Pitch Perfect 3 ***
Film 3 does not add anything new – apart from the odd action scene, it just fills us in on the next saga in the girls’ lives. Not a bad thing for any fan, really.
Category: Music
LFF 2016: La La Land *****
It’s a film you will remember for how it made you feel, rather than for any meaningful storyline. La La Land offers a kind of therapy in a cold, unsure world, a guaranteed spiritual boost.
If I Stay ***
By describing If I Stay as ‘bland’ (as some critics have) falls into the same category as lazily dismissing the Twilight saga films – they serve a purpose for the hormonal young. Sure, watching loved-up teens looking and acting awkward can be a little on the dreary, lagging side for us older and ‘wiser’ (ahem) …
Begin Again ****
Once writer-director John Carney’s latest soul-searching drama set in New York initially sounds clichéd and egocentric, a sort of smug music set pandering to a trendy elite of snobbish music aficionados. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth, and the soundtrack grows on you as the characters’ and their search for acceptance do. This …
Goddess **
“Odd” does not begin to describe this film from Babe: Pig in the City writer Mark Lamprell. It’s not he story, per se, which seems remotely tangible and will initially strike a chord with many a former-career-woman-cum-stay-at-home-mum. But just who it’s targeting exactly remains a mystery, as it seems to suggest us women can’t expect …
LFF 2013: Saving Mr Banks *****
Mary Poppins is a seasonal classic, and The Blindside director John Lee Hancock’s ode to her creator, Saving Mr Banks, the closing film of BFI LFF 2013, is likely to evoke the same euphoric highs. It hits all the right notes in an utterly charming, funny and well-meaning manner; part in thanks to the great …
The Great Gatsby ***
You can imagine that a literary adaptation set in the self-indulgent Roaring Twenties about a fateful love story that’s given the Baz Luhrmann touch would be as extravagant as ever. Think Moulin Rouge. Indeed the flamboyant director does not hold back with his version of The Great Gatsby and even tries to shoehorn in a …
Joyful Noise **
The promise of a musical number with Dolly Parton and Queen Latifah in it may cause some to stuff cheese in their ears and run for the proverbial hills for cover. Others may welcome the idea as a chance for some vocal chemistry and sparkle on screen. Add in the gospel-singing aspect, and there should …
Rock of Ages ****
Sometimes being entertained happens in the most unexpected way. On first thought, a musical in itself is enough to make the toes curl, but one sold on dodgy rock anthems of yesteryear, overly camp costumes and cringe mullets will divide opinion further. However, go into Rock of Ages without any high expectations or an ounce …