Category: Films

From the title of this piece, you might already trying to decide whether I’m going to be talking about: – Trailers that give the entire plot of the film away; – Trailers that are seemingly more interested in the awards their actors have previously earned than telling us anything about this new film; – Ads…

Frances Ha is a wonderful little film, but it’s almost completely impossible to explain. The story focuses on Frances and her friends, as we see her life as a struggling dancer in New York while she tries to earn enough to pay the rent, and her relationships with those friends. Chief among those friends is…

I’ve not really written a great deal here about the films I’ve seen recently, and as much as anything, I think that’s because I’ve not been to too many films lately. At least in the cinema. But there are one or two that I’ve caught up with. I should start with Star Trek Into Darkness…

Here’s a curious thing. The new Ben Wheatley film, A Field in England, is getting a truly multi-media launch on 5th July, by getting a simultaneous release in cinemas, on DVD, on video-on-demand and on the free-to-air Film4 channel! Having enjoyed both Kill List and Sightseers immensely, I’m really looking forward to Wheatley’s paranoid fantasy…

A new Danny Boyle film is always something to be welcomed, and given that his last two ventures were the Olympics opening ceremony, and Frankenstein at the National Theatre, it’s been a while (although I did see Frankenstein at the cinema). Trance is a chance for Boyle to really let go of the reigns. In…

I’m beginning to wonder if my new way of watching films is going to be via Kickstarter. I’ve now backed two films in the last two weeks. The first was the wildly successful Veronica Mars movie. That was always going to achieve its $2m goal, and indeed it hit its target within 24 hours. At…

As this film came closer to being released I was having mixed opinions about it. There were those stories about how it had overemphasised the success of using torture to tell the CIA what they needed. Then there were stories that it somehow defended torture (a misreading surely). On the other hand, I’d heard that…

[A continuation of my exploration of Hollywood screwball comedies of the thirties and early forties in the BFI’s season. See part one here.] And so the BFI’s Screwball season continues, and I’ve seen a few more films. A couple of weeks ago there was an illustrated introduction to the season from Peter Swaab. He’s the…

If there’s a genre films I really love, it’s screwball comedies. His Girl Friday has always been one of my favourite films, and alongside Bringing Up Baby, epitomises what I love in the genre. The rat-a-tat dialogue, strong female characters, the prevalent design – lots of art deco, and in general the sheer delight. These…

Beasts of the Southern Wild is a truly remarkable piece of cinema. We get a mix of magical realism alongside an almost conceivable life in the southern tip of Louisiana – “the Bathtub.” The young Hushpuppy (a truly amazing performance from a five or six year old Quvenzhané Wallis) lives with her dad (Dwight Henry)…

So four years later, we finally get a new Bond film. And what a cracker to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the series. I think it’s worth saying that I think you’re best off if you don’t know the plot in advance. So I’d recommend not reading a great deal further until you’ve seen it…

I went to see the new documentary, The Imposter at the weekend. All I’ll say here is that it’s very good, and tells the story of a child who goes missing in Texas in the 90s, but who then seemingly shows up in Spain a few years later. It’s not worth me saying much more…