Liam Trim on the transition from page to screen of Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep… Raymond Chandler’s 1939 novel The Big Sleep, the first to star PI Philip Marlowe, was ready made for the big screen. It had a zippy, twisting and engrossing plot, propelled at pace by short, sharp chapters that feel like scenes […]

The Future, 2011. Directed by Miranda July. Starring Miranda July and Hamish Linklater. SYNOPSIS: When a couple decides to adopt a stray cat their perspective on life is changed dramatically. Following her fantastic multi award winning (most notably Camera D’Or at the Cannes Film Festival) debut Me, You and Everyone We Know, Miranda July’s The […]

Hobo with a Shotgun, 2011. Directed by Jason Eisener. Starring Rutger Hauer, Pasha Ebrahimi, Brian Downey, Molly Dunsworth and Rob Wells. SYNOPSIS: Hobo (Rutger Hauer) comes into Hope ‘Scum’ Town on a freight train and after being disgusted by the Drake family and their murderous torture games, he decides to enact some vigilante justice with […]

Rabbit Hole, 2010. Directed by John Cameron Mitchell. Starring Nicole Kidman, Aaron Eckhart and Dianne Wiest. SYNOPSIS: A married couple struggle to return to their everyday existence after the loss of their child. Nicole Kidman’s performances can simultaneously win her further legions of adoring fans and additional ranks of grumbling haters. She is wonderful to […]

X-Men: First Class, 2011. Directed by Matthew Vaughn. Starring James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Kevin Bacon, January Jones, Rose Byrne, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Lucas Till, Zoë Kravitz, Caleb Landry Jones, Álex González, Jason Flemyng, Oliver Platt and Ray Wise. SYNOPSIS: Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Erik Lensherr (Michael Fassbender) work together to try and prevent […]

As Far As My Feet Will Carry Me, 2001. Directed by Hardy Martins. Starring Bernhard Bettermann, Iris Böhm and Anatoliy Kotenyov. SYNOPSIS: A German soldier escapes a Siberian labour camp and must brave 8,000 miles of unforgiving terrain, freezing temperatures and constant danger to reunite with his wife and child. Last year Peter Weir made […]

Super 8, 2011. Written and Directed by J.J. Abrams.Starring Kyle Chandler, Joel Courtney, Elle Fanning, Riley Griffiths, Noah Emmerich and Glynn Turman. SYNOPSIS: A group of kids making a film on their ‘Super 8’ camera witness a freight train crash that releases ‘something’, causing the military to shut down their town and setting a series […]

Trevor Hogg profiles the career of legendary Hollywood filmmaker Steven Spielberg in the fourth of a five part feature… read parts one, two and three. Collaborating with co-director Douglas Day Stewart (Listen to Me), filmmaker Steven Spielberg produced a ninety-minute video release called The Visionary (1990). The Western centres around a psychiatrist who skeptically recruits […]

Trevor Hogg profiles the career of legendary Hollywood filmmaker Steven Spielberg in the third of a five part feature… read parts one and two. In the screenplay Night Skies drafted by American filmmaker John Sayles (Passion Fish), a violent space creature has the ability to kill with a touch of its boney finger. One of […]

Trevor Hogg profiles the career of filmmaker Tim Burton in the third of a four part feature… read part one and part two. Taking a cue from previous blockbuster disaster pictures, Tim Burton assembled a cast of celebrities for his black comedy about an alien space invasion. Mars Attacks! (1996) featured Jack Nicholson (Easy Rider) […]