Film

By Jim Mackney “Blade Runner 2049” is directed by “Arrival” director, Denis Villeneuve and executively produced by original Blade Runner director, Ridley Scott. The sequel takes place 30 years after the previous film and continues along the same existential lines; questioning the characters position in the world and what it means to be alive. There was a moment in the film when I realised there had been very few ‘set pieces’. This isn’t in any way intended as criticism. In fact...

By Jim Mackney A satire following the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953, adapted by Armando Iannucci, David Schneider and Ian Martin from the French graphic novel series by Fabien Nury and Thierry Robin. It doesn’t sound like a barrel of laughs and it isn't. In truth the film like the finest satirical films, has a jet-black heart that stinks to high heaven like a corpse that has been left out in the sun. None of the characters have redeemable...

Films about enigmatic real life characters often go to large efforts to find and discover their chosen figure. In Loving Vincent this search is a bit more literal. Vincent van Gogh (Robert Gulaczyk) was an ardent letter writer during his life and after his death Joseph Roulin (Chris O’Dowd), a local postman, was left with an undelivered letter from Vincent to his brother. Unable to post it himself, he entrusts his son, Armand Roulin (Douglas Booth), with the job. After...

By Michael McNulty Marianna Palka’s fourth feature, Bitch, is a flawed, but strangely captivating film.  A fantastical tale of a woman living on the brink of breakdown who is one day pushed over into a full scale meltdown of canine proportions. Jill (Marianna Palka), mother of four and wife of philandering, never present father, Bill (Jason Ritter), exists in a state of high anxiety, her mind scratching at the doggy door of collapse.  Their kids are an obnoxious bunch blind...

By Michael McNulty Albert Brooks’ third feature, Lost In America, released in 1985 and co-written with long-time collaborator, Monica Johnson, is an offbeat comedy about Yuppie America, the people who inhabit it and dropping out. Yuppie couple David (Albert Brooks) and Linda Howard (Julie Hagerty) live the complete yuppie lifestyle. Packed away into a glorious suburban castle in California, the only worries the two seem to have are whether they should have bought a house with a tennis court (you...

By Jim Mackney Seeing Ronald Reagan address the American from behind his desk in the Oval office is not the heart warming scene you may imagine. The image is eerie, as is the rest of The Reagan Show, a documentary that feels out of step with the world at large and feels ultimately facile. “The Reagan Show”, directed by Pacho Velez and Sierra Pettengill, is a bland film made from archive material. The film’s slim runtime of just under eighty minutes,...

Based on Tomihiko Morimi’s bestselling novel of the same name, The Night is Short, Walk on Girl takes place over a single eventful night and follows Otome as she parties, gets drunk for the first time, visits a book fair, and takes part in a university festival. All the while she is pursued by Senpai who is in love with her. Well this is at least what I thought was going on, as the erratic nature of the story makes...

A Jedi dentist has created a hilarious advert for his practice - by superimposing himself into STAR WARS. Dr Steven Abernathy spliced himself into the epic final scenes of Episode IV A New Hope to advertise root canal laser technology. In the hilarious video, which has gone viral on social media, Steve discussed the process of clearing an infected tooth with Rebel Alliance X-Wing pilots as they prepared to take on the Death Star. A jedi dentist has created a...

By Sam Inglis  With South Korean revenge actioner/Nikita knockoff The Villainess (with the excellent Kim Ok-vin showing her action credentials) recently released on Digital HD, I thought I’d use this week’s Five… to spin off and take a look at a handful of the many, many great action heroines that Asian cinema has given us over the years. Some are relatively unknown in the mainstream, others are huge stars. Some started working over 50 years ago, others are much newer...