Film

By Michael McNulty Wake in Fright is a film with a more storied history than most. Credited as the film that kick started the Australian New Wave, it was nominated for a Palme d’Or and is one of only two films to have ever been screened twice at Cannes. Directed by a Canadian, Ted Kotcheff (of First Blood) and scripted by Jamaican born Brit, Evan Jones, the film was celebrated by critics the world over. However, Wake in Fright was...

By Michael McNulty Although Quest is not an overtly political film, it is moored in the choppy waters of America’s racial, social and political tensions. Jonathan Olshefski never takes a stand or pushes an agenda, instead he provides an intimate portrait of a struggling family trying to survive. Centring on an African American family living in North Central Philadelphia, Olshefski’s documentary chronicles the lives of Christopher “Quest” Rainey and Christine’A “Ma Quest” Rainey over the course of 10 years as...

The Century 16 massacre of 2012, where a lone gunman, James Holmes, entered a packed cinema auditorium in Aurora, Colorado during a midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises and began shooting – leaving 12 people dead and another 70 injured – forms the stimulus from which indie writer/director Tim Sutton soulfully sketches a portrait of suburban malaise in this hauntingly existential examination of contemporary America. It’s best to ignore the blunt tactlessness of the title; Sutton’s manner is measured...

By James Mackney Films about artists and the process of creating art, especially portraiture, can be a risky prospect. There is a fine line between creating an engaging piece of cinema and with that of making the audience feel like they too are sitting in the subject’s chair for hours on end. Stanley Tucci has created a chamber piece, focusing on one of the final works of Swiss-Italian artist, Alberto Giacometti (Geoffrey Rush). The subject of the artist’s final portrait...

Wyndham Hacket Pain @WyndhamHP For all our dreams of packing our bags and travelling around the world for the most part they remain just that – dreams. Of course we have friends who have gone to exotic countries on their gap years, or who have had a holiday of a life time but before long they have returned to their normal lives. To seemingly abandon everything and set out on your own odyssey seems to be all but an impossibility....

Wyndham Hacket Pain @WyndhamHP A lot has changed since Terminator 2 was first in cinemas. The channel tunnel opened, Friends had its first and last episode, James Cameron went on to make the two highest grossing films of all time, and Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected as Governor of California twice. With every re-release it’s natural to wonder if the film will have the same effect all those years later and this is no exception. Set in 1995, Terminator 2 follows...

By James Mackney Spider-Man: Homecoming signals the second attempt by Sony Pictures to re-boot the Spiderman franchise in 15 years. I admit to feeing somewhat exhausted by the franchise, having seen all bar one of the Spider-Man films, and this latest instalment in the line-up left me cold and frustrated. Spider-Man: Homecoming has attempted to be a Superhero film as if it were directed by John Hughes. Sadly, there is none of the playfulness of The Breakfast Club nor is...

By Michael McNulty Jeff Nichols firmly established himself as a talented director with his 2011 psychological thriller, Take Shelter, and his 2012 coming of age story, Mud. But, his first film, the often overlooked slow burn feud thriller, Shotgun Stories, released in 2007, is where it all began. The imaginatively named Son (Michael Shannon), Kid (Barlow Jacobs) and Boy (Douglas Ligon) are the first set of offspring of Cleaman Hayes, a former drunk who after kicking the booze and finding...

By Wyndham Hacket Pain @WyndhamHP In the last couple of years, almost as a reaction to the overproduced and sickly Twilight franchise, there have been a number of vampire films that have reimagined the genre in a more realistic and creative way. With Jim Jarmusch’s Only Lover’s Left Alive and the more recent A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night the real potential of vampire tales has really been shown. Made on a low budget with relatively unknown actors, it...