Review // Safe House
The career of Ryan Reynolds appears to be comprised of two halves: Ryan Reynolds the charming and almost-too-likable heart throb, and Ryan Reynolds the somewhat unconvincing but ultimately pleasant action hero. Actually, that analysis doesn’t give him quite enough credit – ‘Green Lantern’ may have been a complete disaster, but his appearances in ‘Smokin’...
Review // Miike Snow- ‘Happy To You’
Releasing their self-titled debut back in 2009, Swedish trio Miike Snow had disappeared off our radar with not even so much as a clue to their return, until now. Leaving our brains yearning for more after showcasing their live shows in ridiculously small venues across the country (Liverpool Barfly-RIP-anyone?), their second endeavour, ‘Happy To You’,...
Review // A Dangerous Method
Psychoanalysis has cast a long shadow over culture for many years, to the point that theories like Freudian slips have become part and parcel of everyday life. The story of Sigmund Freud and his protege Carl Jung is just as interesting as their revolutionary theories, and in his adaptation of Christopher Hampton’s play The...
Review // Young Adult
High school can often be a difficult time for those not high up in the social pecking order. Most would never want to go back to school, many dream of finishing sooner rather than later. But for some, like our tortured antagonist in Young Adult, it’s impossible to let go of those glory days....
Review // The Descendants
Fans of director Alexander Payne have been a patient bunch. His last film, the critically acclaimed, wonderfully warm and witty Sideways, was released eight years ago. Since then it’s been a long wait for the follow-up but The Descendants lives up to every expectation you could hope for in a Payne film. Hawaiian...
Review // The Artist
There’s a moment in Billy Wilder‘s 1950 noir masterpiece Sunset Boulevard when Gloria Swanson, herself a faded silent movie star, says that in those days actors didn’t need words, they just needed expressions and presence. This is a comment that forms the basis for the physical nature of Michael Hazanavicius‘ sparkling silent-movie homage The...
Film review // Attack the Block
Attack the Block might seem like your average alien spoof movie with cheap laughs and low budget gore and on a basic level that is exactly what this film is. However at the heart of the movie there is intelligent observation on youth culture in Britain today. The film is a far...
Review // Vice – Teenage Riot
On the 10th November, I went down to the Student Protests at Knightsbridge, partly out of curiosity, partly as it was an opportunity to flyer for a friend’s club night and partly because I was meeting a friend in Covent Garden. I’d never been to a protest before so I didn’t know quite what to expect....
Review // The King’s Speech
A few years ago ‘The Queen’ was released to great acclaim, earning Helen Mirren numerous accolades as she took up her role as the monarch in the aftermath of Princess Diana’s death. It was one of those ‘British Movies That Could’, heralding perhaps a new Golden Age for British Cinema. However, when I saw it I...
