18.3.24 Years from now, when scholars and film enthusiasts discuss films that masterfully balance the mundanity and disturbingness of evil, The Zone of Interest will no doubt be mentioned as a seminal reference. Director Jonathan Glazer’s unique approach to shooting and crafting the film, coupled with a truly unsettling soundtrack, contextualises the pure evil and […]
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5.1.24 God, I wish Jeremy Allen White was my big brother too. With a surprisingly excellent lead performance from Zac Efron in terms of physical prowess and emotional rawness, The Iron Claw does a brilliant job of dramatising the highs and lows of one of professional wrestling entertainment’s most infamous families. From the opening scene,
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31.12.23 What a pleasure it was to watch my first official film of 2024, on the last day of 2023 with my family during the extended Christmas break. Ideally, The Holdovers really should have been released in the UK before the 25th, although due to the awards recognition it’s getting, it makes sense to delay
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15.1.24 Society of the Snow offers a stark and stomach-churning portrayal of the infamous 1972 Andes plane disaster and the harrowing survival story that followed. The film wastes no time plunging viewers into the chaos of the crash itself – a technically impressive sequence that truly makes you feel the terror and panic. What follows
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10.3.24 Sofia Coppola always seems to nail the portrayals of ‘contained women’ in her films, as showcased brilliantly in Lost in Translation and The Beguiled. Unfortunately though, I found Priscilla to be a mild disappointment, despite some great needle drops and artistic choices displaying Elvis as a less-than-sympathetic character. Based on the book ‘Elvis and
13.3.24 First 40 minutes is electric, so good I had to pause for the evening and restart the film after dinner Bella speaks and acts totally without inhibition She can understand but doesn’t. Not so much a comment on neurodiversity but moreso a commentary on the patriarchal shackles of women, how the instinctive female has
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2.1.24 One Life may be a simple, safe and predictable wartime drama, but like almost anything Antony Hopkins turns his hand to, it is greatly elevated in terms of emotion and weight through his heartwarming performance. As the ageing Nicholas Winton, Hopkins gracefully reflects the true story of the “British Oskar Schindler” who tried to
11.2.24 Paul Mescal? Impressive dance club scenes? A cripplingly sad film about dead parents? Haven’t we been here before? All of Us Strangers displays the fragility of memories of the past and the tenderness of moments in the present. Writer-director Andrew Haigh impressed me massively with 45 Years, and here he is with another hauntingly
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23.2.23 Subtle yet powerful, but far from melodramatic, Women Talking bottles feminist outrage into a wooden cabin, and then allows the voices within it to be wholeheartedly expressed. It’s dialogue-driven, contemplative and timely. I admit I wasn’t fully entertained by it, but it is certainly a film to be admired. I think the main star
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6.7.23 A shapeshifting multicoloured blast of nostalgia, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem may have one of the most annoyingly long titles of any film I can think of, but in a year of fantastic animation features, it still manages to stand out due to its meticulous style remixed with vibrant doodles, entertaining voice-cast, and
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