Side Effects (2013)

Side Effects is cinematic sleight of hand. It’s a beguiling performance from the movie magician; the great Steven Soderbergh. It feints at being a story about the questionable practices of the pharmaceutical industry; it’s not. Early scenes drift elliptically through Emily (Rooney Mara)’s life; she seems depressed, and she seems to be the film’s protagonist.…

Traffic (2000)

It’s easy to characterise Traffic as a by-the-numbers message film, a screed against the “war on drugs” that even colour-codes each of its various storylines to avoid confusion. Each storyline is custom-built to demonstrate the futility of the early-‘90s anti-drug initiatives of the United States, whether it’s someone immediately rising to replace an incarcerated druglord…