Iris and The Men is a comedy with distinctively French proclivities. Written and directed by Caroline Vignal, there is a sadness, yearning and yet joie de vivre about it. The film’s origins were in what Vignal heard from a 51-year-old friend who had embraced life after her husband suddenly left her. Another friend had encouraged…
Cinematic adaptations of video games have, for the most part, disappointed both gamers and movie goers; and the cinematic landscape is littered with failed adaptations. Borderlands follows the same inglorious footsteps of those that have come before it. Some of these failings can be attributed to studio interference and extensive rewrites and reshoots. Borderlands follows…
Trap is the latest film from M Night Shyamalan and, like so much of his oeuvre, it’s driven by an intriguing premise. But as with so many of his previous films it begins to lose momentum and credibility, especially during the unnecessarily drawn out third act. The film opens with Cooper Adams (Josh Hartnett), a…
Lily Bloom’s father has just died. Her mother Jenny wants her to eulogise him at his funeral, but she can’t. Why not? That introduction sets in motion a chain of events that will see the sins of the father visited on the child. As a teenager, Lily struck up a loving relationship with a fellow…
According to the reliable IMDb, The President’s Wife (released elsewhere as Bernadette) marks the 142nd screen appearance of the legendary Catherine Deneuve. Her career stretches back to the French New Wave of the 1960s, and includes some of the seminal films of Jacques Demy. She’s appeared in films by Roman Polanski, François Truffaut, Jean-Pierre Melville…
Deadpool & Wolverine isn’t so much a movie that breaks the fourth wall, as one where the fourth wall doesn’t even exist. Shawn Levy’s (Free Guy) meta-meta take on a superhero cross-over delivers ample fan service, and lifts the veil on how the Disney-Marvel empire will work in the future. Like several of the more…
Patricia Font’s Spanish/Catalan-language film The Teacher Who Promised the Sea is based on fact, and shines a light on the horrors of the murderous Franco regime. The film uses a highly personal 2010 search to tell its story. Ariadna (Laia Costa) is a single mother whose grandfather is dying man. She begins desperately looking for…
Delightful feel-good entertainment, Mr Blake at Your Service is a fun-filled romantic romp. Andrew Blake (John Malkovich) is a successful English businessman who is pining the loss of his wife of more than 40 years. Diane, a French woman, was the love of his life. They met at a beautiful French chateau when they were…
Anyone afraid of snakes and creepy crawlies should probably look away now. In the vein of Arachnophobia and Eight Legged Freaks and their ilk comes yet another horror film featuring a nasty and lethal spider. Sting is the work of writer/director Kiah Roache-Turner, who specialises in low budget horror films like 2014’s Wyrmwood: Road of…
An unrecognisable Nicolas Cage features in the decidedly creepy crime-horror-thriller Longlegs. A figure sits in a car looking at a little girl in a small house. She comes out to see who it is. Suddenly he confronts her. At first, we only see him from the nose down and says: “There she is, the almost…
