With a haunting look in his eyes, Oscar Isaac (Dune) excels in Paul Schrader’s (First Reformed) intense crime drama The Card Counter. Isaac is William Tell, a cheerless loner who likes to go under the radar. As an elite card player, he travels extensively between casinos, but doesn’t like to draw attention to himself. To…
As cultural touchstones go, few are as storied – or problematic – as Dune. Frank Herbert’s dense 1965 novel was (and is still) regarded as a breakthrough in the sci-fi genre, spawning a sometimes-fanatical following. The book was often considered unfilmable – something reinforced by Alejandro Jodorowsky’s failed attempt at it in the 1970s. Then…
It somehow seems ironic that a film exploring the last days in the life of a famous artists should itself be about as interesting as watching paint dry. At Eternity’s Gate is a biopic of the eccentric and misunderstood artist Vincent Van Gogh who died at the age of 37 in 1890. This story of…
Writer and director Rian Johnson (Looper) has delivered in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the second film in the sequel trilogy. Johnson takes over from J.J. Abrams, who is due to direct Episode IX. Following the events of The Force Awakens (2015), Rey (Daisy Ridley) starts her training under the surly and powerful Jedi Master Luke…
Ambition and success sometimes don’t go hand-in-hand. With a heavyweight pedigree and intellectual heft, George Clooney’s latest, Suburbicon, should (by rights) be up there with his best. Yet this undoubtedly ambitious but deeply flawed film dallies with greatness without ever fully achieving it. With the backing of the Coen brothers and Clooney’s go-to collaborator George…
Between 1915 and 1923, the Ottoman Empire murdered some 1.5 million Armenian men, women and children in a systematic policy of genocide aimed at wiping out the entire population. It has been recognised as one of the worst atrocities of the 20th century. But when the history of WWI is written, this horrific episode is…
