Film

“Shall I just really vent now?” he asked the interviewer before he let fly

Welcomes to a new series on TLE Film. Here, each week, our film writers will have free rein to spotlight a few of the films they've seen recently in capsule reviews. The films could be from this week, they could be from the silent era. Hopefully our week in movies can provide a varied selection of ideas for your future weeks in movies. Candyman Candyman is about many things and gory killings are mostly the vehicle for them rather than...

The Peterloo Massacre may be a strangely overlooked event within British history, but there is something undeniably timely about the episode and Mike Leigh’s adaptation of it. Peterloo charts the period between the Battle of Waterloo and the Peterloo Massacre that took place in Manchester four years later. On 16th August 1819, an estimated 60,000 people gathered in St Peter’s Field, Manchester to demand parliamentary reform and the representation of them and their city. The authorities and local magistrates misjudged the peaceful rally and sent the yeomanry and cavalry to disband the crowds. The subsequent violence resulted...

In Juliet, Naked director Jesse Peretz (Nurse Jackie, GLOW) offers a disarmingly compelling romantic comedy, which despite its decidedly contrived and uneven narrative still manages to deliver a hearteningly charming storyline about second chances in life, in this surprisingly enjoyable adaptation of Nick Hornby’s 2009 best selling novel of the same name. Annie (Rose Byrne) is stuck in a long-term relationship with Duncan (Chris O’Dowd), a nerdy university professor whom she feels has been taking their relationship for granted for several years. For Duncan, the couple are...

It’s Halloween soon, so a lot of movie lovers are planning horror marathons for the season. I’ve clearly gone mad, so I figured I would try to suggest the longest endurance test of them all: a 24 hour horrorthon. I’m five minutes short, but hopefully you’ll forgive that. Obviously I’d suggest doing this over two days, because I’ve not built in little things like tea breaks or meals. I’ve listed the titles alphabetically, leaving you free to juggle how you’d...

Over the last month I've been covering the London Film Festival for TLE, trying largely to bring you a taste of the slightly more esoteric side of the festival. The time, sadly, has come to wrap up our coverage for this year, but there's one last thing to do: our wrap up show. In the near future we'll have a regular podcast coming from TLE, but until then here's a special instalment with myself and Alfie Parsons of Lights Camera...

Hannibal Lecter, Pennywise the clown and Halloween's Michael Myers have emerged among a list of cinematic figures who terrified us when they first graced the silver screen. A study into the most frightening films and figures ever revealed the star of The Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal Lecter, is the villain who sends the most chills down our spines. A Nightmare on Elm Street nasty Freddy Krueger took second place in the scare stakes, followed by Pennywise the clown, the...

What we mean by horror is something that expands and evolves over the years. This is perhaps especially true of tech horror. From the possibilities of electricity being harnessed to horrific and tragic ends in Frankenstein, to the modern slew of desktop thrillers, horror writers and filmmakers have always harnessed new tech for new scares. Cam, written by Isa Mazzei (who herself used to work as a camgirl) introduces us to Alice (Madeline Brewer), who does cam shows as Lola...

“Did you?” asked the woman at the box office as I asked for my ticket for I Used to be Normal. I considered lying, but decided against it. “Not really”. I’ve been an obsessive fan of movies since I was 8 years old but, while some of the kinds of films I love best are (especially as a 37-year-old man) not exactly considered cool, I’ve never felt judged or that I should hide my enthusiasms. That seems to be one...