Film

By Anna Power Based on the novel of the same name by RJ Palacio, Wonder follows the life of August Pullman, affectionately known as Auggie (Jacob Tremblay) as he embarks on his first year of school, having been home schooled due to extensive reconstructive surgery for several years of his infancy. Now a pre-teen and with lifelong facial deformity, August must face his fears and go out into the world. Like a young Rocky Dennis from Bogdanovich’s Mask, these tentative...

Serving as the kindling to start this year’s Christmas fire comes, from director Bharat Nalluri by way of Les Standiford’s non-fiction book of the same name, the charming, if somewhat slight, Man Who Invented Christmas; a chronicle of the story behind Charles Dickens’ beloved novel, 'A Christmas Carol'. Finding fresh life in a tale that has been done to death on the screen, Nalluri avoids a straight retelling, and opts instead to pivot the narrative around the story’s conception. Charles...

The days are growing shorter, the nights are drawing in, and the temperature is plummeting. Horror films are an acquired taste, some people love them and some people despise them. I am firmly in the former camp, and happy to be a fully-fledged, card-holding horror fan. This list looks at what I consider to be my favourite horror films of all time, perfect a chilly winter’s night. Of course, as with any Top 5 list it is subjective: I am...

By Michael McNulty Based on a short story written for Playboy by fantasy-horror and sci-fi writer Richard Matheson – perhaps more widely known for his work on The Twilight Zone, and for authoring I Am Legend – Duel began its trajectory towards life as an ABC TV movie of the week when it was picked up by Universal. Steven Spielberg, then in mid-20s and working as a television director, was attached after impressing the film’s executive producer with a rough...

“Male chauvinist pig versus hairy-legged feminist”, that’s how former world champion tennis player Bobby Riggs (Steve Carell) pitches the titular exhibition bout between himself and twelve-time Grand Slam champion Billie Jean King (Emma Stone) in this disappointingly conceited biographical dramatisation from Little Miss Sunshine directors Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris. As with Janus Metz’s plodding Wimbledon drama Borg vs. McEnroe, the action is pivoted around what happened off of the court. From Riggs’ point of view that involves playing up...

Finnish National Railways (VR) is bringing Murder on the Orient Express to life on a long-distance passenger train on December 13th. The game is set on a 13-hour journey across the country, from Helsinki to Rovaniemi, the capital of Lapland, in what is arguably the longest-running escape room in history. "We are a partner of Nordisk Film, the distributor of the film in Finland and we saw a unique opportunity here to utilize the partnership by bringing the film to...

By Jim Mackney Jane, directed by Brett Morgen, is a documentary focusing on the life and groundbreaking work of Dr. Jane Goodall, touching upon her marital life, the raising of her son Hugo, and her latter years. Dr. Goodall’s work with chimpanzees has been widely documented in film and literature, but here her work seems more immediate and engaging than in previous offerings. Jane is an interesting documentary, one that was made slightly fortuitously with the discovery of a treasure...

Some might argue that the 21st century is only reaching the end of its first fifth. However, the growth of cinematography throughout these little-over-a-dozen years is definitely not as debatable. Sure, there have been some disastrous productions, as there are always shades of every pencil colour, but what is undeniable is the fact that we are currently living in an era abundant with talent. Both directors and actors are imperative to create a quality motion picture. Costumes, screenplay and everything...

By Michael McNulty You would find more enjoyment standing in a queue at the post office, ritualistically checking your watch and shuffling a quarter of an inch forward every 15 minutes than watching Mercedes Grower’s film, Brakes.  At 80 minutes, it instils a frustrating impatience that has you begging for the credits to roll.   Late in the film, one of the characters says, “I’ve just been pinned by the most boring person I know,” and you want to reach through...