Film Reviews & More
Directors Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett’s “Abigail” mashes up crime caper and monster movie, but fails to deliver fear or humor. Spoilery trailers and unoriginal characters overshadow promising elements, resulting in a dull, lifeless experience lacking creativity and wit.
★★★★☆ In Alex Garland’s Civil War, a group of journalists embark on a road trip to interview the US President amidst a second American Civil War, while exploring media’s dehumanizing relationship with violence.
★★★★☆ Having won the Jury Prize in 2013 for Like Father, Like Son and the Palme d’Or in 2018 with Shoplifters, Cannes favourite and Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda returns with Monster, a masterful work of intricate storytelling, complemented by a lovely score by the late Ryuichi Sakamoto.
★★★★★ Theodor Adorno famously wrote that poetry was not possible after Auschwitz, but is cinema? Billy Wilder certainly thought so, getting footage from the camps as evidence as much as anything else. Steven Spielberg, Claude Lanzmann, Alain Resnais and Roberto Benigni have all with differing degrees of success tried their hands.
Las Vegas is a glitzy, glamorous destination, and has been for more than seventy years. While many tourists visit the Nevadan city thanks to its outstanding casinos and entertainment shows, movie buffs will find that it provides much in the shape of cinema history. If you’re planning a trip to Sin City, then consider swinging by the following attractions; you’ll be walking through cinematic history.
The winners of this year’s 96th Academy Awards were announced earlier this morning at LA’s Dolby Theatre. Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer was the big winner on the night, scooping seven Oscars in total including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor for Cillian Murphy, and Best Supporting Actor for Robert Downey Jr.
The Barbenheimer phenomenon reaches its natural denouement tonight at the 96th Academy Awards ceremony, with Christopher Nolan’s colossal Oppenheimer expected to sweep most of the major accolades. Barbie will likely have to make do with a handful of craft awards, while foreign language festival hits Anatomy of a Fall and The Zone of Interest continue the trend of international features breaking into the main categories.
With the UK’s most prestigious film awards returning this weekend (Sunday 18 February), it’s time to enter into a round of foolproof predictions on who will win at the 77th Baftas. The Baftas are traditionally seen as an indicator of Oscar winners, so the outcome on Sunday night will surely be seen as a predictor for the Academy Awards on 10 March.
The cinematic universe is filled with successful productions based on equally successful books. The Lord of the Rings, The Hunger Games, Dune, Harry Potter, IT, Gone Girl, and The Shining are just a few examples of literary works that jumped from bookstore shelves to the big screens.
Christopher Nolan’s monumental biopic Oppenheimer led the pack with 13 nods, while Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things and Martin Scorsese received 11 and nine nominations respectively. Greta Gerwig’s 2023 blockbuster Barbie received eight nominations.
★★★★★ Greek weird wave director Yorgos Lanthimos (The Lobster, The Favourite) hits his stride with his strangest yet most deeply satisfying comedy fable yet, Poor Things. This exhilarating mix of Fanny Hill and Frankenstein is adapted by Tony McNamara from Alasdair Gray’s novel of the same name.
★★★★☆ Following Baz Luhrmann’s deliriously over-the-top 2022 film Elvis comes Sofia Coppola’s decidedly more understated Priscilla. In fact, it’s the polar opposite of Elvis both aesthetically and emotionally. If Luhrmann captures the whole lotta shakin’, Coppola is more concerned with the end of lonely street for The King’s beleaguered wife.