Freeheld Competition
Julianne Moore and Ellen Page as a couple who, in their darkest hour, take on the biggest fight of their lives. When police detective Laurel Hester (Moore) meets Stacie Andree (Page), they instantly form a connection. The couple fall deeply and unexpectedly in love, and before long, are building a life together. But when tragedy strikes and Laurel is diagnosed with cancer, she faces discrimination as government officials refuse to allow her to leave her pension, earned over 23 years of ...
Black Mass Movie Review
Johnny Depp breaks step with all that pirate nonsense and delivers his best performance in years as Irish-American organised crime boss, James ‘Whitey’ Bulger. In 1975 as an informant, Bulger enjoyed the protection of the FBI whilst supplying information the Feds used to take down his Italian rivals and allowed him to replace them as a kingpin in Boston. It was a charmed deal for Bulger until the mid nineties when the media blew the lid off this corrupt arrangement.
A barely recogn...
Amy Movie Review
When Winehouse broke out in the early noughties, she really stood out. Here was a jazz singer that wrote incredibly personal lyrics, had great vocal chops and delivered them with a looseness that ran counter to a lot of jazz singer’s rigid professionalism. That she was a hot mess only added to the original appeal.
The film was made in the beginning with the family’s full approval but as the final cut came together their disapproval became pronounced and it’s easy to see why as her ...
Big Eyes Movie Review
The paintings, and prints of the paintings, sold like hotcakes and Keane amassed a fortune as a result. There was a problem, though - the pictures were actually created by his wife Margaret. A patron of Margaret, Tim Burton, directs his best film in years, covering the story of Margaret Keane's struggle to reclaim her artistic soul.
The first thing that strikes you about Tim Burton's new film is the colour. At first glance, each shot looks like a painted backdrop, crafted in flawless ...
The Theory of Everything Movie Review
The life and times of theoretical physicist, cosmologist and million selling author Stephen Hawking is told via a screenplay based on a book by his first wife of thirty years, Jane Wilde. We are given a window into his life from his early years and get to spend time with him before the revenges of ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) took over his body.
While the force of the man’s will and his defiance of the medical profession’s estimate of the time of his demise is very inspiring, ...
American Sniper Movie Review
Clint Eastwood’s take on Navy Seal Chris Kyle’s (Bradley Cooper) autobiography certainly sets a scene of dread and foreboding as we follow Kyle and his descent into the war in Iraq.
Kyle is a good old boy from Texas, a former competitive cowboy and a very proficient marksman. His entry into the service is spurred on by the events of 9/11 and his upbringing with a very strong and opinionated father. This background is revealed is very broad strokes and lacks the nuance to really ...
The Imitation Game Movie Reivew
It had a high profile cast (for its time) in Dougray Scott, Kate Winslet, Saffron Burrows, Jeremy Northam and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau who would, later on become much more famous as a pivotal character in an obscenely popular medieval TV show. There's a problem with Enigma, however and it's the fact the filmmakers substituted the real-life homosexual mathematician, Alan Turing, for a fictional heterosexual mathematician named Thomas Jericho and indeed the story centres around his very hetero...
Jersey Boys Movie Review
It should be noted that Eastwood's film is not a musical but rather features performances of The Four Seasons' music to signpost defined periods within the band's chronology. Correspondingly, the film is perfectly suited for those who love The Four Seasons music but do not possess a commensurate love of musicals (like me!) and as such appeals to a slightly different market. A smaller market it would seem given the film does not appear to be as successful as its theatrical predecessor.
...
Senna Movie Review
His career also ran parallel to the dawn of the new media age pertaining to live sport, so his life was very well documented visually, so well in fact that the film is built entirely from actual footage from his career, while a large part of the film’s dialogue comes from Senna himself.
It’s a masterful job of blending archival footage, spoken snippets from Ayrton himself and comments from some media experts that knew him well. There is also family footage that nicely places the ...
The Wolf Of Wall Street Movie Review
It’s a sign of the expertise at work here that the 180 minute long film literally flies by. It’s also helped along by Leonardo DiCaprio’s most manic performance yet. If you thought he was full on in Django Unchained, he ramps it up ten fold here. Quite a few of the support cast members also turn in career defining roles. This includes Jonah Hill, who get the mix of powerful and pathetic just right and Aussie soap star Margot Robbie’s clothing optional performance that proves her ...
