Suffragette, 2015. Directed by Sarah Gavron. Starring Carey Mulligan, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne-Marie Duff, Brendan Gleeson, Ben Whishaw and Meryl Streep. SYNOPSIS: In 1913 London, a young laundress (Mulligan) is swept into the Women’s Vote movement just as it begins to boil into militant activism. Deliberately not a biopic of Emmeline Pankhurst or indeed of any of […]
Film4 FrightFest 2015 Review – Sun Choke (2015)
Sun Choke, 2015 Written and directed by Ben Cresciman Starring Sarah Hagan, Barbara Crampton, Sara Malakul Lane SYNOPSIS: Janie’s just trying to get well. Sun Choke is a movie that questions the very idea of nature vs. nurture. It’s a brutally honest movie with two incredible central performances, and a gripping narrative that won’t let go until its […]
Leeds International Film Festival 2014 Review – Love is Strange (2014)
Love is Strange, 2014. Directed by Ira Sachs. Starring John Lithgow, Alfred Molina, Marisa Tomei, Darren Burrows and Charlie Tahan. SYNOPSIS: After Ben and George get married, George is fired from his teaching post, forcing them to stay with friends separately while they sell their place and look for cheaper housing — a situation that […]
Leeds International Film Festival 2014 Review – M (1931)
M, 1931. Directed by Fritz Lang. Starring Peter Lorre, Otto Wernicke and Gustaf Gründgens. SYNOPSIS: When the police in a German city are unable to catch a child-murderer, other criminals join in the manhunt. Within Fritz Lang’s first film made in sound, 1931’s M, there’s fascinating evidence of the period’s – and, of course, the […]
Leeds International Film Festival 2014 Review – Songs from the Second Floor (2000)
Songs from the Second Floor, 2000. Written and Directed by Roy Andersson. Starring Lars Nordh, Stefan Larsson, Bengt C.W. Carlsson, Torbjörn Fahlström, Sten Andersson and Peter Roth. SYNOPSIS: One evening, a series of strange events with no apparent logic take their course. A clerk is made redundant; an immigrant is violently attacked; a magician makes […]
Leeds International Film Festival 2014 Review – Catch Me Daddy (2014)
Catch Me Daddy, 2014. Directed by Daniel Wolfe. Starring Sameena Jabeen Ahmed, Conor McCarron, Gary Lewis and Barry Nunney. SYNOPSIS: Laila (Sameena Jabeen Ahmed) has run away from home, living in the Yorkshire moors with her boyfriend Aaron (Conor McCarron), but her brother, alongside his mates and some muscle for hire are in pursuit. NOTE: […]
Leeds International Film Festival 2014 Review – Wild (2014)
Wild, 2014. Directed by Jean-Marc Valle. Starring Reese Witherspoon, Laura Dern, Gaby Hoffman and Kevin Rankin. SYNOPSIS: Cheryl Strayed (Reese Witherspoon) takes on the 1,100 mile Pacific Crest Trail to help focus her life after the death of her mother. There are times that Wild threatens to become the film everyone assumes it is, based […]
Everest to open 72nd Venice Film Festival
The summer movie season is almost over and attention in the film world will soon be turning back to festival season, with the first slice of news from one of the most prestigious events in the film calendar announced today. Universal Pictures Everest, the mountain survival tale directed by Baltasar Kormakur (2 Guns) has been […]
Movie Review – On the Road (2016)
On the Road, 2016. Directed by Michael Winterbottom. Starring Shirley Henderson, Paul Popplewell, James McArdle, Leah Harvey, and Wolf Alice. SYNOPSIS London rock band Wolf Alice tour the UK and two members of their crew find love along the way. Few directors are anywhere near as prolific as Michael Winterbottom. But naturally, as with any […]
Sci-Fi London 2017 Review – Domain (2016)
Domain, 2016 Directed by Nathaniel Atcheson Starring Britt Lower, Ryan Merriman, William Gregory Lee, Kevin Sizemore, Nick Gomez, Sonja Sohn, Cedric Sanders, Beth Grant SYNOPSIS: In the years following a deadly flu epidemic, seven survivors communicate with each other from their individual underground bunkers, scattered throughout the United States. Low-rent sci-fi can usually go one […]
