Film

Review by Leslie Byron Pitt Highlander is another one of those films that a generation of people swear don’t get made anymore, despite the fact the distribution of such quirky films has been altered and that brand awareness and fandom have helped smooth out the rougher edges of more fantastical, commercial filmmaking. Through the jaded eyes of a younger viewer, it’s easy to pick the flaws of a feature such as Highlander. It’s an inherently silly film with a clear...

Review by Leslie Byron Pitt Deniz Gamze Ergüven's expressive tale of female empowerment is as emotive as it is relevant. It communicates its simple tale with an understated eloquence, never feeling sentimental or forced. The film location and religious culture may feel miles away, but it's sensibilities are universal. From a narrative point of view, comparisons to Sophia Coppola's hazy The Virgin Suicide are apparent. However, from a thematic point of view, Mustang holds similarities to Rama Burshtein's detailed but...

Review by Leslie Byron Pitt This film broke me. Perhaps it was the all too real nods to customer services. The seminars, the platitudes and the like. It might have been the brilliant chemistry between the cast. The voices of David Thewlis and Jenifer Jason Leigh provide a spark so strong that it made me realise just how much that's missing from romances and dramas. Maybe those things helped. However, upon thinking about it, I feel it may have been...

Review by Leslie Byron Pitt “Why are these people, friends?” Is the type of question you could find yourself asking when observing Alex Ross Perry’s quietly startling Queen of Earth. And rightly so. The film froths with a near overbearing deep-seated resentment which could make the psycho-biddies of the sixties flinch. However, despite the trading of venom that is applied between the film’s two lead female stars, the co-dependency the flitters around the couple is something that holds an acute...

Review by Ben Holliday/@bholliday No film in recent history has had as many hurdles to overcome before paying punters get a chance to see the final product on the big screen. Be it a horrendous marketing campaign or a fanatical anti-Ghostbuster contingent in opposition to the all female cast, the Paul Feig directed flick has found itself in an odd position. For a vocal minority, this reboot would have to be the second coming of Citizen Kane to secure their...

Cult classic The Man Who Fell to Earth is set to get a 4k restoration to mark its 40th anniversary. The restoration is based on a 4K scan of the original camera negative, followed by a full 4K workflow, with the approval of cinematographer Anthony Richmond. Featuring a startling and era defining lead performance from David Bowie in his debut feature role and based on the cult novel by Walter Tevis, The Man Who Fell to Earth endures as, not only a...

Actor Christoph Waltz has compared Nigel Farage to the "head rat" following the resignation of the UKIP leader. Farage quit as leader of the UK Independence Party saying he feels he has "done his bit" and that now he has his "country back", he wants his life back. The resignation was raised with Waltz in a recent interview for his upcoming movie Tarzan. The Austrian-German actor is known to have strong opinions on Brexit, and he responded with: "Of course the head...

Shakespeare and Quentin Tarantino will unite in a modern adaption of Macbeth. The timeless, blood-soaked tale of murder, lust and power is to get a modern movie makeover as filming takes place in Birmingham on a reworking of the tragic play that plays homage to some of director Quentin Tarantino’s best-loved films. ‘Macbeth – Kill Bill Shakespeare’ is an imaginative take on one of the world’s most famous plays, with the production staying true to the original text. However, the images...

Review by Leslie Byron Pitt/@Afrofilmviewer Son of Saul is the type of movie that has to be seen when the viewer in the right state of mind. Least they find themselves equally as trapped within the films tight compositions, as the titular Saul. A Jewish–Hungarian prisoner held within the confines of Nazi extermination camp Auschwitz, Saul Ausländer (Géza Röhrig) works at the camp as one of the infamous Sonderkommando. He aids Jews into the gas chambers, fed on lies of...