Crystal Fairy & the Magical Cactus, 2013. Written and Directed by Sebastián Silva.Starring Michael Cera, Gaby Hoffman,  Juan Andrés Silva, Agustín Silva, José Miguel Silva and Sebastián Silva. SYNOPSIS: As Jamie travels in Chile, he invites an eccentric woman to join his group’s quest to score a fabled hallucinogen, a move that finds him at […]

The Wolf of Wall Street, 2013. Directed by Martin Scorsese.Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie, Matthew McConaughey, Kyle Chandler, Rob Reiner, Jon Bernthal. Jon Favreau, and Jean Dujardin. SYNOPSIS: Based on the true story of Jordan Belfort, from his rise to a wealthy stockbroker living the high life to his fall involving crime, corruption […]

Any Day Now, 2012. Directed by Travis Fine.Starring Alan Cumming, Garret Dillahunt, Isaac Leyva, Frances Fisher and Gregg Henry. SYNOPSIS: In the 1970s, a gay couple fights a biased legal system to keep custody of the abandoned mentally handicapped teenager that comes to live under their roof. First of all it has to be said […]

Luke Graham continues our Buster Keaton month with reviews of Three Ages and Sherlock Jr…. The British Film Institute’s decision to pair Three Ages (1923) and Sherlock Jr. (1924) proved a wise one, as these two films serve as a great introduction to Buster Keaton. By 1923, Keaton was already famous for his short films, […]

The Railway Man, 2013. Directed by Jonathan Teplitzky.Starring Colin Firth, Nicole Kidman, Hiroyuki Sanada, Stellan Skarsgård, Jeremy Irvine and Sam Reid. SYNOPSIS: A victim from World War II’s “Death Railway” sets out to find those responsible for his torture. A true story. Nicole Kidman can’t play ordinary. She can’t simply exist, she has to carry […]

Insidious: Chapter 2, 2013. Directed by James Wan.Starring Rose Byrne, Patrick Wilson, Lin Shaye, Ty Simpkins and Barbara Hershey. SYNOPSIS: The haunted Lambert family seeks to uncover the mysterious childhood secret that has left them dangerously connected to the spirit world. Picking up more or less exactly where the first movie left off, Insidious: Chapter […]

12 Years a Slave, 2013. Directed by Steve McQueen.Starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Brad Pitt, Benedict Cumberbatch, Michael Fassbender, Sarah Paulson, Paul Dano, Paul Giamatti, Quvenzhané Wallis, Garret Dillahunt, Lupita Nyong’o, Michael K. Williams, Scoot McNairy, Ruth Negga and Taran Killam. SYNOPSIS: In the antebellum United States, Solomon Northup, a free black man from upstate New York, […]

47 Ronin, 2013. Directed by Carl Rinsch.Starring Keanu Reeves, Hiroyuki Sanada, Tadanobu Asano, Ko Shibasaki and Rinko Kikuchi. SYNOPSIS: In this fictionalised account of the Japanese legend a band of ronin seek to avenge their master who was tricked into dishonouring his land. With the help of a half-breed demon they assault the castle of […]

All Is Lost, 2013. Directed by J.C. Chandor.Starring Robert Redford. SYNOPSIS: After a collision with a shipping container at sea, a resourceful sailor finds himself, despite all efforts to the contrary, staring his mortality in the face. The art of storytelling. It’s the backbone of any great film, regardless of age, budget, genre, or audience. […]

Battle of the Damned, 2013. Written and Directed by Christopher Hatton.Starring Dolph Lundgren, Melanie Zanetti, Matt Doran, David Field and Jen Sung. SYNOPSIS: Following a deadly viral outbreak, private military soldier Max Gatling leads a handful of survivors and a ragtag band of robots against an army of the infected. Some films just have a […]