It’s Only the End of the World, 2016. Directed by Xavier Dolan. Starring Gaspard Ulliel, Nathalie Baye, Vincent Cassel, Marion Cotillard and Lea Seydoux. SYNOPSIS: After 12 years away from his family, a terminally ill writer returns home to break the news. But, as he struggles to re-connect with them, old wounds and frustrations rise […]
Movie Review – Patriots Day (2016)
Patriots Day, 2016. Directed by Peter Berg. Starring Mark Wahlberg, Kevin Bacon, John Goodman, J.K. Simmons, Michelle Monaghan, Christopher O’Shea, Rachel Brosnahan, Alex Wolff, Themo Melikidze, Jimmy O. Yang, Jake Picking, and Melissa Benoist. SYNOPSIS: April 15th, 2013. As the Boston Marathon is in full swing, two brothers set off homemade bombs in an act […]
Why We Need Contrarians
Henry Bevan on why we need contrarians… Sometimes falling in love with a movie is like falling in love with a partner who isn’t right for you. At first, your love blinds you to the flaws. Then, when you break up, you say the meanest things. When things cool down you’ll find the truth: was […]
Movie Review – Sweet Dreams (2016)
Sweet Dreams, 2016. Directed by Marco Bellochio Starring Valerio Mastandrea, Berenice Bejo, Nicolo Cabras, Dario Del Paro, Guido Caprino and Barbara Ronchi. SYNOPSIS: Massimo’s idyllic childhood is shattered by the sudden death of his mother. Refusing to accept what’s happened, he carries his grief throughout his adolescence and into adulthood, when he becomes a journalist. […]
Movie Review – Loving (2016)
Loving, 2016. Directed by Jeff Nichols. Starring Joel Edgerton, Ruth Negga, Michael Shannon, Marton Csokas, Nick Kroll, Will Dalton and Sharon Blackwood. SYNOPSIS: In 1958, Richard and Mildred Loving were married in Washington DC. Interracial marriage in their home state of Virginia was illegal and, on their return home, they were arrested, imprisoned but also spared […]
Movie Review – iBoy (2017)
iBoy, 2017. Directed by Adam Randall. Starring Bill Millner, Maisie Williams, Miranda Richardson and Rory Kinnear. SYNOPSIS: When geeky Tom (Bill Milner) discovers his friend Lucy (Maisie Williams) being viciously attacked, the thugs turn their attention to him and he’s badly beaten up. As he recovers, he learns that fragments from his mobile phone are […]
Movie Review – Denial (2016)
Denial, 2016. Directed by Mick Jackson. Starring Rachel Weisz, Timothy Spall, Tom Wilkinson, Andrew Scott, Harriet Walter and Mark Gatiss. SYNOPSIS: American academic Deborah Lipstadt is accused of libel by historian David Irving when she declares him a Holocaust denier. In a battle for historical truth, she and her legal team have to prove that […]
DVD Review – 100 Streets (2016)
100 Streets, 2016. Directed by John O’Hanlon Starring Idris Elba, Gemma Arterton, Franz Drameh, Charlie Creed-Miles, Kierston Wareing and Ken Stott. SYNOPSIS: Set against the streets of Chelsea, three separate stories of people facing personal crises overlap: a former rugby star whose marriage is crumbling before his eyes, a cab driver whose life is devastated […]
Is Cinema Really Dead If Scorsese Says It Is?
Henry Bevan on whether cinema is really dead… The ‘cinema is dead’ narrative has gone around for a while. It is normally spouted by some blogger who wants to get across their “hot take”. But, sometimes, someone of note joins in, and as 2016 came to a close, a director trifecta chimed in — Martin […]
Movie Review – Jackie (2016)
Jackie, 2016. Directed by Pablo Larrain. Starring Natalie Portman, Peter Sarsgaard, Greta Gerwig, Billy Crudup and John Hurt. SYNOPSIS: The assassination of President Kennedy in 1963, his funeral and the days immediately afterwards are related from the perspective of his wife, Jackie. One of the most shocking moments in 20th century history, one that reverberated around […]
