Ever since Jaws terrified beach-goers out of the water in 1975, sharks have been a cinematic symbol of menace and primal terror. There’s something particularly unnerving about floating around in the vast inky blackness of the ocean knowing that a huge, hungry razor-tooth creature could appear from nowhere and start munching on you. The Shallows, the latest film from Non-stop
Read moreIn 2011 Bridesmaids set the standard for female raunch comedy. Neatly balancing obscenity and sensitivity the film showed that women behaving badly can be just as funny as men. Bad Moms aims to one-up Bridesmaids by taking those paragons of virtue, responsibility and compliance, namely, mothers and having them gleefully cast off the shackles of both domestic servitude and society’s
Read moreThe British TV comedy Absolutely Fabulous, which began in 1992 and ran sporadically for the next decade, was beloved for its gleefully irresponsible, selfish and politically incorrect lead characters Eddie (Jennifer Saunders) and Patsy (Joanna Lumley). As high-flying, perpetually partying career women from the PR and fashion worlds they were a kind of Dorian Grey embodiment of the ridiculous, superficial,
Read moreThis week on ‘Built For Speed’ we take a look at Bridget Jones’s Baby, will it be good news for fans of the series after the critically savaged Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason? We also have a look at the latest film from Clerks director Kevin Smith, a very unusual comedy entitled Yoga Hosers. There’s a feast of music as we
Read moreThe powerful, disturbing drama Embrace of the Serpent provides a scathing indictment of white colonialism and it’s destruction of indigenous cultures in the Amazon basin. The film is based on the diaries of two scientists from different decades: German ethnographic researcher Theodor Koch-Grunberg (Jan Bijvoet) and Botanist Richard Evans Schultes (Brionne Davis). Koch-Grunberg conducted a four year study of the
Read moreBack in 2002 The Bourne Identity established in Jason Bourne, a new kind of movie spy, one with the destructive skills and resourcefulness of James Bond but none of the imperialism, sexism or playboy antics. This approach was refreshingly gritty and confronting and not surprisingly has heavily influenced the style of recent Bond films. The Bourne franchise struck a major
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