Film review: NON-STOP, from Built For Speed

Liam Neeson’s latest film Non-stop will no doubt have had action junkies salivating. The no-nonsense title and a poster that features Neeson blasting away with a pistol in the middle of an aeroplane cabin, suggests a Taken-style parade of relentless and mindless action.  Those who delight in cinematic carnage may, however, be slightly peeved to discover that, aside from a

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Film review: THE RAILWAY MAN, from Built For Speed

Set mostly in 1980 and based on a true story, British-Australian co-production The Railway Man begins as a typically quirky, charming romance set in a world of steam trains and verdant English countryside.  The film recalls Brief Encounter as the calm, sensible and sensitive Patti (Nicole Kidman) meets and eventually marries the awkward, dishevelled trainspotting nerd Eric Lomax (Colin Firth). 

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Film review: ONE MILE ABOVE, from Built For Speed

One Mile Above from director Jiayi Du is a mostly successful mix of humanist drama, travelogue and adventure story that occasionally recalls Sean Penn’s Into the Wild in its tale of a man confronting the elements and himself. The film follows the journey of young Taiwanese man Zhang (Zhang Shuhao) who decides to honour his late brother by completing a

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Film review: PERFORMANCE, from Built For Speed

Not to be confused with Nic Roeg’s freaky 1970 counter-culture film, Performance depicts the traumas afflicting a revered American string quartet as they confront human frailty in its many forms.  The film was originally titled A Late Quartet but this was changed in Australia to avoid confusion with Dustin Hoffman’s film Quartet which also focused on a group of classical musicians.

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Film review: SIDE EFFECTS, from Built For Speed

America’s all-consuming obsession with psychiatric treatment and feel-good pharmaceuticals is the back drop for Steven Soderbergh’s intriguing, atmospheric but convoluted thriller, Side Effects. In this film Rooney Mara plays Emily a young woman who, after her husband’s (Channing Tatum) release from prison, begins to exhibit strange and even suicidal behaviour. When a psychiatrist Dr Jonathon Banks (Jude Law) prescribes Emily

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