Whilst it something of a cliche for reviewers to brand any new release from the enfant terrible of cinema, Quentin Tarantino, as signalling a ‘return to form’ for the director; it is so difficult to separate such a critical conceit from Django Unchained.

The premise of this light-hearted comedy-drama is simple enough. Whilst working as an intern at a Seattle magazine, Darius Britt (Aubrey Plaza) gets roped in by a half-arsed, borderline-misogynistic journalist called Jeff (Jake M. Johnson of New Girl), to write a story on a man who, on the surface, comes across […]

If Oliver Stone’s visceral Natural Born Killers is the notorious story of ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ on acid, Ben Wheatley’s Sightseers is most aptly described as the same story, but one brought to the fore by lukewarm cups of tea and sunday visits to National Trust heritage sights. A quintessentially British take on ultra-violence and one of […]

Speechless. Michael Haneke’s new, Palme d’Or winning Amour is meticulously crafted to leave its audiences speechless. Haneke’s films have always been alienating, challenging and revolutionary in terms of cinema. The characters of Funny Games (1997) broke the fourth wall to teach its audience a brutal lesson about voyeurism and on-screen violence. In Hidden (2005), Haneke returned the favour by […]

Given his last two efforts, The Beat That My Heart Skipped (2005) and A Prophet (2009), it is something of a surprise that director Jacques Audiard did not venture off once again into the dark criminal underworlds of which he has been deservedly praised for portraying. Rust and Bone, on paper (and in its enticing theatrical […]

Poetry. Simply put Beasts of the Southern Wild is the definition of filmic poetry. Shot like a Dardenne social-drama (see: The Child or The Kid with a Bike) yet infused with the magical realism and vivid visual intensity of the fantasy genre, Beasts’ story is a simple but perfectly constructed tale of community and coming of age. […]

It is something to admire when an established sitcom actor breaks away from his day job, to create a quirky, indie rom-com that becomes the darling of festival circuits. Liberal Arts is a fun, touching and brilliantly scripted gem about a young man travelling back to his roots, on a venture of […]