Director Steve McQueen has distinguished himself with confronting and intelligent films that, while not highly experimental, avoid many of current cinema’s clichés. He impresses once again with a contemporary US adaptation – co-written by Gone Girl novelist Gillian Flynn – of Lynda la Plante’s 1980’s British crime drama Widows. Leading a superb cast, Viola Davis plays Veronica, the wife of
Read moreAnyone who saw Pawel Pawlikowski’s magnificent 2012 film Ida would be eagerly awaiting his latest release, Cold War and they definitely won’t be disappointed. Pawlikowski’s film’s pay obvious homage to new wave Polish cinema of the 1950’s but still have a wonderfully distinct style and tone with their stunning black and white cinematography and exquisite images contrasted with flawed, even
Read moreLow-key drama Lean on Pete is about as far from mass entertainment spectacle as cinema gets in 2018 but it’s one of the year’s best and most emotionally affecting films. Based on the Willy Vlautin novel, the film explores life on society’s bottom rungs through the experiences of 15-year-old Charley Thompson (Charlie Plummer). With his mother having left, Charley ekes
Read moreRight-wing revenge fantasy Peppermint is one of the biggest dogs of the year. This vile fascist garbage oddly combines Death Wish, a midday movie-style female empowerment yarn and an 80’s video nasty. Why Jennifer Garner chose to slum it in a film like this is mind-boggling but here she plays soccer mom Riley North who turns vigilante when a drug
Read moreThere’s a new movie version of Robin Hood about every 20 years and after the Errol Flynn classic they’ve become progressively sillier. Perhaps we’ve hit the nadir because it’s hard to imagine a version (Mel Brooks deliberately silly Robin Hood: Men in Tights aside) being more ridiculous than the latest one simply entitled Robin Hood. This film, from director Otto
Read moreEven by superhero film standards the latest DC offering, Aquaman is ludicrous. With its convoluted plot, ridiculous characters, strange casting and outrageously over-the-top visuals, Aquaman is a little like the dream – or perhaps nightmare – someone might have after consuming a dodgy pizza before bed time but that’s not to say this garish, lumbering monstrosity of a film doesn’t
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