Author Archives: Sam S-P
Film Confessional #4: Lost in Translation
I have a confession to make…I really don’t like LOST IN TRANSLATION. Sofia Coppola’s critically applauded, Oscar-winning mediation on life, love and other stuff not only didn’t connect with me on an emotional, intellectual, or philosophical level, but I often … Continue reading
Review: Doomsday (2008)
DOOMSDAY is by far the weakest link in British writer-director Neil Marshall’s career so far. Following a pair of highly original horror films DOG SOLDIERS and THE DESCENT, Marshall endeavoured to continue his run of success, and sadly as soon as he brought sci-fi … Continue reading
Review: Flight (2012)
FLIGHT is a solid high-concept drama for the most part, and is certainly the best thing Robert Zemeckis has done in a long time. The story of William “Whip” Whitaker (Denzel Washington), a skilled airline pilot with a severe dependence … Continue reading
Breaking Bad: A Very Filmic Television Experience
BREAKING BAD has now come to a glorious end, and it really was a television marvel. The show, about a cancer-stricken chemistry teacher cooking crystal meth to secure his family’s future, was thematically layered, beautifully performed, perfectly paced, artfully filmed and … Continue reading
Review: The Sessions (2012)
THE SESSIONS may well be one of the most honest and unabashed discussions of sex and disability on film. John Hawkes gives a remarkable performance as the real-life severely disabled journalist and poet Mark O’Brien, who having lead a miraculous and … Continue reading
Review: Brick (2005)
BRICK is the kind of film that really shouldn’t work. The premise: a hardboiled detective film set in an American high school. It’s a unique combination of disparate ideas, and somehow everything comes together and makes for a fantastically weird and wonderful end … Continue reading
Ooo, you big tease, Ultron!
Well the teaser trailer for THE AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON that many saw at Comic Con this year has finally landed in shiny HD online. Obviously, it’s just a teaser, and nothing (as far as we know) has actually been … Continue reading
Iron Man 3: Marvel’s Gambit Pays Off (In My Opinion)
The general consensus about whether Shane Black’s IRON MAN 3 is any good seems to be split about 50/50. Personally, I loved it – it’s a bold, pacey, sometimes dark and nearly always funny hero-in-crisis movie. I see it as … Continue reading
SSP Thinks Film 
Smaug Speaks!
Behold! We’ve been offered another peak at Peter Jackson’s second chapter of Bilbo’s adventure THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG, and it looks pretty promising. We get glowering Legolas, again played by Orlando Bloom (looking noticeably chunkier a decade on), … Continue reading →