Category Archives: Film Review
Review in Brief: A Cure for Wellness (2016/17)
A CURE FOR WELLNESS is clean and cold, calculated and stylish horror. It’s about time we had a psychological scarer about that oft-heard euphemism “Going to Switzerland”. I think it’s aiming to be a scathing critique of non-stop modern work … Continue reading
Review: Okja (2017)
I’ve loved the work of South Korean genre-manipulator Bong Joon-ho since university. Criminally, we never got his last film SNOWPIERCER in the UK (at least not officially), so the fact that his latest, OKJA, has gone straight to Netflix is … Continue reading
Review in Brief: The First Film (2015)
Boast time: I’ve met David Wilkinson. He gave a guest lecture on film distribution while I was studying Film at university. As a fellow Yorkshireman, I wanted him to be right about the first film being produced in this great … Continue reading
Review: Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING is a case of too many cooks. This isn’t surprising considering this is a joint venture between Marvel (who provide the universe the film inhabits, plus that stamp of quality) and Sony (who retain the characters and the … Continue reading
Review in Brief: John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017)
JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 2 loses some of the original’s freshness, but it retains a tonne of entertainment value. The action scenes are inventive and bloody, of particular note a glossy ENTER THE DRAGON homage (yes, it’s a homage, not a … Continue reading
Review: Baby Driver (2017)
BABY DRIVER isn’t just Edgar Wright’s long-awaited return to work after being stung by a big studio. Wright’s first American film also represents his coming of age as a filmmaker. Maturity on film isn’t just about going darker or toning … Continue reading
TV Review in Brief: American Gods Season 1 (2017)
The Brian Fuller-fronted adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s neo-fantasy epic AMERICAN GODS for me is a great take on this material. It vividly recreates many of the weird and wonderful moments from the first stretch of the book, but the series’ … Continue reading
Review in Brief: A United Kingdom (2016)
There’s not a whole lot wrong with A UNITED KINGDOM, but at the same time there’s also very little to set the world on fire. You can imagine it becoming a firm favourite for cosy Sunday afternoon viewing in years … Continue reading
Review: Notes on Blindness (2016)
If you are able, stop what you are doing right now and go watch NOTES ON BLINDNESS. It is a sublime, painfully moving, almost religious experience. While it draws influence from many a source, you’ve never seen a documentary quite … Continue reading
Review in Brief: The Void (2017)
THE VOID, appropriately enough, starts with a void. It also starts as a taut, tense suspense horror but disappointingly becomes too derivative and something far less in its final act. Cult psychos without, Lovecraftian horrors within; the film is at … Continue reading
