Film

By Leslie Byron Pitt/@afrofilmviewer The French original 2008 version of Martyrs is reminiscent of the delightful internet meme: Honey Badger don’t care. It is a relentless beast of a horror film. Fully assured of its nihilism and unrepentant on who knows it.  A force of nature that wasn’t for everyone, but turned those who were with it into devout followers. Now in 2016, America comes forth with a remake of Pascal Laugier brutal exercise. Feature one would liken more towards...

By Leslie Byron Pitt/@Afrofilmviewer Seth Rogan’s Christmas comedy the night before runs on a very defined “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” rule. This adult x-mas yarn has Rogan playing side kick (along with Anthony Mackie) to Joseph Gorden-Levitt’s Ethan, whose quest to find and enjoy New York’s dopest secret festive party, plays off very much in the way that you would expect it to. With varying results. There isn’t that much to expect and little to say about...

Review by Michael Ewins/@E_Film_Blog Over guttural bass and wobbly drum loops spill a barrage of localized sprechgesang, and from the other side of the pit, stomping boots and tributes of spit. This is what a Sleaford Mods gig sounds like - intoxicated, caustic, and very funny. But a Sleaford Mods gig is also what punk looks like in 2016, and it's not what you expect - disco lights, a laptop, and one bloke in a polo shirt flailing around as...

Review by Leslie Byron Pitt/@Afrofilmviewer The TV plays and we hear of a kidnapped boy (Jaeden Lieberher). We see a faded image of the kidnapper (Michael Shannon), then we see the man himself. He says little, but his expression speaks emphatically.  Quietly intense and driven. The boy is sitting on a hotel bed. Reading comics with googles on. The googles are deceptive. It would be easy to consider them as an item of childhood comfort. He doesn’t appear scared, nor...

By Leslie Byron Pitt/@Afrofilmviewer This writer remembers trying awkwardly to impress an ex with Waking Life. Much like what one hears about David Forster Wallace’s Infinite Jest or Jean-Jacques Beineix’s Betty Blue (1986), Waking Life does feel like one of those features that certain inelegant young (male) students would use to show their “depth”. Drunkenly pontificating on the meaning of life to “display their knowledge” but probably just trying to use it to score some points with the opposite sex....

By Michael McNulty Extraction could not have been more appropriately titled. Like having all four of your molars pulled at once it requires a general anesthetic to get you through it. As unimaginative as that was, it’s on a level with the quality of this film. Former CIA operative Leonard Turner, played by a Bruce Willis (who must have stipulated in his contract that he would only provide a level of enthusiasm equal to that of a slug) is kidnapped...

A trailer has been released for the hugely anticipated sixth series of the Game of Thrones. After a brutal ending in season 5, there is a lot of rumours circulating about the direction of the sixth series. Based on the as-yet-unreleased novel The Winds of Winter, the TV show has now overtaken George RR Martin's books, although there will be a significant amount of leftover material from the fourth and fifth books, A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons,...

If there’s one film series, which has sparked our love of gadgets, it must be the James Bond franchise. Ever since the chauffeur blew himself up with the cyanide cigarette in Dr No, we’ve been fascinated by the quirky gadgets. The scenes were Q would present James Bond with the latest equipment has become a thrilling event in itself. Not only have these gadgets managed to captivate our imaginations on screen, some of them have found their way on to...

Written by Simon Columb/@screeninsight . Reproduced with thanks from Screeninsight The Martian may have failed to light up the stage at the Oscars, but underneath the space-dust Matt Damon walks upon, there is a powerful message. There is no need for a statuette and a tick-box on a to-watch list here. Instead, The Martian’s socialist message preceded the unstoppable rise and optimism of Bernie Sanders powerful campaign, setting the cinematic stage for a new future. Sci-Fi depictions of the future...