It is a tale, sadly enough, as old as time. The rich and the powerful, hoarders of resources and advantage, reckless, hedonistic spenders of time and life span, lording it over the poor, the downtrodden and the dispossessed who must eke out a living on the decayed breadcrumbs that Continue Reading
Movies
Pixar’s Lava: The warm glow of volcanic love
SNAPSHOT Lava will tell the story of a curmudgeonly volcano, Uku, and his hot top love interest across the sea, the mountain Lele. (synopsis via Huffington Post) Who doesn’t want someone to “lava”? We all do right, even volcano islands who they might be situated out in the middle Continue Reading
Movie review: The Lunchbox
When it comes to expressing the universal need we all have to belong and be connected to others, I always thought no one said it better, at least in this pop culture-obsessed age, than the theme song for TV sitcom Cheers which famously stated “You wanna be where everybody knows Continue Reading
Big Hero 6 leaps into action with its second trailer
SNAPSHOT Set in a fictional metropolis called San Fransokyo (a portmanteau of San Francisco and Tokyo), a young prodigy named Hiro Hamada and his self-created robot Baymax uncover a criminal plot and must join a team of inexperienced crime fighters,[8] including Wasabi-No-Ginger, Honey Lemon, GoGo Tomago, and Fred. (synopsis Continue Reading
Weekend pop art: Face art of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
There is a great deal to like about the recently-released Dawn of the Planet of the Apes which defied the usual trend of sequels by being every bit the equal of its predecessor Rise of the Planet of the Apes. One of the aspects of the movie that most Continue Reading
A soldier without a war? That makes him The Last Man (trailer + poster)
SNAPSHOT A soldier (Richard Glover) is awoken from stasis to find the world completely destroyed. Venturing into the wasteland he is faced with the devastating loneliness of being the last man alive. (synopsis via UK Horror Scene) For a guy as upbeat and doggedly optimistic as myself, I sure Continue Reading
Movie review: Sex Tape
Sex Tape, directed by Jake Kasdan (Bad Teacher, New Girl), is a small “c” comedy with big “C” comedy aspirations it never quite realises. With a script by the same scriptwriters (plus one, Kate Angelo) who, oddly enough, brought us 2011’s sublimely wonderful The Muppet Movie, star Jason Segel and Continue Reading
Movie review: Reaching For the Moon
In Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Lysander remarks with considerable insight that “the course of true love never did run smooth”, a recognition that the meeting of two hearts, the coming together of what Plato called the twin yearning halves of the one soul, while glorious and overflowing with Continue Reading
Movie review: Still Life
The tightly circumscribed world of John May (beautifully played with a gentle intensity by Eddie Marsan) is a grey, well-ordered and wholly predictable one in Uberto’s Pasolini’s latest film Still Life. Employed by the council in the South London district of Kennington for 22 years to track down the often-ambivalent, Continue Reading
Movie review: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Being both a blockbuster and a sequel should have, by the usual standards of slapdash Hollywood out to make a quick buck, left Dawn of the Planet of the Apes a doubly-cursed, slathering mess of incoherent plotting, poorly-expressed ideas and sub-standard acting. And yet, thanks to a nuanced, well-paced Continue Reading