Passengers is set in a distant future where the Earth has become overcrowded and resources are drying up. The colony spaceship Avalon is making its way towards Homestead II, a distant planet that will become the new home for humans. The journey though will take some 120 years. The crew and some 5000 passengers have…
Desire is a powerful emotion. Perhaps the most powerful, alongside hunger, but sometimes it leads you in directions that aren’t the best for you. I was reflecting upon that as I watched Drama, a rather quirky slice-of-life reality piece starring Sophie Mathisen. Anna (Mathisen) travels to Paris to meet John (Tom Wren), unintentionally causing tension…
Chilean director Pablo Larraín (No) takes on the enigmatic figure of Jacqueline Kennedy (neé Bouvier; later Onassis) and the mythos of the “Camelot” years in Jackie. This visually stunning and finely textured film is a kind of elegy to a lost time and lost hope, while simultaneously providing an intimate portrait of the former First…
When a successful New York advertising executive suffers a great tragedy he retreats from life. While his concerned friends try desperately to reconnect with him, he seeks answers from the universe by writing letters to Love, Time and Death. “These three things connect every single human being on earth. We long for love. We wish…
Based on fact, Queen of Katwe is a colourful, feel-good picture about struggle and persistence. It concerns a family, and one girl in particular, overcoming a hand-to-mouth existence in the slums of Uganda. For nine-year-old Phiona Mutesi (Madina Nalwanga), life is a constant battle. She spends her days selling vegetables on the streets of Katwe,…
Steven Spielberg knows how to bring the magical world of Roald Dahl to life on a screen in a masterly way. Occasionally I need to watch a not too complicated or weighty film. Such a film that takes you to an enchanting, carefree world and to forget about everyday worries for a while. This time…
As the first in a new series of Star Wars standalone films, and featuring different characters, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is again about good versus evil, power and control. It is a time of conflict and a group of unlikely heroes band together to steal the plans to the Death Star, the Empire’s…
One of several recent movies that play on nostalgia, Allied is a kind of Casablanca-lite for the undemanding viewer. Of course, director Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump) is an old hand at this type of film, but no amount of direction could have saved this film from its clunky – and at times incomprehensible – script….
Rarely does a superbly staged and executed film have the impact I, Daniel Blake had on me. The 59-year-old titular character (played by Dave Johns) has worked as a carpenter most of his life in Newcastle in the UK. He is a man who enjoys and takes pride in what he does. He is honest,…
Korea’s official entry into the Best Foreign Language film category for the 2017 Oscars, The Age of Shadows is a mix of spy thriller and action movie that was inspired by the real life 1923 bombing of Seoul’s police headquarters by the resistance movement. The Age of Shadows is set in Seoul in the 1920’s,…
