Author Archives: Sam S-P
Review: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE is awesome. An awesome animated feature, an awesome superhero movie, an awesome coming-of-age story, an awesome film. Did I mention it was awesome? When a extra-dimensional portal is opened in New York, recently superpowered Spider-Man Miles … Continue reading
Review in Brief: An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn (2018)
I never did review THE GREASY STRANGLER. I’m not even sure I could. I think I might struggle to talk about AN EVENING WITH BEVERLY LUFF LINN as well. Jim Hosking’s follow-up is populated by similarly freakish characters and a … Continue reading
Review in Brief: The Night Comes for Us (2018)
I never thought I’d say this about any martial arts movie, but THE NIGHT COMES FOR US makes THE RAID films look tame. It’s not just the lead who’s a mostly unstoppable killing machine but his friends as well. The … Continue reading
Review in Brief: Early Man (2018)
EARLY MAN is a gentle, cosy watch. It’s Aardman and Nick Park sticking firmly to his house style, playing it very safe. There’s maybe three cracking jokes in the whole thing, but all the Bristol claymation house’s usual handmade imagination … Continue reading
Review: Beast (2017/18)
BEAST is just my jam. It’s a dark – bleak even – horror-mystery set in a far-flung and beautiful corner of the UK. It’s also a family drama where the family doesn’t enter into it much, because our lead would … Continue reading
Review: Mowgli (2018)
Giving a wolf Peter Mullen’s face and all the other creatures of the jungle distinctive deformities doesn’t make your JUNGLE BOOK adaptation interesting. The mo-capped actors in MOWGLI don’t exactly have to stretch themselves; Bale can always fall back on … Continue reading
Review in Brief: Apostle (2018)
Gareth Evans’s APOSTLE has three things going for it: another killer propulsive soundtrack from Aria Prayogi and Fajar Yuskemal (THE RAID), the director’s usual grisly visual panache, and Michael Sheen. The rest of it is a misstep for the previously … Continue reading
Review: Shoplifters (2018)
The list of Japanese films about petty crime and forgotten underclasses is short. The other that immediately springs to mind is TOKYO GODFATHERS and like Satoshi Kon’s Christmas animation, SHOPLIFTERS follows an unconventional family unit brought together on the streets … Continue reading
Review in Brief: Cam (2018)
CAM is easily the most disturbing horror of 2018, not just because of its effective technical mounting and the barnstorming lead performance from Madeline Brewer, but because it feels so relevant to the here and now. Much like INGRID GOES … Continue reading
Review in Brief: Outlaw King (2018)
Don’t compare OUTLAW KING to BRAVEHEART, compare it to IRONCLAD. This is brutal, dirty history, and there’s not a kilt in sight. Chris Pine is a softly spoken and dignified Robert the Bruce, Florence Pugh is a fiery counterpoint to … Continue reading
SSP Thinks Film 