The Avengers (a.k.a. Avengers Assemble), 2012. Written and Directed by Joss Whedon. Starring Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Samuel L. Jackson, Tom Hiddleston, Clark Gregg, Cobie Smulders, Stellan Skarsgård, Gwyneth Paltrow and Paul Bettany. SYNOPSIS: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes assemble to protect the Earth from Loki and his […]

D.J. Haza presents the next entry in his series of films to watch before you die… Gladiator, 2000. Directed by Ridley Scott. Starring Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen, Oliver Reed, Derek Jacobi, Djimon Hounsou and Richard Harris. Gladiator is the epic Roman tale of a great and loyal general who is stabbed in the […]

The Innocents, 1961. Directed by Jack Claton. Starring Deborah Kerr, Pamela Franklin, Martin Stephens and Megs Jenkins. SYNOPSIS: A woman is employed to care for two children in a country mansion, but things aren’t quite as they seem. The ghost story is a peculiar breed of horror – it can be clumsily utilised to provide […]

Twice Round the Daffodils, 1962. Directed by Gerald Thomas. Starring Juliet Mills, Donald Sinden, Donald Houston, Kenneth Williams, Ronald Lewis, Andrew Ray, Joan Sims and Jill Ireland. SYNOPSIS: A group of four male patients arrive at a sanatorium to be treated for tuberculosis. As they adjust to their new home, each one of them starts […]

Anghus Houvouras on why the online film sites got it wrong, again… Last week Peter Jackson screened ten minutes of footage from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey at CinemaCon. This is the kind of story that has ‘online traction’ written all over it. The previous trilogy was a multi-billion dollar endeavor that created a new […]

Nobody Walks, 2012. Directed by Ry Russo-Young. Written by Ry Russo-Young and Lena Dunham. Starring John Krasinski, Olivia Thirlby and Jane Levy. SYNOPSIS: A Californian family slowly falls apart after taking a young artist into their home. Nobody walks in Los Angeles. They take cars everywhere. In this film, the phrase also applies to a […]

Commenting on the critics with Simon Columb… Ben Child writes in The Guardian about the “challenge” ahead for The Dark Knight Rises: “Christopher Nolan finds himself in an unusual position as we prepare for the arrival of The Dark Knight Rises in cinemas on 20 July. For the first time since the release of the […]

An Oversimplification of Her Beauty, 2012. Written and Directed by Terence Nance. Starring Terence Nance, Namik Minter and Talibah Lateefah Newman. SYNOPSIS: A man is stood up by a mystery woman, prompting an analysis of platonic and romantic love. Before there was An Oversimplification of Her Beauty, there was a shorter film entitled How Would […]

For Ellen, 2012. Written and Directed by So Yong Kim. Starring Paul Dano, Jon Heder and Shaylena Mandigo. SYNOPSIS: A struggling musician attempts to get joint custody of his six year old daughter. The film opens at a crossroads. A literal crossroads. Joby Taylor (Paul Dano), the lead singer of a fictional rock band, looks […]

One of the big surprises coming out of the CinemaCon convention in Las Vegas this past week was the reaction towards 10 minutes of footage from director Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings prequel, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey – or more specifically, the look of the footage, which Jackson has chosen to shoot at […]