Incoming: Loving
Loving celebrates the real-life courage and commitment of an interracial couple, Richard and Mildred Loving, who married and then spent the next nine years fighting for the right to live as a family in their hometown. Their civil rights case, Loving v. Virginia, went all the way to the Supreme Court, which in 1967 reaffirmed …
Blu-Ray Review: Raising Cain
Today, John Lithgow is probably best known for his work on the small screen. Whilst he’s currently gracing our screens in his Emmy-nominated role as Winston Churchill in The Crown, Lithgow also delivered eye-catching performances in 3rd Rock from the Sun and Dexter. He still pops-up in films now and again, but his more prominent …
Incoming: Toni Erdmann
Winfried doesn’t see much of his working daughter Ines. The suddenly student-less music teacher decides to surprise her with a visit after the death of his old dog. It’s an awkward move because serious career woman Ines is working on an important project as a corporate strategist in Bucharest. The geographical change doesn’t help the …
DVD Review: Absolute Power: The Complete Series
Stephen Fry is arguably one of the most distinctive faces and voices in British comedy television. He’s currently the host of QI, but he’s had a career on the small screen which spans four decades. Whilst the Cambridge University alumnus is probably best known for A Bit of Fry and Laurie, Jeeves and Wooster, Blackadder …
Incoming: Hacksaw Ridge
Hacksaw Ridge is the extraordinary true story of Desmond Doss [Andrew Garfield] who, in Okinawa during the bloodiest battle of WWII, saved 75 men without firing or carrying a gun. He was the only American soldier in WWII to fight on the front lines without a weapon, as he believed that while the war was …
Blu-Ray Review: The Childhood of a Leader
It’s perhaps quite apt, given what has been happening around the world, that Brady Corbet released his directorial debut in 2016. It rides this year’s wave of growing right-wing sentiment. However, whilst we can see the end product of years of political neglect and failure to combat unpalatable (and sometimes justified) opinions, the American film-maker …
Blu-Ray Review: Vampires
Myths and legends of vampires have fascinated and frightened people around the world for hundreds of years. They featured in some of the earliest horror films. Even before World War II, Nosferatu and Vampyr set a high standard for directors to live up to. Myriad films followed, with Interview with a Vampire, The Lost Boys, …
Incoming: Denial
Denial recounts Deborah E. Lipstadt’s (Rachel Weisz) legal battle for historical truth against David Irving (Timothy Spall), who accused her of libel when she declared him a Holocaust denier. In the English legal system, in cases of libel, the burden of proof is on the defendant, therefore it was up to Lipstadt and her legal …
Blu-Ray Review: Ghosts of Mars
Even before Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first men to walk on the Moon, humans have been looking to the stars. The 1950s became boom time for sci-fi cinema as writers and directors captured the imagination of an entire generation. The Forbidden Planet, War of the Worlds, Invasion of the Body Snatchers and …
Film Review: The White King
Young Adult Fiction has become one of the most fertile sources for Hollywood blockbusters. However, whilst The Hunger Games was a huge success, more often than not you end up with something disastrous like The Golden Compass or the turgid Divergent and Maze Runner films. In The White King, Alex Helfrecht and Jörg Tittel bring …