Review: Intolerable Cruelty The Coens reunite with George Clooney for this black comedy about lawyer Miles Massey (Clooney) who specialises in winning big divorce cases but more than meets his match when he comes up against Marylin Rexroth (Catherine Zeta-Jones) who does not suffer defeat gladly and what follows is a fierce exchange between her [...]
Review: Requiem for a Dream Darren Aronofsky’s Requiem for a Dream is one film I’ve wanted to see for ages. The feedback I’d heard was very positive though strangely my knowledge of the film’s plot was basic to say the least. All I was assured of was this was going to be a gritty experience [...]
Review: Norwegian Wood Those that know me well would tell you Haruki Murakami’s Norwegian Wood is my favourite novel and one I have loved ever since I first read it. When I learned that a film was being made I was both excited and apprehensive. I’m not against film adaptations of books but they have [...]
Review: Notes on a Scandal Based on the novel by Zoe Heller, Notes on a Scandal tells the story of Barbara Covett (Judi Dench), a history teacher who lives a lonely life, her only friends being her cat and the diaries she keeps. When a new teacher, Sheba (Cate Blanchett), joins the school, Barbara is [...]
Review: A Cock and Bull Story I remembered studying The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy at university. I wrote an essay under exam conditions on it and got 74%, my highest ever mark, a 1st class distinction, yet I’d only read 10 pages of this unusual and complex novel. Its author Lawrence Sterne was [...]
Review: Mimic An earlier effort from director Guillermo del Toro, Mimic begins with a deadly disease that is killing children in Manhattan and is coming from cockroaches. Entomologist Susan Tyler (Mira Sorvino) is called in and with her husband Peter Mann (Jeremy Northam) develops Judas Breed, a large insect that secretes an enzyme to kill [...]
Review: Burke and Hare I hadn’t heard anything of John Landis for years until I happened upon this film. The director of The Blues Brothers and An American Werewolf in London had not made a film for a decade so naturally I was eager to see if he was still churning out the same classics [...]
Review: Rosemary’s Baby (1968) It’s hard being a fan of films and not hearing something about Roman Polanski’s classic horror film, Rosemary’s Baby. I had never seen this one until now I’m ashamed to admit but I knew the film had something to do with a pregnant woman carrying a somewhat sinister child but other [...]
Review: Gentleman’s Agreement It’s not unreasonable to assume that if Jewish people come up in a conversation there will be mention of the Holocaust which is something none of us should ever forget. What may surprise many people, myself included here, is the prevalence of anti-Semitism in the aftermath of the Second World War, a [...]
Review: Killer Klowns from Outer Space Directed by Stephen Chiodo, Killer Klowns from Outer Space is one of those films that doesn’t require much explanation given its title. The locals at Crescent Cove, California, witness a comet or meteor falling to earth and first a farmer and later a young couple Mike (Grant Cramer) and [...]
Review: Phenomena Dario Argento’s cult horror classic tells the story of Jennifer Corvino (Jennifer Connelly) who is sent to a boarding school in Switzerland. There she learns that murders have been taking place for the last year and the girls at the school are very much in danger. Nice welcome, eh? One night, Jennifer goes [...]
Review: Knowing Many believe in prophecies and fate, that frightening notion that everything we do is pre-determined and that truth be told we have no control of our destinies. Alex Proyas Knowing explores the possibility of being able to see disasters in the future and explores how, if possible, we can try to avert such [...]
Review: Shelter I remember first seeing Jonathan Rhys Meyers in Gormenghast and finding him a revelation as the dark and twisted Steerpike. Since then he’s been racking up the credits on both TV and the big screen. Shelter saw him paired up with Julianne Moore, another good acting talent, so my hopes were understandably high when [...]
Review: Darkness Jaume Balaguero’s horror flick tells the story of an American family that move into a new home in Spain. While Maria (Lena Olin) is focused on unpacking everything immediately, her husband Mark (Iain Glen) is pre-occupied with work and their children Regina (Anna Paquin) and Paul (Stephan Enquist) are settling into school. Things take [...]
Review: I Love You Philip Morris When Jim Carrey first came to the fore with the likes of Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and The Mask I found a lot to admire with this new comic talent but never expected him to endure as he has. Carrey’s durability comes not from his comedy roles but from his [...]
Review: Piranha Terrors of the deep continues to be a popular theme in films these day. How many swimmers and sailors have been picked off since Roy Scheider’s pinpoint shot blew the original shark out of the water in Jaws? Spielberg’s classic has never been beaten and I can’t see it happening. It wasn’t the first [...]
Review: Mirrors 2 I’ve never fancied being a security guard or night watchman. I’m not the bravest of people so would be pretty useless in confrontations so best to leave others to it. Victor Garcia’s Mirrors 2 is a good reason why one shouldn’t be a night watchman. Just like the first film this builds a [...]
Review: The Experiment I’ve always been intrigued by people that sign up for drug trials, not being able to imagine doing the same thing myself. Can such trials ever guarantee one’s safety? Paul Scheuring’s The Experiment, a remake of the 2001 German film, and loosely based on a true story explores the consequences of a [...]
