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Oblivion
– Spoiler rating: Low – So I’ll come clean. I like Tom Cruise films. Not all of them, I’ll grant you, but for me quite a few actually tip the scales into greatness. Whether we’re talking predictable...
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No
– Spoiler rating: Low – Gael Garcia Bernal’s films achieve that rare and exciting feat: a genuine journey of discovery that destroys the edifice of pretension to reveal a burning truth tucked just...
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The Staves
The Staves at Scala, 25 April 2013 The last time The Staves played at Scala, a quaint venue just a short jaunt from King’s Cross, they were supporting the scratch-team folk supergroup Mt Desolation....
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Iron Man 3
– Spoiler rating: High – Tony Stark, the genius engineer and creator of the Iron Man, has become consumed by questions of mortality and purpose as he balances his created powers against their...
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Star Trek Into Darkness
– Spoiler rating: High – JJ Abrams’ Star Trek reinvention was a triumph of character over shiny special effects while never lacking for thrilling action and riproaring space antics. The first scene of...
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The Place Beyond the Pines
– Spoiler rating: Low – As you follow Luke, played by Ryan Gosling, into the movie’s first of many claustrophobic vignettes you already know the bad seed was planted long ago. Only as the film...
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Man of Steel
– Spoiler rating: High – Film franchise re-boots are like copying someone else’s homework: you can play tricks to make the final product look different, but in the end you’re just robbing someone...
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The story so far…
Eight blogposts in and what are we getting from this, people? Smug self-satisfaction at having my own website – check Enough film reviews to warm the cockles and raise the hackles of the most avid...
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The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones at Hyde Park, 6 July 2013 As a writer you strive for originality, but there’s nothing new to say about the Rolling Stones. To see them play Hyde Park, almost 44 years to the day...
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Mud
– Spolier rating: Low – If you believe the hype, Matthew McConaughey is in the midst of a renaissance and Mud is just the latest incarnation of his new-found self. In a bold departure from his...
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Classic film making trounces worn out CGI – my movies of 2013
In a year of genuine surprises beating Hollywood’s overtrailed blockbusters, hopefully the movie moguls will realise the folly of endless remakes and reboots. (They won’t.) Captain Phillips Weird to...
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The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
– Spoiler rating: High – Smowg? Shmeeg? (Smeg?) Apparently there’s a proper way to say it, but I’m unlikely to master it because – get ready for the blasphemy – this is not Peter Jackson’s finest hour....
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American Hustle
American Hustle is a blistering, sex-bomb, culture shock of a movie sporting the cream of today’s film talent at their striking and simple best. In a bevvy of stand-out performances, Jennifer...
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The Wolf of Wall Street
You know exactly what a salesman is and what he wants from you, and yet every so often you engage with one, in a dare with yourself, just to see who wins. Entranced by Leonardo di Caprio, who plays the...
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Dallas Buyers Club
This must be the best film I’ve seen in the past year – no shittin’. Matthew McConaughey is flawless as Ron Woodroof, a struttin’ Texas bull rider who discovers he has AIDS but can’t get the drugs he...
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Star Wars VII: The mother of all deadlines
The script is written, the cast has been announced, all JJ Abrams needs to do now is deliver on time – but what happens if the dog eats his homework? We’ve all been there: walking to school in a cold...
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Should Hollywood abandon the action movie old guard?
As veteran Star Wars actor Harrison Ford recovers from a broken ankle sustained on set, is it time for the film industry to reconsider its reliance on ageing action stars? Full story For Channel 4 News
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Life imitates art – it’s just a cliché, right?
From the Titanic to Homeland, fiction has an uncanny habit of predicting reality – and it’s not finished yet. Full story For Channel 4 News
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Point Break gets a second re-make
But this time the makers are coming clean about it: no more repackaging with Vin Diesel for the illegal car-racing revamp Fast and Furious – this is a proper, unashamed second take of a confirmed...
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