Author Archives: Sam S-P
Review: The Revenant (2015)
I’m one of a rapidly shrinking camp that still thinks that BIRDMAN deserved to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards last year. Director Alejandro G. Iñárritu is an iconoclast out to shake things up in Hollywood by being stylistically … Continue reading
Review: The Hateful Eight (2015)
With THE HATEFUL EIGHT Quentin Tarantino may well have invented a new sub-genre: the misdirection-Western. The mystery that is seemingly a key plot point from the second act onward is, in fact, pretty incidental. While this might disappoint some, the … Continue reading
Review: Aloha (2015)
Hey they used the old film studio logos and fanfares – that probably means something, right? A lot in ALOHA probably means something, but I’ll be damned if I can puzzle out what Cameron Crowe wanted his movie to say, … Continue reading
Review: Black Mass (2015)
BLACK MASS is a frustrating beast. I’d recommend you just watch THE DEPARTED again instead as it’s a much better Boston gangsters and informants movie that was partly based on Whitey Bulger’s story anyway. In the 1970s and 1980s, few … Continue reading
Looking Back and Looking Forward: 2015
It’s that time of year, where every critic professional and amateur alike publishes some sort of Best of the Year list. This time last year, I thought 2014 was a mixed bag. 2015 may have been even more so. There … Continue reading
Review: Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens (2015)
First, a disclaimer: STAR WARS is one of my favourite things in this, or any, galaxy. It was my childhood playground and will always have a very special place reserved in my heart. Now arguably the most highly antipated film … Continue reading
Review: Cop Car (2015)
Marvel Studios are unrivaled at spotting raw talent early and snapping it up before the rest of the world notices. From Tom Hiddleston to the Russo Brothers, the latest to be enlisted by the world’s most powerful film studio is … Continue reading
SSP Thinks Film 
“Alas…he won’t be joining us for the rest of his life” (RIP Alan Rickman)
January 2016 will go down as a cruel time for the arts. Just days after transcendent musician David Bowie passed away at 69 from cancer, character actor extraordinaire Alan Rickman has died at the same age from the same dreadful … Continue reading →