Hidden Figures (2016)

Hidden Figures (2016) is good old fashioned Hollywood razzle-dazzle.  It takes a little known story, mixes in some smart poetic licence and instantly likeable performers, and turns out a belting piece of mainstream entertainment. There is no doubt that Hidden Figures is precision engineered to pull at your heart but it is saved from being …

Proof of Concept

I've just worked my way through the available videos in Neill Blomkamp's Oats Studio project on YouTube and I think they're really worth your time. Like his earlier short films all the videos are full of ideas and wonderful / haunting images, and their incomplete concept feel is part of the charm. Unlike his feature …

The Keep (1982) is on NetflixUK.

I noticed last night that Micheal Mann's The Keep (1983) is currently available on Netflix UK.  Despite being screened occasionally on Film4 this is welcome news for anyone still clinging onto their VHS or, like me, their poor laserdisc to DVD copy.  Unlike the Amazon rental the Netflix version retains the widescreen format even if …

I, Daniel Blake and was anyway.

I liked I, Daniel Blake (2016).  It's a good film that talks to ideas that I buy into; that there needs to be a social safety net and that people can be easily broken against institutions, especially when those in charge of them seem more interested in dismantling them and stigmatising those that need to access them. …

All about the moments…

Moments can lift or sink a film.  Ten seconds can make ninety minutes seem like time well spent or kill everything that went before.  Last night I watched Bone Tomahawk (2015) and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) and for better or worse the moments were in full swing. Bone Tomahawk is a rather slight western tale …

Like being stuck in a loop.

With a heap of amazing visuals and an even more interesting cast, Dr Strange (2016) falls down because it just isn't, not in the slightest.  When we enter the Mirror Dimension all we find is the same 'brilliant man undergoes a superficial change and remains brilliant' story staring back at us and anything that is interesting merely …

Watching The Girl On The Train Watching The Girl…

So maybe I watched this one too soon after seeing the recent Brian De Palma documentary De Palma (2015) after watching a run of De Palma movies.  Maybe I'm too big a fan of the 90's films where Micheal Douglas' manhood (mental and physical) and some shlocky plotting act as a gateway for a really interesting …

Mike and Dave need help…

They should really let us know when there is going to be a blooper reel during the end credits of a film.  It’s a great indicator that the film is terrible but 'please leave laughing'.  Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates (2016) is no exception and, despite some funny moments, just isn’t any good.  It’s …

M.C.P.T.S.D.U a.k.a. Jessica Jones

I'm not the biggest fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (M.C.U.),  a couple of the movies are really good but it's essentially a (admittedly well made) culturally imperialist content generator: racking up minutes and occupying multiplex screens.  But when you combine the films with the Netfix Originals offerings, Marvel have, maybe inadvertently, created a rather …