With a hugely dedicated fan base for the decades-old creative construction toys and a slew of recent successes in videogames, retail outlets – even its own theme park(s) – the future looks increasingly bright for LEGO, the Danish toy manufacturer, back from the brink of bankruptcy in the early 2000s and enjoying a renaissance…
Room 237 presents a satisfyingly rousing look at the themes and hidden meanings of seminal horror flick The Shining, weaving film theory with a blood-pumpingly ethereal electronic score (not dissimilar to Drive and just as cool) and idiosyncratically retro visuals. Seemingly underlined by an obsessive want to look deeper into the spiritual sanctums of the late…
When audiences bemoan Hollywood for its failure to produce original and interesting characters, its over-reliance on CGI special effects, its tendency to disappoint on even the most basic levels of empathy and pathos, its pathological desire to mass-produce loud stupidity; well, this is the film they’re talking about. I, Frankenstein (2014) action/fantasy/sci-fi; USA/Australia; dir.…
A dour and dispiriting deconstruction of American matriarchy, August: Osage County charts a few days in the lives of a dilapidated and dysfunctional family, struggling to reconcile the past and the present in the Oklahoma heat and reeling from recent tragedy. August: Osage County (2013) Drama; USA; dir: John Wells; writer: Tracy Letts (screenplay) (play)…
Martin Scorsese’s latest tower of power The Wolf of Wall Street recently opened in cinemas in the UK and is still going strong at the box office; based on Jordan Belfort’s memoirs of the same name, TWoWS chronicles the rise and fall of infamous Wall Street investment-banking firm Stratton Oakmont and its leader, head wanker-banker*…
Stephen Frears’ drama Philomena inspires a career-best performance from Judi Dench, and shows that humour and humility can be found in the darkest places of all… Philomena (2013) drama; United Kingdom; director: Stephen Frears, writers: Steve Coogan (Screenplay), Jeff Pope (Screenplay) Martin Sixsmith (Book “The Lost Child Of Philomena Lee”) Stephen Frears latest Philomena reveals the shocking true story of a mother (Philomena – Judi…
A veritable pulp fiction that on first glance appears to owe its dialogue and pithy observations to – yes – Quentin Tarantino movies, 2 Guns also steals lovingly from Robert Rodriguez, Jerry Bruckheimer, Michael Bay and pays homage to a ton of others in the action genre. With 109 minutes of loud gunshots and a keen…
“May we meet again, happy thieves in Paradise, if it pleases God the Father of us both. Amen. Insha’Allah.” – Christian One of many memorable lines from Of Gods and Men, a deeply spiritual film directed and written by Xavier Beauvois. Set in 1996, the film is the true story of the lives of eight French…
Likely to disappoint even those with low expectations, lo-fi indie chiller The Pact is almost bereft of anything resembling terror or tension, despite a few dashes of style from its debuting writer-director Nicholas McCarthy. After the death of her mother, Annie returns to her childhood home, full of unhappy memories and lost secrets. Her sisters’…
From now til the end of movie history, whenever a boxing movie is made, produced, seen, written, heard of, even suggested: naturally it’s impossible to avoid comparison with the culturally ingrained Rocky franchise, with Sylvester Stallone in the lead – the archetypal kid-dun-good working class hero. That said, there have been plenty of others that…
Deryn Paul O'Sullivan 