Tag: film review

Foxcatcher

Foxcatcher is a film that gives a lot of people a chance to shine.  A look at the lives of David and Mark Schultz, both of whom were Olympic amateur wrestlers and John E. Du Pont, an American millionaire and wrestling fan who runs Foxcatcher Farms on his mansion estate and wishes for it to be the headquarters of the USA’s wrestling program.  It’s a true life story and one that I shall not spoil for those of you that are unaware of its outcome, needless to say, there is a reason it has made its way onto film.

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The Theory of Everything

The Theory of Everything is the story of Stephen Hawking, a figure that even the most scientifically block headed will be well aware of.  Directed by James Marsh and based off the memoir of Hawking’s first wife, Jane Wilde Hawking, it stars Eddie Redmayne as the scientist who goes from a young and hopeful Cambridge PHD student, to a disabled, but world-renowned, scientist.  Hawking’s story is fascinating and even if this film occasionally views like a hagiography, it still has a lot in it to recommend.

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The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

Six films, more money than I count and a running time that goes over 1000 minutes (that’s not even talking about the extended editions) and Peter Jackson’s time in Middle Earth comes to an end with The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.  It has been one of cinema’s most ambitious projects and has seen the wonderful world that Tolkin created enter the mainstream in a way it had never done before.  However, there is no denying that there are still question marks over The Hobbit.  Particularly, as to whether it ever needed to be three films at all.

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What We Do In The Shadows

To say vampires have been popular in recent years is a bit of an understatement.  The success of franchises like Twilight, have seen our pointy toothed friends reappear on the big screen with a vengeance, although many would argue they lack the bite of old.  Of course, cinema has always faced these trends, whether it be zombies, werewolves or vampires, it always feels like one mythical beastie is on the top of the pile.  However, vampires seem to have been a bit under served in their current ascent of the mountain.  While I don’t harbour the dislike for Twilight that many others have, there is no denying Edward Cullen was hardly scary.  They have also yet to be spoofed in a successful way.  While zombies have been parodied so well that the RomZomCom is a recognised genre, vampires have seen themselves taken the mick out of in incredibly unimaginative ways, that were more likely to induce groans than laughter.  That is until What We Do in the Shadows came along.

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Mr Turner

Mike Leigh’s Mr Turner tells the story, perhaps unsurprisingly, of the life and career of J.M.W. Turner, the British painter, whom many consider as the man who elevated landscape painting to previously unseen heights.  I should say from the outset that I have little knowledge of Turner, I could not tell you of his life and only know the most basic of facts about his body of work.  However, I still went along to the film with great expectations.  It has been critically praised and Timothy Spall took the prize for Best Actor at Cannes.

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Interstellar

In this review I am going to attempt to spoil as little as possible about Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar, I’ve considered the ways to do this and in all honesty I think the simplest way is to avoid details of the plot entirely.  I like to think I can still give an opinion on it without ever describing it in detail.  Why?  Because there are some films that it is better to go into without any knowledge at all and because Nolan himself is well known to like it that way and who am I to argue.

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Nightcrawler

Films that look at the modern state of the media are hardly rare in this day and age.  With the UK having gone through phone tapping and the US having just as many problems themselves, the media is rife for a kicking, but few films have done so in the stylish, dark and twisted way that Nightcrawler does.  It’s the directorial debut from Dan Gilroy, who also wrote the script, which suggests that he may well be a film maker to watch in the years to come.

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’71

71

Any listeners to Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo’s weekly film show, Wittertainment as it has affectionately become known, will be aware of a long running joke about films that aren’t actually about what they appear to be about.  The classic example of this, at least in Mark Kermode’s opinion, is Jaws, which he proclaims is not about the shark, but actually about infidelity.  The most recent addition to this ‘genre’ is ’71, a film set in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, but which despite this, is really not about the Troubles themselves.

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How dark should a film go?

Anyone who is a fan of Outnumbered, will know that writers Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkins have recently released a movie, What We Did On Our Holiday, staring David Tennant, Rosamund Pike and Billy Connolly.  Unsurprisingly, it will continue to use the same techniques, (ie. unscripted children interacting with scripted adults) that Outnumbered utilised so well.  Yet, since its release it has received mixed reviews, with many choosing to focus on a particularly dark twist, which the movie makes coming into the final act, as a reason for it’s issues, as it contrasts with the tone of what has come before.  However, is that actually an issue?  Or was Hamilton and Jenkins decision, actually a brave one?  (I should mention this will be spoiler free, in case anyone is worried.)

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