Alien: Covenant ***
Covenant does inject new blood and purpose into the Alien series with the focus on character rather than effect. It’s still just a nail biting.
Tag: Michael Fassbender
X-Men: Days of Future Past ****
If you can’t get enough of Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, you won’t be disappointed with the latest instalment from X-Men director Bryan Singer who places the clawed mutant in cerebral confinement for the sake of peace with humanity. It’s an intriguing and wildly energetic attempt at marrying two X-Men ‘generations’ while going full-tilt down the …
LFF 2013: 12 Years A Slave ****
British artist turned director Steve McQueen (Shame) has crafted another beautiful-looking and moving film in 12 Years A Slave that has equally emotive subject matter. Naturally, a story dealing with slavery provokes revulsion, and here, is where reviewing such a film needs a separation of personal sentiments from actual empowering film-making. Indeed, the film feels …
The Counsellor ***
It’s hard to fathom the big picture of the anticipated Ridley Scott-Cormac McCarthy collaboration, The Counsellor, apart from the obvious that greed is bad news, as is being embroiled in the drugs trade at any level. As a thriller, it’s stuffed with well-intentioned but wordy statements uttered by a crowd-pulling cast looking rather grand, including …
Prometheus (3D) ***
Director Ridley Scott was quoted as saying that Prometheus was a film that would ‘stand on its own’, apart from the Alien series. It’s fair to say that the sweeping, opening 3D vistas and alien mutation on the IMAX screen are truly spectacular to watch, so there is a lot of genuine expectation from the …
LFF 2011: A Dangerous Method ***
A Dangerous Method feels like a conservative filmmaking departure from David Cronenberg’s usual darkly unsettling, if shocking affair, replacing reality-morphing, mind-bending scenarios with character-driven performances in a period setting. This sobering, if more mature film from the King of Venereal Horror almost takes a step back from the introspective insanity of his past work, and …
Haywire ****
The Girl With A Dragon Tattoo has done wonders for fighting fit females on screen recently, and any nimble, fearless female protagonist giving male counterparts as good as they get still fascinates audiences. Real-life Muay Thai Record holder Gina Carano who stars in new action thriller Haywire, directed by Ocean’s director Steven Soderbergh, appears to …
LFF 2011: Shame ****
Steve McQueen said the reason his latest drama isn’t based in the UK is trying to get sex addicts over here to open up proved nigh impossible during the research into the film. Sex addiction is still a dirty, sleazy subject, with connotations of men in rain macs lurking precariously in dark corners waiting for …
X-Men: First Class ****
This year we’re in danger of being swamped by comic-book adaptations, and if you’re not a dedicated Marvel fanboy/girl, they all seem to offer much the same thing. In fact, for the latter group, X-Men is defined by Wolverine and Storm, of which only one makes a fleeting appearance in this, X-Men: First Class. So …