymer really did happen as they do in her memoir, boy has she lived a full life already by the age of 36. Perhaps reading her book will shed some light too, on Stephen Frears’ screen adaptation of the same name, Lay …
It’s the classic ‘underdog done good’ feel to debut director Regan Hall’s commendable Brit flick Fast Girls, appropriately timed to target and drum up interested in London 2012 among the youth – perhaps a difficult group to reach and market the games to. At the same time as being fairly obvious, plot-wise, from the very …
When you have a dream project, you want to do it the utmost service. The fact that Star Wars guru George Lucas is so passionate about the heroic feats of the Tuskegee Airmen, the first African-American fighter-pilot squadron in WWII, means that he may be guilty of over-cooking the pudding while trying his hardest not to …
“We are all products of our environment”, is debut writer-director Ben Drew’s (Plan B) chillingly frank poster statement. This is never a truer word said and kind of stating the obvious too. But far from falling into the gangster genre trap of having to suffer one’s lot in life, Drew does try to emphasise that …
A wee heart-warming dram of Scots spirit flows beautifully through Ken Loach’s new comedy drama, The Angels’ Share, as the director surprises all by tapping into his wittier side in his latest film. However, fans should not be wary as his particular brand of socialist realism is never far from the surface, brewing in menacing …
This long-anticipated version of Snow White couldn’t be more different from the humourless and bland Mirror Mirror with a smug Julia Roberts. Bathed in Gothic shadows and sinister trickery it stars Twilight’s very own vamp princess Kristen Stewart as the snow-white skinned maiden doing battle with her evil stepmother, Queen Ravenna (Charlize Theron). But much as …
Julie Delpy is proving as accomplished in her writing-directing as she is in her acting, bringing a cross-cultural humour that resonates with international audiences while defiantly drawing laughs from stereotypical situations. Hers is a rudimentary form of wit, the un-PC kind that still revels in pointing out our apparent differences that result in miscommunication and …
Not to be confused with the 1997 teenie film of the same name, this is Mel Gibson’s new drama, How I Spent My Summer Vacation that for those in the know seems part like a film version of Rusty Young’s brilliantly gripping Marching Powder. It seems that Gibson – who needs a career/personality boost and …
