We’re the Millers is one of this year’s guilty pleasures. Even though it’s low-brow, formulaic and implausible, it’s still an enjoyable comedy. The film bubbles away in an amiable, mildly risqué fashion that recalls the National Lampoon Vacation movies. Its trump card is a fine cast of comedy actors led by Jason Sudeikis and Jennifer Aniston whose well-honed comic timing
Read moreSouth African director Neill Blomkamp burst onto cinema screens in 2009 with his superb debut film District 9. That film intelligently mixed sci-fi spectacle with biting humour, Kafkaesque themes of identity loss and potent social commentary about poverty, the plight of refugees and socio-economic and racial divisions in South Africa. District 9 was always going to be a tough act
Read moreStar-packed crime caper film Now You See Me plunges us into the world of glitzy, big-budget magic shows normally occupied by the likes of David Copperfield and Siegfried and Roy. In a fun but extremely far-fetched storyline, four famed magicians J. Daniel Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg), Henley Leeves (Isla Fisher), Merrit McKinney (Woody Harrelson) and Jack Wilder (Dave Franco) are recruited
Read moreSophia Coppola’s latest film The Bling Ring is based on a 2010 Vanity Fair article about the antics of a group of LA high school kids who broke into the homes of dubious celebrities like Paris Hilton, Audrina Patridge and Lindsay Lohan to steal clothes and jewellery. In Sophia Coppola’s film the group are led by bratty alpha-female Nikki (Emma
Read moreThank you Michael Bay, just when directors like Richard Linklater thought they had tricked us into believing that quality cinema was about intelligent dialogue and nuanced characterisation, you remind us that movies are really all about oiled-up muscle men shooting, bashing and blowing each other up in slow-motion orgies of violence. Bay’s latest masterpiece Pain and Gain, which is loosely
Read moreIt’s time once again for the Bayside Film Festival and this week on Built For Speed we speak to festival director Richard Moore about all the wonderful cinematic treats on offer. It’s also time for Built For Speed’s classic album and this month we go back to 1977 for the debut self-titled album by The Clash. There’s also plenty of terrific new
Read more