Film

By Michael McNulty You’re in the mood for something like Turner and Hooch or maybe K-9. But it’s Forgotten Film Friday so let’s flip the switch and unearth a film that’s wholly different, here’s this Friday’s film. White Dog initially found life in 1968 as a story in Life magazine, written by Romain Gary. Gary developed it into a novel which was published in 1970. It was later adapted for the screen with Roman Polanski attached to direct, before Samuel...

By James McAllister Those who are familiar with Kleber Mendonça Filho’s 2013 debut feature, Neighbouring Sounds, will no doubt recognise the impassioned socio-political discourse that emanates from the narrative ornamentations of his intriguing but inconsistent sophomore effort. Returning to his hometown of Recife in northeast Brazil, Aquarius sees the critic-turned-director once more take aim at the capitalist sharks who wish to gentrify areas of historic beauty (both in Brazil and across the globe) for their own financial gain, as a...

By Linda Marric @linda_marric In Another Mother’s Son, Jenny Seagrove plays a widow shopkeeper living in Nazi occupied Jersey during World War II. The film is a well meaning piece of historical drama, but sadly for its makers, this messy production is let down by way too much schmaltz and what can only be described as an overly descriptive narrative. Seagrove stars as Louisa a defiant woman who risks her own life and that of those nearest and dearest to...

Filming for smash hit superhero franchise The Avengers is set to take place in the Scottish Capital tomorrow. Production trucks for the multi-billion pound movie series have been in Edinburgh for the past few days to prepare the city for the arrival of some Hollywood icons. Scenes featuring the likes of Scarlett Johansson, Robert Downey Jr and Chris Evans will be filmed in the city's Old Town and filming could last until May. A huge green screen has been put...

Wyndham Hacket Pain @WyndhamHP As someone who spent the last three years of their life studying geography at university I am well versed in the stories of colonial adventurers, like David Livingstone, and their expeditions to the unexplored realms of the then British Empire. As a result there was something rather familiar about James Gray’s latest film that reimagines one of these tales. Based on real life events, The Lost City of Z tells the story of Colonel Percy Fawcett...

By Linda Marric Shot over a three year period, All This Panic is perhaps one of the most comprehensive looks at female youth ever achieved by a documentary film-maker. Director Jenny Page and her cinematographer husband Tom Betterton took on the mammoth task of following a group of girls from New York through some of the most difficult years of their lives. Hormones, mood swings and   tantrums are captured by the director as the girls learn how to navigate around...

You wish to hear a tale that’s as old as time itself? How about the saga of a film studio desperate to recapture the magic? We’ve seen Sleeping Beauty from the perspective of the antagonist; had Mowgli’s adventures in the jungle painstakingly retold to us with photo-real clarity; and found ourselves faced with Tim Burton’s warped vision of Wonderland… Never mind finding out if an angelic heroine will be strong enough to break the evil spell placed on a conceited...

By Michael McNulty Hello and welcome to this week’s instalment of Forgotten Film Friday. Dubbed the voice of Generation X, Richard Linklater’s 1991 film, Slacker, put him on the map. Helping to propelling independent filmmaking in the nineties, Linklater’s film marked the birth of Austin, Texas’s filmmaking culture and inspired Kevin Smith to make Clerks. Set in the sleepy campus town of Austin, Texas, Slacker structures itself around a series of encounters. The camera travels leisurely, tracking its characters, who...

Moonlight’s Best Picture win at the 89th Academy Awards will always be remembered as the most botched Oscars moment of all time. Which is a shame, because it is historic in many other ways. Moonlight is also the first Best Picture winner to have an all black cast and to tackle LGBT issues. In the wake of #OscarsSoWhite, this marks great progress. But there is a less positive way Moonlight’s Best Picture win has made history; the film is the...