New Movies

By Linda Marric In Going In Style, director Zach Braff opts of a rather generic style of filmmaking to bring us a less than exciting heist movie featuring three of Hollywood’s most respected veteran actors. This remake of a Martin Brest’s 1979 movie of the same premise and name, sadly falls short of convincing on all accounts, and in absence of an interesting story to tell, resorts instead to cheap laughs to make up for its shortcomings Joe (Michael Cain),...

By Linda Marric Black magic rituals and all manner of creepy shenanigans take centre stage in Liam Gavin's terrifying indie horror A Dark Song. Written as well as directed by this first time Irish director, the film offers a fresh twist on the “haunted house” genre, and takes its audience through a terrifyingly visceral journey in search of the occult and of the dark arts of necromancy. Sophia (Catherine Walker), is grief stricken after the violent death of her only...

Wyndham Hacket Pain @WyndhamHP It is always interesting when figures from what appears to be the opposite side of the film industry come together. With Aftermath there is on one hand Arnold Schwarzenegger, the much ridiculed former bodybuilder, Governor of California, and action movie veteran. On the other there is Darren Aronofsky, the artsy director of Black Swan, The Wrestler, and Requiem for a Dream, who co-produces this production. Going into the screening of this film it was to be...

By Linda Marric I Am Not Your Negro, five simple words which carry with them 400 years of American history. In this moving documentary drama, Raoul Peck gives legendary civil rights hero and award winning writer James Baldwin, a voice from beyond the grave almost thirty years after his passing. Credited in the film as writer, James Baldwin’s words can be heard through the masterfully solemn narration by Samuel L Jackson and tell a story from the frontline of the...

By Linda Marric Every so often a film comes along and awakens something in its audience, something so visceral, so real and so utterly mesmeric that you are left wondering why there are not more films like it being made. As luck would have it, Julia Ducournau’s film Raw definitely falls in that category. This beautifully shot and brilliantly acted production made a big splash back in October 2016 when it was selected as part of the official competition at...

By Linda Marric What is there left to say about Terence Davies that hasn’t already been said? Considered to be one the most accomplished filmmakers of his generation, the director of Sunset Song, Distant Voices Still Lives and Of Time And The City amongst other gems is back with his new film A Quiet Passion, in which he tackles the story of reclusive American poet Emily Dickinson. The film is a beautifully crafted, witty and moving account of a woman...

By Linda Marric Terence Davies never does anything by half, his ultimate devotion to every single subject he touches upon is the very thing which makes him into one of the most honest and uncompromising artists of our time. In A Quiet Passion, Davies delivers a beautifully nuanced and witty account of another uncompromising artist whose success only came to light after her untimely death. Emily Dickinson first featured in Terence Devies’ work in his now iconic poetic love letter...

By Linda Marric First released in 1974, Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s Ali: Fear Eats The Soul has become one of the German filmmaker’s most poignant work to date. This beautifully crafted melodrama deals with themes of love, alienations and racism in post-war Germany. Credited by some as being single-handedly responsible for reviving German cinema after the war, Fassbinder’s films were part of the New German Cinema movement, and saw him become one of the most influential directors of his time, at...

Never mind knocking, you’d be better off giving this uninspired urban chiller from director Caradog James the widest of berths. His 2013 debut feature, The Machine, may have garnered enough critical praise to suggest he was a filmmaker who could talk the talk, but Don’t Knock Twice, his stagnant second film, indicates that he’s yet to acquire the creative confidence needed to walk the walk. What makes this filmic failure all the more frustrating is that within the narrative is...