Irish playwright turned filmmaker Martin McDonagh has a great track record. His films including the black comedies In Bruges and Seven Psychopaths. And now he gives us what is close to his best film yet, with the evocatively titled Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. This acerbic and blackly funny drama tackles revenge, justice, family and the secrets…
Exactly what is the best of all possible worlds? You may well ask that question before, during and after watching the delicious Broadway operetta Candide. The focus is on the hapless titular character (Lyndon Watts), who is schooled by the ever-optimistic Doctor Pangloss (Eddie Perfect). Perfect, who doubles as the philosopher Voltaire, narrates the musical mayhem that ensues…
Since “Hold Your Nerve” was released in the last couple of weeks I’ve been hearing it all over the radio. It’s great that a band like Boy & Bear is still able to pump out songs that get the radio listening public excited. And “Hold Your Nerve” deserves the success its been getting – the…
The European co-production Corage is an unconventional biopic looking at the (largely fictional) last year in the life of Empress Elizabeth of Austria (Vicky Krieps). Elizabeth is married to Emperor Franz Joseph (Florian Teichtmeister), but she feels like she is merely an appendage. Given no real power, her duties are considered merely ceremonial. It is…
A searing, moving slice of life reality piece, this is a French coming of age tale. Marieme is a good girl – young, attractive and seemingly with the world at her feet, but her circumstances see her future all but decided. At age 16, she is the eldest of three girls in a single parent…
Set in the aftermath of WWII, Phoenix is a slow burn noir-like psychological thriller about identity, survival, obsesion and betrayal. It bears some similarity to the Hitchcock classic Vertigo as well as Brian De Palma’s Obsession. Disfigured Jewish concentration camp survivor Nelly Lanz (Nina Hoss, recently seen in A Most Wanted Man) has undergone plastic…
Every Secret Thing is a meagre attempt to create a thriller full of suspense. The inspiration came from a book written by Laura Lippman. Usually a story about missing children makes you feel uncomfortable and tells about the most terrible thing that can happen to you as a parent. However, I would recommend to watch…
I first discovered Sophie McKenzie with her psychological thriller Trust in Me. That one kept me glued to the pages until I was finished. Her latest novel, Here We Lie, is equally full of twists and turns that make it hard to put down. Here’s the blurb: On holiday with family and her adoring fiancé, Jed,…
You can see the raw emotion; feel it; you can almost taste it in the reflective and haunting drama Leave No Trace. Some films mark the breakthrough role for an actor. I’m thinking, for instance, of Winter’s Bone for Jennifer Lawrence.That’s the case here for New Zealander Thomasin McKenzie, who is stupendous as a dutiful…
What if The Breakfast Club characters had to work on a yearbook project together instead of just talking? Reading Sarah Ayoub’s latest book, The Yearbook Committee, I was instantly reminded of the aforementioned movie (a favourite of mine) because of the way it dealt with timeless issues facing young people. Here’s the blurb: Five teenagers. Five lives. One…
