In light of the new Ocean’s 8 trailer released this week, I thought I’d take a look at what is quickly becoming a new trend in Hollywood: gender-flipping film franchises. With one already released, two more coming in the next few months and many in development, it seems as though the industry is sticking hard and…
The audience you’re with can have a big effect on your film experience, and I don’t just mean whether or not you get some inconsiderate popcorn rustlers, drink slurpers, mid-movie texters, man-spreaders or even vapers in your screen. Especially for films which are designed to evoke more audible reactions from their audiences (for example laughs…
*This is a modified repost of my LFF review* One of my favourite films of last year (and probably ever), Thoroughbreds is finally in cinemas. It is a deliciously dark and witty tale that eases in and out of thriller territory to provide an engrossing and unpredictable experience. Set in a wealthy area of Connecticut, the…
The horror genre can generally be quite hit or miss. A lot are scary enough for an entertaining ride, coasting on jump scares and lazy plotting, many are completely terrible, but some are absolute gems that rise above the aim of purely scaring their audience, to provide an engrossing and satisfying experience (and, of course,…
This month offers up a wide variety of DVDs, with the first award winners trickling in, and some of the most underseen (and best) films from the end of last year. Call Me by Your Name This beautiful coming-of-age story, adapted from André Caiman’s novel, is an authentic and touching romance, tinged with longing and…
Steven Soderbergh’s second film post-retirement could not be more different from his first. A filmmaker who has proven himself wildly versatile, he follows up last year’s quirky comedy, Logan Lucky, with a remarkably effective, and deeply disturbing psychological thriller. It revolves around questions of trust and feelings of paranoia which add up to a very…
With the ever-circulating rumours of a Call Me by Your Name follow up, proposed to take place several years after the original to pick up with Elio and Oliver at a different stage in their life, I thought I’d take a look at one of the most successful (and few) film series with intentionally spread out…
I’m going to start this feature by admitting that part of the reason for writing it is annoyance (albeit I had been planning to write a similar feature for a while). I watched Alex Garland’s Annihilation on Netflix last week and I am annoyed. I am annoyed that I didn’t have the option to see…
Our expectations for studio comedies these days are sadly that they’re going to be awful, and those expectations are based on a huge and consistent heap of evidence. Game Night, by contrast, hugely bucks the trend, delivering a comedy that not only contains a lot of laughs (a comedy making you laugh more than twice…
Greta Gerwig has previously proved herself as an actor and writer, and now she adds director (Academy-award nominated, I might add) to her skillset. With Lady Bird, she infuses a beautifully observed tale of teenagehood with such heart and humour; it’s hard not to find yourself falling for it. We encounter the titular Lady Bird…
