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Dunkirk – movie review

An intense and visceral experience, Dunkirk is war up-close and personal like few films before it. Christopher Nolan (Interstellar) writes, directs and co-produces the action-packed drama. The picture opens as hundreds of thousands of British and Allied troops are surrounded by German forces. Trapped on the beach at Dunkirk in northern France with their backs to…

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Paris Can Wait – movie review

It’s one of those vagaries of film distribution that we sometimes get two films released at the same time with similar plots and ideas. Within the space of a couple of weeks we get two road trip movies. Both feature two people on a journey through some of Europe’s most picturesque areas. They sample the history, culture…

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The Beguiled – movie review

The outsider looking in is one of Sofia Coppola’s directorial trademarks. From Scarlett Johansson’s bewildered American in Tokyo in Lost in Translation to the teenagers breaking into millionaires’ homes in The Bling Ring, she seems to have an affinity for the “other”. In The Beguiled however, she takes the concept in a very different direction….

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It Comes at Night – movie review

Much remains unanswered in the low-budget mystery-horror film, It Comes at Night. Award-winning filmmaker Trey Edward Shults follows his breakout debut Krishna with this psychological thriller. It centres on a teenage boy, Travis (Kelvin Harrison, Jr.), as he grapples with mounting terrors – both external and internal – in the aftermath of an unnamed cataclysm. Seventeen…

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Lady Macbeth – movie review

Passionate and affecting, Lady Macbeth is a tale full of lust and betrayal set in rural England in 1865. Katherine (Florence Pugh) is stifled by her loveless marriage. Her husband Boris (Christopher Fairbank) is a bitter man more than twice her age (she is 17 and he 40). His cold, unforgiving family only add to…

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First Girl I Loved – movie review

Finding your place in the world is hard enough for most. But when dealing with teen angst and sexuality, it can be harder still. Writer/director Kerem Sanga (The Young Kieslowski) explores these fraught issues in First Girl I Loved. Anne Smith (Dylan Gelula – TV’s Casual) is a bright high school senior. She’s best friends with a…

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Monsieur Chocolat – movie review

A lively French box-office hit, Monsieur Chocolat details a fascinating rise-and-fall story. This is the tale of the first popular Afro-Cuban artist on the French stage. His real name was Rafael Padilla; but he became known as Chocolat. Padilla was only nine years old when sold into slavery. He then escaped to a different life.  Set…

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Despicable Me 3 – movie review

With the successful Despicable Me franchise, new kids on the block, Illumination Studios, have rivalled animation giants Pixar and Dreamworks who once set the bar. The success of the Despicable Me franchise is largely due to the scene-stealing antics of the mischievous, diminutive and simple minded yellow creatures known as the minions, who talk in gibberish. The…

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