Film Reviews

Billy (Alex Lawther) is a flamboyant gay kid, largely estranged from his father (Larry Pine), until he has to move for the last year of high school when his beloved mother (Bette Midler) is ‘taken ill’. In a conservative school, Billy doesn’t fit in and is at one point beaten so badly that he ends up in a coma. When Billy recovers Flip (Ian Nelson), the high school football star he has become unlikely friends with, suggests that he tone...

One can’t help but feel that Sara Driver has missed an opportunity for a truly exciting and insightful documentary about one of the 20th century’s most interesting and revolutionary artists with her first film since her feature, When Pigs Fly. Although the title suggests an exploration of Jean-Michel Basquiat’s later teenage years, Driver fails to deliver.  A majority of the films modest 78-minute runtime dedicates itself to exploring the emergence and proliferation of New York’s colourful art scene circa the...

It would be easy to dismiss Ocean’s 8 as being little more than the cynical cash in it appears on the surface; a crass attempt to squeeze a few more bucks out of a stagnating franchise by assuming the façade of a contemporary ‘woman’s picture’. Indeed while this critic doesn’t concur with such musings, I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t in the back of my mind as I settled in to watch this soft reboot-cum-sequel to Steven Soderbergh’s...

Three years after the release of his debut feature Mediterranea, Italian director Jonas Carpignanoreturns with his second film A Ciambra. The title refers to the region of Italy where the film is set. It is here that we find a community of Romanian gypsies who live on the periphery of society. Among them is Pio (Pio Amato), a 14 year old boy who is desperate to grow up and take part in the criminal activity that is the sole source...

On April 26, 1977, Studio 54 opened its doors for the first time to crowds desperate to get the other side of the velvet ropes and past the blacked out doors that kept them out.  For many, the name undoubtedly conjures up images of whirring disco balls, celebrities and the seductive allure of debauchery.  Here, on the sweaty pit of the dance floor, crowds of Quaalude popping, disco-beat boppers welcomingly fell face forward into a world of vice and hedonism....

With the success in 2017 of Jordan Peele’s Oscar-winning, post-race horror Get Out, or more recently John Krasinski’s spine-chilling sci-fi hit A Quiet Place, it would be far too simplistic to speak of a sudden horror resurgence, especially when one considers that beyond the hype created around a few Hollywood-backed productions, horror fans have never really stopped consuming the genre in the same way they always have, and you only have to look at the continued success of horror themed film...

Sophie Brooks’ debut feature is a plucky heart-warmer that’s tender and beautifully observed. When Diana (Zosia Mamet) moves back to New York after a prolonged stay in London, she moves into her new apartment only to discover her ex-boyfriend lives in the flat below.  With a premise like that, Sophie Brooks’ debut feature, The Boy Downstairs, could quite easily have descended into the forgettable territory of low-budget, high concept rom-coms.  Instead, the director crafts a wonderfully tender and beautifully observed...

Andrew Kötting’s previous film, released this time last year, Edith Walks, paid homage to and told the story of Edith Swan Neck, the wife of King Harold.  Shot as an absurdist, quasi-experimental documentary, it followed Kötting and a band of merry travellers as they walked the 108 miles between Waltham Abbey to St. Leonards on Sea.  It was, in short, pish. Kötting returns with another experimental feature that blends narrative fiction with film essay in Lek and the Dogs.  And,...

Jurassic Park became the highest grossing film of all time when it was released in the summer of 1993. Its impact has been undeniable, as it ushered in the era of special effect laden blockbusters that we are still witnessing to this day. The original may have been followed by two disappointing sequels but the series roared back into life in 2015 with Jurassic World and returns once more with Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. The problem with the franchise’s sequels was that they were...