Todd Phillips, the director of Joker, says “woke” culture and being afraid to offend people is why comedies don’t work anymore. The director of dark, comic-inspired drama Joker, Todd Phillips, is known for comedies like Road Trip and The Hangover so why has he made the switch to more serious material of late? Well, in […]
2019 BFI London Film Festival Review – Ghost Town Anthology
Ghost Town Anthology, 2019. Directed by Denis Côté. Starring Robert Naylor, Josée Deschênes, Jean-Michel Anctil, Diane Lavallée and Larissa Corriveau. SYNOPSIS: An isolated rural community is locked in a fugue of grief after the potential suicide of one of its residents. Grief is one of the most intimate human emotions. It’s deeply private and intensely […]
Eli Roth is set to produce slasher film 10-31 for Orion
Eli Roth is set to produce the horror-thriller 10-31 which has been acquired by Orion Pictures and is scripted by writers Ian Shorr (Splinter) and Peter Gamble. The slasher film follows a young woman who takes her niece and nephew trick-or-treating and discovers a note inside a candy wrapper that says there’s a killer loose on […]
Armando Iannucci’s The Personal History of David Copperfield gets a first trailer
Coinciding with its UK premiere at the London Film Festival, Lionsgate has released a poster and trailer for director Armando Iannucci’s (In the Loop) take on the classic Charles Dickens novel The Personal History of David Copperfield. The film stars Dev Patel in the title role alongside a cast that includes Peter Capaldi, Hugh Laurie, […]
Why Guardians of the Galaxy was such a massive financial success
Anthony Stokes on why Guardians of the Galaxy was such a massive financial success… As it stands now, Guardians of the Galaxy has $770 million dollars worldwide, passing every other comic book movie released this year, and second only Transformers: Age of Extinction in the highest-earning movies of the year. I did predict Guardians having […]
Studio Ghibli Season – Grave of the Fireflies
As part of the BFI’s Studio Ghibli Season, Simon Columb reviews Grave of the Fireflies… A Studio Ghibli season at the BFI has highlighted the very best of Japanese animation. We can define the cuddly Totoro or fantastical world of Princess Mononoke as what Studio Ghibli stands for – but Grave of the Fireflies proves […]
2019 BFI London Film Festival Review – Recorder: The Marion Stokes Project
Recorder: The Marion Stokes Project, 2019. Directed by Matt Wolf. SYNOPSIS: A Philadelphia librarian-turned-activist secretly recorded television 24-hours a day for 30 years. In November of 1979, Marion Stokes pressed the record button on her television set and didn’t stop until her death in December, 2012. In that time, she amassed hundreds of thousands of […]
J.J. Abrams reveals meaning behind Kylo Ren’s fractured mask in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
J.J. Abrams, the director of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, has addressed the reason for Kylo Ren’s mask being fractured. In Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the moment where Kylo Ren smashed his mask was seen as pivotal, signaling a change in the character’s path. However, in the promotional material for The Rise of […]
J.J. Abrams doesn’t feel he had to “repair anything” after Star Wars: The Last Jedi
There’s a lot of pressure on J.J. Abrams as the Star Wars: The Force Awakens helmer returns to the galaxy far, far away to round out not only the Sequel Trilogy but the entire nine-film Skywalker Saga with this December’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. On top of that, Abrams also have the unenviable […]
2019 BFI London Film Festival Review – Öndög
Öndög, 2019. Directed by Wang Quan’an. Starring Dulamjav Enkhtaivan, Aorigeletu, Norovsambuu Batmunkh, and Gangtemuer Arild. SYNOPSIS: A murder case in the Mongolian steppe. A herder is asked to guard the crime scene – a woman who resolutely scares off both wolves and her neighbor. She has her own plans for the future, which are closely […]
