Queer is Call Me By Your Name and Challengers director Luca Guadagnino’s adaptation of William S. Burroughs semi-autobiographical 1985 novella. That book is known for conjuring a visceral, sweaty and seedy world fuelled by the lead character’s self-loathing. Guadagnino’s film while artful and inventive is too manicured to capture this primal world. Queer sees Daniel Craig playing William Lee, an
Read moreThe 25th James Bond film, No Time to Die had promised to appear so many times we were starting to wonder whether it actually existed. Of course, Covid was largely blame for its absence but thankfully, with cinemas now open, it’s finally with us and it was definitely worth the wait. No Time to Die is the final Bond film
Read moreAfter a lumbering foray into the Star Wars franchise with The Last Jedi, director Rian Johnson returns to what he does best, quirky character-based crime dramas in the flawed but highly enjoyable murder mystery Knives Out. The film plays like an alternate reality Agatha Christie story as a group of suspects (played by a typical all-star cast) gather at a
Read moreIn 2016, director Steven Soderbergh announced he was taking a break from filmmaking to concentrate on other projects. Thankfully, this intriguing, idiosyncratic auteur has returned to the big screen for the subdued but quirkily charming hillbilly heist comedy/ drama Logan Lucky. Set in an economically depressed part of West Virginia the film sees recently sacked construction worker and former high
Read moreThe last James Bond movie, Sam Mendes’ Skyfall was, for the most part, an exciting and clever re-imagining of Bond mythology that drew on both the Bourne movies and the Christopher Nolan’s Batman films for its visceral action, genuinely menacing villain and creepy noir atmosphere. It’s departure from the more frivolous and hedonistic style of the older Bond films didn’t
Read moreThe plots of James Bond films are usually confusing to the point of being irrelevant and just an excuse for bond to go shagging and shooting his way around the globe. Skyfall has its fair share of bedroom gymnastics and killings but it also has greater psychological depth and emotional complexity than just about any Bond film as it forces
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