1917 (2019)
The focus is on the impressive camerawork… which would have been more powerful in service of a memorable story.
Foxtrot Explores the Numbing Mundanity of Modern War
Israeli drama Foxtrot evinces a restless creativity that’s occasionally exhausting but often compelling.
Sicario: Day of the Soldado (2018)
When I first heard about a sequel to Sicario – one of my favourite films of 2015 – my first thought was ‘why does this need to exist?’ Having seen the film, I don’t have a satisfactory answer to that question.
Images on a Wall: Blade Runner 2049
At its best, Blade Runner 2049 is a film about negotiating the notion of identity in the dense lattice of a technological society. Villeneuve amplifies the first film’s themes of complicity in an oppressive society.
How Will Daniel Craig’s James Bond Be Remembered?
If you’ve paid any attention at all to Daniel Craig’s press tour for the new James Bond film, Spectre, you’d be aware that Craig is pretty well disenchanted with 007. Maybe “really fucking over it” is a better description. He’s described Bond as a “misogynist”, noting that “a lot of women are drawn to him…
Drafted Into the War on Drugs: Denis Villeneuve’s Tense Sicario
Trust Denis Villeneuve to take what could have been a fairly conventional drug war thriller and transform it into a hollowed-out horror movie. His latest film, Sicario is, at its core, a scathing indictment of modern American patriarchy. He pulled a similar trick with 2013’s underrated Prisoners, realising an unapologetically pulpy script as a deeply…
In Order of Disappearance (2014)
“If Norwegian kids disappear, there’s always some obnoxious parent out looking for them.” The “Norwegian kid” of In Order of Disappearance is one Ingvar Dickman, an airport employee who meets a grisly end after getting on the wrong side of a gang of drug dealers. The “obnoxious parent” is his father, Nils (Stellan Skarsgård): Citizen…
John Wick (2014)
I remain impressed – and a little perplexed – by filmmakers who choose to title their productions with nothing more than a person’s name. It’s not like there isn’t a storied history of such films doing well – Ben Hur, anyone? – but it strikes me as requiring some serious self-belief to throw a film…
How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014)
The first How to Train Your Dragon was a special kind of miracle. A simple tale of a father and his son, of a boy and his dragon, it soared beyond its modest ambitions. HTTYD succeeded thanks to gorgeously composed and edited animation and a spectacular Oscar-nominated score, yes, but mostly because of the simplicity…
Prisoners (2013)
On paper, Prisoners seems like its destined to be forgotten as yet another unremarkable thriller. The film concerns the abduction of two young girls and focuses its attention on two men searching for them; Hugh Jackman as Keller Dover – zealous carpenter and father of one of the girls – and Jake Gyllenhaal as Detective…
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