There is always a pleasing sense of nuance and sensitivity in John Turturro’s films, a sense that his characters are not simply there to provide fodder for an exploitative dramatic narrative, that they matter and he cares about them. Granted every writer harbours understandable feelings of parental concern about Continue Reading
Now this is music #29: We Were Evergreen, Shura, Sylvan Esso, Thief, MNEK + Pomplamoose
The thrill of discovery is something that has driven humanity down through the ages. Whether it’s explorers forging their way into impenetrable jungles or across burning hot deserts, or brilliant scientific minds asking why and doing their utmost to answer those questions, people are a curious bunch, unwilling to Continue Reading
Movie review: The Double
It is no surprise that the latest feature from British director (and one time star of quirky sitcom The IT Crowd) Richard Ayoade is a overwhelmingly grim affair. Styled as a black comedy, the screenplay for the thematically and visually dark film about a corporate drone worker Simon James Continue Reading
Fade to black: Goodbye to Community, Suburgatory, The Crazy Ones + Revolution
Saying goodbye to anyone and anything you love is never easy. Even if you accept the inevitability of their impending absence, a part of you still screams that it’s not fair (the inner five year old lives!) and you want to beg and plead with anyone who will listen Continue Reading
Farewell to Warehouse 13: “A Faire to Remember” (S5 E3 review)
The rather pun happy title of the fourth last episode (yes I am counting them down, tissues in hand) in the final season of Warehouse 13, “A Faire to Remember”, would suggest that this was a tale of jocularity, fun and extreme silliness. The sort of stuff that Warehouse Continue Reading
Things that go bump in the light: Monsters Dark Continent (trailer)
SNAPSHOT Seven years on from the events of Monsters, the ‘Infected Zones’ have spread worldwide. Humans have been knocked off the top of the food chain, with disparate communities struggling for survival. American soldiers are being sent abroad to protect US interests from the Monsters, but the war is Continue Reading
That’s a wrap! A review of the Eurovision 2014 Grand Final
Oh what a night! Not only did the final of Eurovision 2014 kick off with dancing ninjas – well not strictly speaking but they looked the part – it had fireworks that ringed the enormous ship-shaped stage, and what looked suspiciously like a fashion parade of the representatives of Continue Reading
Movie review: Godzilla
When one of the characters in a movie blithely states near the start of a blockbuster monster movie, “It’s not the end of the world”, as Elle Brody (Elizabeth Olsen) does when locked in an embrace with husband, and hero of the 2014 iteration of Godzilla, Ford (Samuel Taylor-Johnson), Continue Reading
Prelude to war: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (new trailer)
SNAPSHOT A growing nation of genetically evolved apes led by Caesar is threatened by a band of human survivors of the devastating virus unleashed a decade earlier. They reach a fragile peace, but it proves short-lived, as both sides are brought to the brink of a war that will Continue Reading
The short and the short of it #2: 5 more amazing mini-films
There is, you may be surprised to learn, no firm definition on what a short film actually is. While there is a consensus that it is not as long as a feature film, something I would have thought would have been patently obvious if you have watched any of Continue Reading