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The Book of Henry Review

Six months into 2017 and the Razzies look set to have a clear winner for worst movie of 2017 come award season; The Book of Henry more than deserves the title for its trudging baffling plot which spirals into a detached and directional cesspit of incoherent confusion.You’d be forgiven for thinking this was yet another child genius movie, and...

The Purge Election Year Review

There is certainly one thing that The Purge Election Year will do and have the series of films die-hard fans whooping for delight in yet another blood-spattered offering in a genre that quite frankly needs a bomb up its backside to make them worthwhile watching again. It’s the same old story for The Purge Election Year as it brings nothing...

Personal Shopper Review

When technology becomes a supporting role opposite Kristen Stewart in possible one of her best performances yet we get a thrilling, spooky and anxiety filled art-house classic that speaks directly to a modern society which could see a return to form for director Olivier Assayas. Personal Shopper isn’t a horror in the conventional sense but deals with the supernatural with...

Eye in the Sky Review – A topical, gripping and intense thriller of morals.

With Helen Mirren taking the Helm as Colonel Katherine Powell, Eye in the Sky delivers a gripping and suspense filled story of modern day drone warfare which touches on the conscience of our government, giving the director, Gavin Hood a much needed booster after his 2007 headache inducing Rendition. Hood has kept Eye in the Sky pretty simply by keeping...

The Sense of an Ending Review

With a title such as The Sense of an Ending, big expectations lay ahead, not even the greatest performances can make up for less than satisfying ending, building to a crescendo which forever hovers in the air never making that crashing descent of closure it so truly needs.With a screenplay adapted from Julian Barnes prize-winning novel of the same...

Bleed For This Review

If there is one film due to inspire in 2016 is Ben Younger’s Bleed For This, a true story on the devastating near fatal car crash that befell boxing champion Vinny Pazienza aka The Pazmanian Devil and his own personal fight to get himself back in the ring doing what he loves after everyone around him has written him...

LIFE, ANIMATED Review

Disney as a brand is pretty inescapable and a large majority of us can safely say it’s a big part of our childhood and the nostalgia attached. There are the casual fans who know the classics, the fans who have their favourites, the fans who know all the songs, and the fans that have visited all the parks collecting autographs...

We Go On Review

As we become more spoilt with methods of watching films, the act of actually choosing anything to watch is quite unbearable.New streaming service Shudder aims to cut through the noise and reach those on the hunt for the best of a wide range of horror films, consisting of platform exclusives as well as general releases. Unable to see anywhere...

Deepwater Horizon Review

There's always the conversation when Hollywood turns a real-life event into an epic blockbuster or Oscar-worthy drama: how much is true to life and how much has it been embellished or even completely rewritten for the entertainment of the masses? Then there's the issue of what the film industry decides to adapt, a lot of the events being sensitive subjects,...

Jackie Review

Jackie Kennedy was one of the most glamorous and famous women of her day. A unique first lady with style and grace, all thanks to her marriage to JFK, the catalyst to her rise in fame and stature.  Devoted wife to a President who was far from discreet in his dalliances with a certain blonde haired bombshell and loving...

Mechanic: Resurrection DVD Review

Jason Statham films are practically a genre of their own, with the same formula and conventions seeming to reoccur every time he takes the starring role. Mechanic Resurrection, a sequel to 2011’s The Mechanic, is Jason Statham’s 40th film since 1998. Statham is renowned for his no-nonsense, straight-talking, fist-to-face action hero and he reoccurs yet again in this sequel as...

The Boss Review – Did someone say this was a comedy?

With a Melissa McCarthy film, you know exactly what to expect and with The Boss, where she plays a fallen business tycoon they story is no different. Which is a major shame as with the right storyline and script McCarthy could really shine as she deserves? This time, McCarthy teams up with her husband, Ben Falcone (Bridesmaids,Spy) to put pen...

Birthday Review

Birthdays are generally synonymous with joy, celebration, and high spirits. And while writer and director, Chris King, titled his short film ‘Birthday’, the emotions at play are rather contrasting initially. Focusing on a young marine who gets severely wounded in combat, the 12 minute run time explores the immediate next steps in his life from hospital bed to physiotherapy with...

The Wannabe Review

Gangsters and mobsters are the subject of a whole host of classic films throughout cinema. A world far from the average, these crime bosses and their ‘families’ were cool, powerful, and menacing. The idea of watching these people’s stories on screen was compelling.These archetypes aren’t fairytale, though. Many were derived from real people and were telling their true stories. The...

King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword Review

It’s unceremoniously tanked in the States, so what kind of reception can Guy Ritchie’s King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword expect as it arrives this week?Do you know your Uther Pendragons from your Mordred's?  If King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword is anything to go by, director Guy Ritchie certainly doesn’t.  Not that it’s prevented him from making his...

10 Cloverfield Lane Review – A Tension Fuelled and Compelling Journey into Genius Filmmaking.

Can we call 10 Cloverfield Lane a sequel? Maybe not,  but this next chapter in this hugely anticipated franchise from Producer JJ Abrams is nothing short of pure film genius and excellent cast performances which will see you perplexed into who and what we should believe. Back in 2008 Cloverfield set a certain standard for the first person sc-fi-horror genre,...

Cemetery of Splendour DVD Review

It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what the message of Apichatpong Weerasthakul’s Cemetery of Splendour is as the visuals unfold on screen. Set in a hospital in Thailand, the story revolves around a group of soldiers suffering from a mysterious illness that results in them constantly sleeping and a volunteer nurse who forms a connection with one of them, through telepathy.Although...

A Quiet Passion Review

The last thing you would come to expect from a period biopic would be anything but quirky but Terence Davies, A Quiet Passion, the story of the 19th century American poet Emily Dickenson, revels in a slightly left of centre fascinating drama of a women trapped in an era that wasn’t quite ready for her individualism and feminine strength.If...

Assassin’s Creed Review

Director Justin Kurzel, Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard on paper, have been seen as a dream team ever since their collaboration on 2015’s Macbeth. With the three teaming up again for the game adaptation of Assassin’s Creed excitement beyond belief murmured for something insanely amazing. We should never have held our breath for a beautiful delight as Assassin's Creed is...

Snowden Review

There have been at least 17 cinematic films from this year that are based on actual real-life events, which doesn’t include Bollywood or TV movies. While maybe not the most in recent years, but the genre has certainly become more popular over the decades. What’s more noteworthy of these films of late is actually how close in recent history these...

Fences Review

Diversity has finally hit the Oscar’s this year with a number of exceptional films such as Moonlight, Hidden Figures and Fences all getting a spot in the limelight with their nominations. Fences for one is one of the strongest contenders for its powerhouse performances from its cast alone. Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name – which...

The Girl on the Train Review

Director Tate Taylor – who directed the powerfully emotional ‘The Help’ seems to have an affinity with female lead film; The Girl on the Train is no exception with three very different female personalities taking the limelight in this thrillingly tense film adaptation. Only a year ago Paula Hawkin’s novel, ‘The Girl on the Train’, was a bestselling sensation, so...

Allied Review

Robert Zemeckis has brought us some cinematic classics over the years from Back To the Future to Forest Gump, so expectation may be high for his wartime spy thriller Allied with Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard at the helm. So it pains to say that this transportation into World War II has less fizzle than an unexploded bomb. Brad Pitt...

20th Century Women Review

Growing older is inevitable.  But in the 1970s, 60 was a long way from being the new 40, as Annette Bening discovers in 20th Century Women.  Don’t be fooled by that epic-sounding title.  20th Century Women, the latest from writer/director Mike Mills, is anything but sweeping, offering up the story of three women in a crumbling South Californian house finding...

Ingrid Bergman: In Her Own Words DVD Review

If there is one thing that Ingrid Bergman: In Her Own Words shows about one of Hollywood’s legendary award winning actresses is that in her thinking and ideals she was way ahead of her time. A strong charismatic woman who stood up to anyone but with such an elegant grace that mesmerised. Ingrid Bergman: In Her Own Words follows Bergman...

The Lost City of Z Review

Cerebral and oddly intoxicating James Gray’s adventure into one man’s life-long obsession for the Lost City of the Amazon he called Z, takes us on an almost trippy journey of British Explorer Percy Fawcett’s, at times, ridiculed and fateful mission to unearth his dream. The Lost City of Z is an adaptation of the novel from David Gann, but this...

The Fits Review

After a warm reception at this year’s Sundance, The Fits gets a limited UK release this week.  Its story may sound familiar, but the way it’s told is anything but. Cast your mind back to the spring of last year and a film that caused something of a stir.  The Falling.  It was set in a late 60s girls’ school...

Louder Than Bombs DVD Review

How we cope with the death of a loved one differs from person to person, Louder than Bombs tells a tale of one family's grief at the loss of their mother and wife, with somber, poignant moments hitting home with a heartbreaking grace to all of us. Director Joachim Trier presses on the nerve of a family in turmoil in...

Don’t Breathe Review

Sometimes simplicity goes a long way, with Don’t Breathe we get just that in this horror/thriller which has buckets of originality in a genre that just churns out the same story over and over again. With nerve-jangling and stomach churning moments it provides a refreshing unpredictability. Coming from the director who remade Evil Dead back in 2013, which was also...

Arrival Review

Director Denis Villeneuve has gone from Sicario’s drug-war thriller to a sci-fi alien encounter story with Arrival.  A Close Encounters of A Third Kind for the modern generation with an impeccable stylistic, hypnotic and awe-inspiring yet emotional narrative which will resonate within the soul. The Alien encounter genre certainly hasn’t delivered anything out of this world in a number of...