It’s a movie that you’ll be happy to get up and walk away from, simply for the astounding freedom of being able to get up and walk. Darren Aronofsky’s film, The Whale, takes morbid obesity to its most realistic, destructive level. It’s cringy, it’s sad, it’s unyielding, but more than anything it’s honest. With a […]
Inisherin is a (fictional) island off the coast of Ireland. It is 1923. The civil war (“A bad do, that.”) can be heard but, on the island, there is nothing to do but toddle off down the pub or gossip in the general store, saving up the details for confession. And, in this world, Colm, […]
Film Review: The Banshees of Inisherin (2022)
Martin McDonagh is one of our greatest living playwrights, with his work being widely produced, from the sacred stages of Broadway to the smallest public theatres in Asia, and everywhere in between, his penchant for darkly comical morality tales being the source of many fascinating discussions under the direction of a range of artists who […]
The Banshees of Inisherin (2022)
I have the fondest memories of watching Top Gun back in 1986. It was a great year, I was in my second year in Junior College and had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I was just living in the moment and hanging around with friends every chance I got. My […]
Listening to a Russian oligarch and an American luxury yacht captain drunkenly exchange clichés about socialism versus capitalism over the ship’s PA system strikes me as farce without tragedy — and the joke is that it’s Woody Harrelson as the captain whose aggressive about socialism and the Russian who sounds like an OAN reporter. Good […]
Ship of fools: ‘Triangle of Sadness’
Ruben Östlund’s Triangle of Sadness is a hilariously tragic social commentary like I’ve never seen before. In three acts, it centers on a young couple of British models, Carl (Harris Dickinson) and Yaya (Charlbi Dean). The opening scene shows us male models in a documentary setting, being interviewed and asked among many questions, how they […]
The latest US hit crime drama arrives in the UK. How far would you go to save your child? That’s the compelling tagline for Your Honor, the latest US hit show to make it’s way over to the UK. Described as a ‘limited series’ (which at 10 episodes stretches that definition somewhat – more of […]
After Corky Withers (Anthony Hopkins) bombs as a magician at a nightclub amateur night, he changes tack and ploughs ahead with the aid of a gimmick- a ventriloquist’s dummy named Fats. After a year of hard slog, he becomes well-known and even attracts the attention of an agent (Burgess Meredith). He’s on the verge of […]
Primal Fear have announced their 14th studio album, Code Red, arriving September 1st. It marks the German power metal band’s first full-length LP in three years and the first new music since 2021’s I Will Be Gone EP. Although no single has been released, Stan W. Decker’s artwork has been…Please click the link below to…
Primal Fear Announce New Album Code Red
Style is half the picture. Story is the other half. William Shakespeare’s 17th-century play, The Tragedie of Macbeth, might be one of the greatest stories ever penned. If not, it’s at least one of the most durable. The desire for power, the ruthlessness of rule, and the all-consuming descent into madness that comes with conspiracy and […]
When it comes to Wes Anderson and his star-studded casts, bigger is always better. According to a Deadline exclusive, Rupert Friend and Richard Ayoade are now the latest leading lads to join the eccentric director’s adaptation of Roald Dahl’s The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar. Previous casting announcements for the Netflix original film have seen […]
Richard Ayoade & Rupert Friend Added To Wes Anderson’s ‘Henry Sugar’ Adaptation
Channel 5 in the UK and Masterpiece in the US have announced the new version of All Creatures Great And Small has been commissioned for a third and fourth season. The show, which stars Nicholas Ralph, Samuel West and Rachel Shenton, has proven to be a ratings hit in the UK, with the first season […]
All Creatures Great And Small to continue for another two seasons
A swing and a miss this boring noir drama is brimming with quality visuals and A list talent. Bradley Cooper, Rooney Mara, and Cate Blanchett put the story through its paces and make it watchable to a point, but it is a hard watch.
A hilariously satirical disaster epic that pokes fun at the media, government incompetence, and capitalist excess. Don’t Look Up is a satirical, science-fiction disaster movie where two scientists discover a comet, a “planet killer”, that will directly hit Earth and destroy all of human civilization. Their efforts to warn and save humanity are hindered by politics, […]
Benedict Cumberbatch has an excellent shot at an Oscar nomination/win. I wanted to thank you for adapting Thomas Savage’s 1967 novel and directing The Power of the Dog (2021). Your films feel like good books that beg to be analyzed. Take The Piano (1993), for instance, your signature film for the past thirty years. I […]
The Lighthouse is going to be a movie you’ll either love or hate. You’ll either love it for its surreal imagery, strange story, isolating setting, all over the place tone, eerie filmmaking, crazy acting, or all of the above. Or you’ll hate it for these exact reasons. It’s one of the strangest […]
There’s few things more annoying than the cinematic bait and switch; setting up the idea of one movie in the minds of an audience, then delivering something else. Sometimes it’s because film-makers or studios change their minds, or sometimes the product doesn’t fit the marketplace; delivering a trailer for Sweeney Todd that provided no hint…
I’m glad that Sandra Bullock said yes to The Unforgivable, a well-executed tale of one woman’s journey to reconnect with her sister after finishing a twenty-year prison sentence. Directed by Nora Fingscheidt, what stood out immediately, in addition to the excellent performances, is how engaging the story is. I cared about Bullock’s character and couldn’t wait for […]
THE UNFORGIVABLE (2021): The Things I Liked…
Tough homecoming. So this is about out-of-work porn star Mikey Saber (Simon Rex). He is out of options, so he is forced to return to his small Texas hometown. He has a résumé that makes him unemployable in the world of standard jobs, so how can he possibly get his life together? Now I would […]
Bye Bye Bye – Red Rocket (2021)
“When I was young I believed in three things: Marxism, the redemptive power of cinema and dynamite. Now I just believe in dynamite.” – Sergio Leone The great Italian director Sergio Leone was and remains one of the titans of international cinema. Despite such a meager output of only seven films (eight if one were […]
Duck, You Sucker! (1971) – The False Facades of Heroism and Revolution
