Film

By Stephen Mayne  @finalreel  Now in his 70’s, Stephen Hawking has spent half a century defying expectations. For a man given no more than a two year prognosis following diagnosis of motor neurone disease in 1963, he’s lived a life of astonishing achievement. It’s disheartening then, that The Theory of Everything chooses such a safely conventional route, never straying close to the boundaries Hawking continually pushes past. As much as it feels like a box ticking exercise though, James Marsh’s...

By Emma Silverthorn @HouseOf_Gazelle The cast and crew of Unbroken couldn’t be much more stellar; with Angela Jolie directing, the Coen brothers adapting Lauren Hilldenbrand’s memoir of Louis Zamperini’s life into the screenplay, and the exceptional Jack O’Connell in lead. O’Connell lives up to the hype that’s been surrounding him of late, and though he’s received some critical acknowledgement since 2007’s Skins, this is surely his breakthrough role. The film doesn’t disappoint in terms of delivering a gripping, emotive and...

By Anna Power  TLE Film Editor An effortlessly cool, funny, truly timeless film from Hollywood’s golden age of musicals; Guys and Dolls is the kind of film that plants a sloppy smile on your face and fills your head with snappy songs you'll catch yourself singing in the shower for weeks to come. So here are my top five reasons why you should see it: 1, Brando in a musical and he sings!: Arguably at the height of his considerable beauty,...

By Anna Power  Film Editor  @TLE_Film I knew nothing of the epic voyage that Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl made in 1947, sailing across the Pacific Ocean from Peru to Polynesia on a raft, so Kon-Tiki for me was a history lesson as well as a seafaring adventure story. Shot with breathtaking cinematography, the film is visually striking with genuinely awe-inspiring oceanic vistas complete with Dolphins, Sharks and electric Jellyfish. Pål Sverre Hagen plays charismatic adventurer Thor, who with little more...

By Anna Power, Film Editor Update Tuesday 23rd Dec: Sony in another U-turn have decided to release The Interview on December 25th. Bowing to presidential and public opinion the company have decided to go ahead with the release but to a limited theatrical audience.  Sony have announced that they are planning a simultaneous VOD release though they have yet to name the online streaming service.  UPDATE: CNN reports that Sony has now pulled the Christmas Day release of The Interview after...

By Stephen Mayne @finalreel It’s been thirteen years since Peter Jackson and his team first introduced their vision of Middle Earth to us. Now it looks like they’ve finally left the stage they borrowed from Tolkien and made their own. The Battle of the Five Armies proves a fitting conclusion, a gaudy exercise in excess that revels in all the strengths and weaknesses of its two predecessors. Jackson’s instincts were always right. This is the story of Thorin and Bilbo,...

By Emma Silverthorn @HouseOf_Gazelle The cast and crew of Unbroken couldn’t be much more stellar; with Angela Jolie directing, the Coen brothers adapting Lauren Hilldenbrand’s memoir of Louis Zamperini’s life into the screenplay, and the exceptional Jack O’Connell in lead. O’Connell lives up to the hype that’s been surrounding him of late, and though he’s received some critical acknowledgement since 2007’s Skins, this is surely his breakthrough role. The film doesn’t disappoint in terms of delivering a gripping, emotive and...

By Sam Inglis  @24fpsuk  I'm not sure that many documentaries are naturally suited to the cinema. Their stories are often big, but all too frequently the visual treatment of them seems small. The Green Prince proves no exception in this respect. Mosab Hassan Yousef has lived a fascinating life. He's the eldest son of Hassan Yousef, one of the founders of Hamas, and as such he was brought up in a radical family and in a movement that has sanctioned...

By Matt Mansfield  ‪@mattmansfield_ "We Tibetans are funny," says artist Tenzing Rigdol near the beginning of Tenzin Tsetan Choklay's documentary Bringing Tibet Home. "When people ask 'are you Chinese?' you feel unhappy, but when people ask 'are you Japanese?', you feel great". Cultural identity is the driving force behind the artist's work, and Choklay's film documents the creation of his biggest piece yet: Our Land, Our People, an installation intended to give the thousands of Tibetans living in exile in...