Film

Stand By Me (1986)

Posted 4:31pm Sunday 13th April 2014 by Rosie Howells

Classic Film Alongside To Kill A Mockingbird, Stand By Me is by far the best film about children, for adults. Based on the Stephen King Novella The Body, Stand By Me tells the story of a ragtag group of young friends in the All American town of Castle Rock in 1959. After hearing about the Read more...

Noah

Posted 4:31pm Sunday 13th April 2014 by Simon Broadbent

Rating: B+ Rather than a faithful and preachy account of the Bible jazzed up into a feature-length, Aronofsky attempts a blend of biopic, CGI fantasy, gritty reboot, and ecological fairy-tale which moulds the well-known story of Noah into something entirely new. Any moral preaching is Read more...

Mr. Peabody and Sherman

Posted 4:31pm Sunday 13th April 2014 by Baz Macdonald

Rating: A- If you were anything like me, your childhood was full of cartoons. A personal favourite of mine was the 1960’s Rocky and Bullwinkle, a charming Cold War reactionary cartoon about a moose and a flying squirrel on the run from Russian spies. The show was made great by its excellent Read more...

Need For Speed

Posted 4:50pm Sunday 6th April 2014 by Rosie Howells

Rating: D- I had low expectations for Need for Speed, but apparently, not low enough. The plot consists of everything you’ve seen before in a car racing movie: redemption, bravery, misogyny and cliché phrases such as “he’s like a brother to me!” But the film’s tired tropes were the least of Read more...

The Wicker Man (1973)

Posted 4:50pm Sunday 6th April 2014 by Tim Lindsay

Cult Film We all know that remakes can be diabolical, and the second The Wicker Man, from 2003, was exactly that. It features the best of the worst Nicolas Cage, including some downright terrible acting and strutting his swag in a bear suit. However, the original film is of a much higher Read more...

Pompeii

Posted 4:50pm Sunday 6th April 2014 by Baz Macdonald

Rating: B- To me, a movie about a devastating volcanic eruption that engulfed an ancient Roman society sounds like a big enough event to encapsulate a 90-minute epic. Unfortunately, director Paul W.S. Anderson disagreed with me, opting instead to jam in the plots of three or four other movies Read more...

Cuban Fury

Posted 4:50pm Sunday 6th April 2014 by Baz Macdonald

Rating: B If I were to make a list of films I thought would never be made, I’m pretty sure a Nick Frost dance flick would make an appearance. But, what do you know, Nick Frost – who you might know as the big guy from Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz – is indeed the star of Cuban Fury. Read more...

The Monuments Men

Posted 7:01pm Sunday 30th March 2014 by Andrew Kwiatkowski

Rating: D- The story about the preservation of precious art during the Second World War is fascinating as a page in history, but as an all-star Hollywood war epic, it’s simply appalling. Ironically, it is very preachy about the innate value of cultural products (such as films. Yes, George Read more...

Clueless (1995)

Posted 7:01pm Sunday 30th March 2014 by Rosie Howells

Cult Film This month, 1995 smash hit Clueless has well and truly been shoved back into the pop culture consciousness, through Iggy Azalea’s sassy-as-hell homage in her new music video for “Fancy.” Azalea has ensured that no one will be forgetting the brick cell-phones, yellow tartan and Read more...

300: Rise of an Empire

Posted 7:01pm Sunday 30th March 2014 by Baz Macdonald

Rating: B The biggest benefit of this generation’s trend towards adapting graphic novels is how it lends a vast array of interesting visual styles for directors to experiment with on the big screen. This was used to great effect in Zack Snyder’s 2007 adaptation of Frank Miller’s 300, with its Read more...