A film review: Aniara (2018) Aniara, based on the 1956 epic poem by Swedish Nobel laureate Harry Martinson, is a thought provoking, clever and well produced Swedish science fiction film and winner of numerous independent film awards. And unique. According to Cinema Paradiso, who stock over 80,000 films, there are no other Swedish science fiction films. Set, I believe, in the not too distant future, the Earth is a…
A film review: An American Pickle (2020) An American Pickle is a quirky and witty film starring Seth Rogan. Herschel Greenbaum is an Eastern European Jew who has been accidentally pickled in a large wooden tub for 100 years and then ‘wakes up’ in present day Brooklyn. I did say ‘quirky’. In Brooklyn he’s introduced to his only surviving relative, his great-grandson Ben Greenbaum, also played by Seth Rogan,…
A film review: Proxima (2019) Despite being billed as Eva Green’s best screen role Proxima is an unsatisfying and didactic film that attempts to illustrate the conflict between career and family. A commonplace issue for many people, men and women; however, in this case, we’re not talking 9-5, five days a week. Eva plays an astronaut vying to spend a year on the international space station. She’s Sarah Loreau,…
A film review: The Gentleman (2019) The Gentleman is a slick, darkly amusing gangster film set in London. Michael Pearson is the marijuana king, with a business worth £400 million built up over decades. And he’s had enough, he wants out, and is in negotiations with the wonderfully effete Matthew, played by Jeremy Strong. However word gets out and a turf war begins between other interested parties, including the…
A film review: Misbehaviour (2020) Misbehaviour is a film about a group of feminists who pitch a stage invasion of the 1970 Miss World competition in London. Whilst the protest itself is a significant moment in the equality movement, making front page headlines in most the world’s press, the film itself is a chocolate Aero bar; it appears solid and interesting on the outside, and despite being a easy…
A film review: Black Panther (2018) Black Panther is an interesting, thrilling and thought-provoking film about a fictitious African homeland called Wakanda. Wakanda is blessed with an abundance of a the hardest metal on earth, vibranium, that has bestowed special powers on it’s leaders and allowed it to surge ahead of the world with amazing technology. Fearful that others would steal their precious resource and conquer them they made…
A film review: Scarborough (2018) Scarborough is quite possibly the lowest budget film that I’ve ever seen, and at times I wondered if it had been made by students. But that takes nothing away from what is a quirky, stylish film, with some great twists and turns that you will be mulling over for a while after it’s finished; if only for the sheer stupidity of some of the…
A film review: The Invisible Man (2020) This is an entertaining psychological thriller with an interesting plot, but Hitchcock it certainly isn’t. Although the thought of placing the H. G. Wells classic into the hands of the genius of suspense is an intriguing one. Cecilia, played very well by Elisabeth Moss, is probably best known as the handmaiden in the TV series of Margaret Atwood’s wonderful dystopian tale. A…
A film review: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019) The latest Quintin Tarantino film is slick; as you’d expect. It’s a tad bizarre at times; as you’d expect. And it’s a very entertaining way to spend nearly three hours. Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) is an ageing actor with a serious drinking problem. His best days, when he stared in top TV shows such as a The Bounty Hunter…
A film review: Vita and Virginia Vita and Virginia (2018) is a fascinating and moving film about the passionate liaison between Vita Sackville-West, a wealthy aristocrat, and Virginia Wolfe, a genius, during the late 1920’s. Vita, played by Gemma Arterton, is a predator; think Gentleman Jack—Anne Lister—but with far fewer moral scruples. Despite the scandal that would have befallen her, and her husband, if her ‘preferences’ had become known…
