There’s Something Magical About The Shape of Water
The Shape of Water is a flamboyant fantasy yet deeply human; old-fashioned yet profoundly modern; filmed with a palate preferring murky, oceanic greens yet somehow bursting with light and life.
The Hyper-Masculine Incoherency of Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is neither the hero the superhero genre deserves nor the villain it dreads. This is a film about two superheroes waging war with one another that’s similarly at war with itself, riven between competing narratives, commercial concerns and an overarching ambition that sees it striving for meaning before collapsing…
The Night Before Delivers Christmas Laughs from Festive Formula
Great Christmas films are always about family. Whether it’s the traditional soppy Santa Claus tale à la Miracle on 34th Street, Will Ferrel trying to reunite with his dad in Elf or John McClane blasting through Eurotrash terrorists to get back to his wife in Die Hard, at these films’ core remains a deeply conservative…
A Plague Upon Their Houses: An Interview with 99 Homes’ Ramin Bahrani
Ramin Bahrani might make fictional films, but his work draws so deeply from real life that they often feel like fact. That’s not an accident. Rather, it’s a reflection of the time and effort the Iranian-American director spends researching his projects. His 2005 breakout indie film Man Push Cart came from two years spent researching…
Freeheld (2015)
Freeheld is an uneven drama that frequently veers from tragedy to drudgery. Which is a shame, since its true story – of homosexual policewoman, Laurel Hester – is both fascinating and vital. Arriving hot on the heels of the legalisation of same-sex marriage in the US, this otherwise unremarkable film represents a missed opportunity. The film chronicles cancer-stricken Hester’s (Julianne Moore) fight…
Revolutionary Road (2008)
I don’t like to read books before watching their cinematic adaptations, because I tend to come down more harshly on the film due to the baggage of expectations. Such is the case with Sam Mendes’ interpretation of Richard Yates’ Revolutionary Road. The strength of novel is that its critique of fifties suburbia is elevated by…
Premium Rush (2012)
Premium Rush is a high-octane thrill ride, a white-knuckle rush of a film. There’s technically a plot, revealed in smatterings of flashbacks, but it’s essentially a barebones excuse to fill the film with exhilarating bicycle races. One of my (and apparently everyone’s) favourite actors at the moment, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, plays Wilee (like the Coyote), an…
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