Reviews in a nutshell
Boy A director John Crowley’s new British thriller starts by meaning business with the shocking but understated power of CCTV in its opening scenes that prompt us that we’re all under surveillance. Indeed, the UK is one of the most ‘watched’ lands, but how much good does it do us? This is one of two …
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 …
Writer-director Nick Murphy’s first feature film, The Awakening, is a bold step into the well-trodden genre of horror. Thankfully, Murphy has mixed supernatural intrigue with historical fact to bolster his story’s significance, adopting an old-fashioned ghost-hunting theme to its investigative concept, without relying on modern-day effects for big scares. Set in 1921 England, there is …
One of the most moving performances sometimes is when a comedic actor plays it straight. Will Ferrell does so in Dan Rush’s Everything Must Go, a thoughtful and realistically crafted and paced piece of touching drama with subtle additions of humour. Ferrell plays Nick Halsey, an executive salesman and alcoholic who loses his job, his …
Ben Affleck is developing into quite a director, first demonstrating his impressive skills with his 2007 feature debut Gone Baby Gone that introduced the international audience to Boston and its working-class charm that cries the same ‘lost community’ song as other films dealing with urban change. Now his second and latest film, The Town, set …
