Reviews in a nutshell
Imagine popping a pill that triggers total memory recall and information intake to allow you to achieve whatever you want in life. Sounds like superhuman power, the ultimate aphrodisiac, perhaps? But with such power come responsibility and an ugly side. This is the idea behind The Illusionist’s Neil Burger’s new psychological thriller, Limitless, starring The …
Focusing on the standard prediction from many a fortune-teller, Woody Allen offers his latest London-set relationship riddle, You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger, attracting the usual international talent that includes Naomi Watts, Josh Brolin, Freida Pinto, Anthony Hopkins, Antonio Banderas, Lucy Punch and Gemma Jones. Though not of the high calibre of Allen’s heyday, …
What happens when you give your horny hubby the week off marriage? He turns into a desirable sex god to the younger female, of course. This is the wild premise explored in the Farrelly Brothers’ latest ‘slap-and-tickle’, but equally sentimental comedy, Hall Pass, and it sounds ripe for the comedy taking. Depending on your version …
Matt Damon has certainly earned our respect as an action hero in the series of Bourne films, combining intelligence and athleticism into one complex character. And his performance in The Adjustment Bureau as US Senator-to-be David Norris is no exception. The film ought to be the perfect vehicle for allowing the acclaimed actor to play …
Now and then, there are films that need to show raw violence, in order to recreate the reality of a situation, contrary to the sensitivity of some. Writer/director Jonathan English may have never experienced 13th Century Britain, but it’s safe to suggest that the blade resolved most disputes – be that of the sword or axe …
Regardless of how it’s sold, opera is an acquired taste, and to see any such production suggests an initial glimmer of interest from the start. This is both the fascinating experiment of Julian Napier’s ‘RealD’ (3D)-shot film of the Royal Opera House’s production of Carmen and its Achilles’ Heel. It poses a vicious cycle to …
The latest art-house drama and 2010 London Film Festival entry from Joanna Hogg remains loyal to her fascinating and confident film-making style of lengthy character improvisation. Archipelago is certainly not to everyone’s taste, almost Cinéma vérité in nature, but without depicting real-life events. It’s also a very slow burner that gives the opportunity to ‘people …
It’s absolutely true that you need to be of the Twilight teen generation to engage with Gough and co’s screen adaptation of ‘Pittacus Lore’s youth sci-fi novel of the same name. It’s also true that you need to appreciate the ‘crash-bang-wallop’ nature of producer Michael Bay’s films – as in carnage of the metallic kind, …
East Is East (1999) was a breath of British comedy fresh air, a playful and broad-minded but poignantly comical look at the issues of integrating Pakistani culture in 1970s’ Britain, as portrayed through the lives of one Anglo-Pakistani family based in Salford, Greater Manchester. It had tears, laughter and frustrations, triggered through a series of …
