Following Murder on The Orient Express and Death On The Nile, A Haunting In Venice is the third entry in Kenneth Branagh’s vivid, energetic but at times erratic and overcooked Agatha Christie adaptations. Like the two previous films, this one benefits from a few standout performances and its probing of detective Hercule Poirot’s formidable intellect and complex psyche. More than
Read moreWhile it doesn’t always hit the mark, in its best moments the jet-black culinary comedy The Menu cleverly (and violently) skewers foodie pretention, the cult of celebrity chefs, the loss of artistic credibility and America’s unspoken class system. There are familiar flavours here with dashes of Agatha Christie, Alfred Hitchcock, Michael Haneke, disturbing dinner party dramas like Luis Bunuel’s The
Read moreThe 2018 Halloween reboot tapped into horror fans’ ravenous nostalgia for the original 1978 film while delivering a strong storyline that gave the franchise a credible place in today’s world. That film’s unadorned visual style made the scares more convincing and effective while interestingly exploring the traumatic impact of knife-wielding murderer Michael Myers on heroine Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis).
Read moreBefore it makes a bizarre misstep in its finale, Fall effectively mixes vertiginous Cliff-hanger-like ‘dangling over the edge’ thriller with a ‘young woman exorcising personal demons through physical ordeal’ drama reminiscent of the Reece Witherspoon film Wild and the Blake Lively film The Shallows. In the old ‘establish the emotional baggage’ sequence, our sensitive yet ballsy rock climbing heroine Becky (Grace
Read moreBodies, Bodies, Bodies is an occasionally clever but mostly annoying, collision of whodunit thriller and millennial culture making it a cacophony of catchphrases and social media references occasionally interspersed by killings. The film employs the familiar set up of a group of friends – in this case mostly loud, obnoxious, twenty-something rich kids – converging on a sprawling mansion for
Read moreHi folks. Here’s the review of latest film for writer/ director, Scott Derrickson, The Black Phone, starring Ethan Hawke, Mason Thames and Madeleine McGraw, as heard on ‘Built For Speed’ on Fri 15th July 2022.
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