Set amongst the iconic streets of New York, low-budget independent film, Time Out of Mind is a two hour social commentary on the life of a homeless man. It centres on George Hammond (Richard Gere), whose name we don’t learn until over halfway through the film. No ID, no home, no immediate contacts; George is truly…
Action flick Bastille Day opens with a naked Frenchwoman (Stéphane Caillard) strolling through Paris. We soon learn that her nudity is intended to serve as a particularly dramatic distraction, allowing pickpocket Michael Mason (Game of Thrones’ Richard Madden) to pilfer a few wallets and passports at the orders of a local fence (Eriq Ebouaney). With…
Cartel Land was one of 2015’s most successful documentaries, earning a cavalcade of critical praise and even an Oscar nomination. It’s not hard to see why; Matthew Heineman’s film combines a contentious contemporary issue – Mexico’s fraught, cartel-dominated ‘drug war’ and tensions along the U.S.A./Mexico border – with kinetic, ‘can-you-fucking-believe-they-got-that-shot’ cinematography. It’s the kind of…
Sleeping with Other People is pretty much a hangout sitcom stretched out to 100 minutes. There’s nothing wrong with that! It’s populated with a winning cast of actors/comedians who’ve found success on the small screen – Alison Brie (Community) and Jason Sudeikis (Saturday Night Live) as the central sorta-not-really couple, surrounded by the likes of…
I’m somewhat uncomfortable with horror movies that take witches as their monster. The history of ‘witchcraft’ is inextricably tied up with horrific events like the Salem trials – events that repeat themselves today across developing countries, events driven primarily by a patriarchal fear of women as transgressors. Those accused of and punished for ‘witchcraft’ are…
Do I Sound Gay? is documentary by way of dinner party conversation. This largely light-hearted consideration of the stereotypically ‘gay voice’ hews closer to a chat between friends than investigative journalism. Which is fine! For about 45 minutes, the film’s frivolity is what keeps it appealing; director and ‘subject’ David Thorpe – who undergoes speech…
Crystal Moselle must’ve had an easy time pitching her first feature-length documentary, The Wolfpack, to financiers and film festivals alike. A chance encounter on the streets of New York saw her ensconced in the lives of the Angulo family; a family of six brothers (and one largely-unseen sister) raised – so the publicity materials tell…
If Deadpool had come out in 2006 – before Iron Man kicked the superhero boom into top gear – it might’ve been a genuinely subversive superhero film. The film – which sees Ryan Reynolds make his fourth attempt at pulling off the superhero shtick (if you count Blade III) – is definitely trying to subvert…
Full credit to Aaron Sorkin; with Steve Jobs he manages to solve the structural problems plaguing most biopics, which struggle to accommodate the scope of a human life in a neat three act narrative. How? By literally structuring the film as three acts – three product launches – across which we come to know our…
Filmed in Supermarionation is a modest documentary about the production companies responsible for – amongst other series forgotten to anyone who isn’t old and British – Thunderbirds. Talking heads recount from the ramshackle early days of the studio (involving flagrantly terrible puppetry from amateurs who knew no better) all the way up to post-Thunderbirds series…
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