One can safely say that Alan Rickman’s floral fiasco A Little Chaos is anything but chaotic. It is an uncharismatic romance with the occasional flare of costume drama silliness, making the film so stiflingly rigid it would go perfectly with high tea on daytime television. Opening in the bedroom of Louis XIV, there is a…
Review: Fifty Shades of Grey
Director: Sam Taylor-Johnson Screenplay: Kelly Marcel Starring: Jamie Dornan, Dakota Johnson, Jennifer Ehle Runtime: 120 mins Genre: Drama/Romance Opening with a rather crude montage of grey Seattle cityscape, a clumsy reference to the title, we meet Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson) and Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan) as they prepare for an interview at his towering silver office block. Anastasia is…
Good Trip/Bad Trip
Riot on Sunset Strip (1967) Andy’s (Mimsy Farmer) sinister trip in the rarely seen Hippie exploitation film Riot on Sunset Strip cleverly reflects the sense of building paranoia present in 60s America. Having had a LSD laced sugar cube dissolved in her drink by one of the hippies at a party, Andy, an innocent young…
Decades of Film: 1960s
LICENSE TO THRILL Coming out in 1962 to a backdrop of cold wars and hot Beatles tunes, the film Dr No was a slick, cheeky spy thriller based on a book series by Ian Fleming’s James Bond series. The books were popular, but not as popular as the film series which is currently the longest…
Review: Testament of Youth
Director: James Kent Writer: Juliette Towhidi Starring: Alicia Vikander, Kit Harington, Dominic West Runtime: 129mins Genre: Biography/Drama Testament of Youth is a stunning yet devastatingly sorrowful biographic drama from director James Kent about the experiences of Vera Brittain, a young woman whose aspirations for an Oxford education are halted by the outbreak of the First…
Review: 2001: A Space Odyssey
Director Stanley Kubrick Writers Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke Starring Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester Runtime 160 mins Sci-Fi Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey still stands as the archetypal science-fiction movie, marking the genre’s coming of age with a philosophical meditation on space, time and the nature of mankind….
Review: The Imitation Game
Director Morten Tyldum Writer Graham Moore Starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode Runtime 114 mins Biography/Drama Joining the ranks of The King’s Speech and The Iron Lady as the latest Oscar-baiting British biopic, The Imitation Game chronicles the life of cryptanalysis and computer forefather, Alan Turing. With a poignant performance from its lead,…
Review: Arthur & Mike
Despite being dotted with moments of cheerfulness, Dante Ariola’s debut about a failed golf-pro and his melancholy travelling companion falls short on the first hole. One can only assume its monotony is the cause of the film’s delayed UK release and rebranding from original title Arthur Newman. Arthur & Mike follows the story of Wallis…
Feminism in Film: Emma Watson, Famous Feminist
“Who is this Harry Potter girl and what is she doing speaking at the UN?” Emma Watson spoke these words when launching the ‘HeforShe’ gender equality campaign during a conference in New York, aware that the question was in the mind of many viewers. Yet Watson’s filmography displays an emerging ability to explore and question…
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