Film Reviews

Review by Leslie Byron Pitt/@Afrofilmviewer Very much a cult curiosity, Black Mama White Mama condenses a truck load of plotting into what is effectively an exploitation chase flick. The results vary. While it’s fun to see a film which heavily influenced Quentin Tarantino, the film is so interested in stuffing itself with mobsters, corrupt cops and revolutionaries that the more interesting elements sometimes get lost. Set in an unknown exotic location (the film was shot in the Philippines), Pam Grier...

By Leslie Byron Pitt/@afrofilmviewer The French original 2008 version of Martyrs is reminiscent of the delightful internet meme: Honey Badger don’t care. It is a relentless beast of a horror film. Fully assured of its nihilism and unrepentant on who knows it.  A force of nature that wasn’t for everyone, but turned those who were with it into devout followers. Now in 2016, America comes forth with a remake of Pascal Laugier brutal exercise. Feature one would liken more towards...

By Leslie Byron Pitt/@Afrofilmviewer Seth Rogan’s Christmas comedy the night before runs on a very defined “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” rule. This adult x-mas yarn has Rogan playing side kick (along with Anthony Mackie) to Joseph Gorden-Levitt’s Ethan, whose quest to find and enjoy New York’s dopest secret festive party, plays off very much in the way that you would expect it to. With varying results. There isn’t that much to expect and little to say about...

Review by Michael Ewins/@E_Film_Blog Over guttural bass and wobbly drum loops spill a barrage of localized sprechgesang, and from the other side of the pit, stomping boots and tributes of spit. This is what a Sleaford Mods gig sounds like - intoxicated, caustic, and very funny. But a Sleaford Mods gig is also what punk looks like in 2016, and it's not what you expect - disco lights, a laptop, and one bloke in a polo shirt flailing around as...

Review by Leslie Byron Pitt/@Afrofilmviewer The TV plays and we hear of a kidnapped boy (Jaeden Lieberher). We see a faded image of the kidnapper (Michael Shannon), then we see the man himself. He says little, but his expression speaks emphatically.  Quietly intense and driven. The boy is sitting on a hotel bed. Reading comics with googles on. The googles are deceptive. It would be easy to consider them as an item of childhood comfort. He doesn’t appear scared, nor...

By Leslie Byron Pitt/@Afrofilmviewer This writer remembers trying awkwardly to impress an ex with Waking Life. Much like what one hears about David Forster Wallace’s Infinite Jest or Jean-Jacques Beineix’s Betty Blue (1986), Waking Life does feel like one of those features that certain inelegant young (male) students would use to show their “depth”. Drunkenly pontificating on the meaning of life to “display their knowledge” but probably just trying to use it to score some points with the opposite sex....

By Michael McNulty Extraction could not have been more appropriately titled. Like having all four of your molars pulled at once it requires a general anesthetic to get you through it. As unimaginative as that was, it’s on a level with the quality of this film. Former CIA operative Leonard Turner, played by a Bruce Willis (who must have stipulated in his contract that he would only provide a level of enthusiasm equal to that of a slug) is kidnapped...

by Miranda Schiller @mirandadadada “The Right to Happiness”, this year’s Berlinale motto, is clearly linked to the one most talked about topic in the German media this year: Refugees. Donation boxes for the Berlin Centre for Torture Victims in every cinema, various programmes to help refugees in Berlin, from free tickets to school projects to traineeships, are the concrete ways the Berlinale participates in the effort to welcome refugees. Even George Clooney, star of the opening film “Hail, Caesar!”, has...

Reviewed by Miranda Schiller @mirandadadada Kate and Justin are expecting their first child when new neighbours move into the downstairs flat of their converted terraced house. The new couple, Theresa  (Laura Birn) and Jon, are also expecting a child. While Theresa is full of joy at the prospect of being a mother, Kate (Clémence Poésy) is insecure and fearful about her ability to cope with the responsibility for a child. She quickly warms to the outgoing Theresa and a friendship...