Film

By Linda Marric Now in its third instalment the Despicable Me franchise is well on the way to cementing its reputation as one of the most popular animation series beyond the world of Pixar and Disney. Having regaled children and their parents with two highly enjoyable features, the Minions, Gru and the kids are back with Despicable Me 3, or more precisely 3D. The production is as heavy on silly gags and is as action packed as the rest, but...

Lying eerily empty and abandoned , these photos capture the once-decadent interior of one of the last 1930s 'super cinemas' left in the UK. The formerly opulent Odeon in Bradford was the third-biggest in Britain when it opened it doors in 1930. The vast building next to the famous Alhambra theatre was crowned with two copper domes and boasted a 3,318-seat auditorium, ballroom and 200-seat restaurant. Sadly it has lain empty since it finally closed its doors in 2000. It's...

By Michael McNulty In the library of exploitation cinema there is an entire wing dedicated to Australia and sitting on one of the many shelves, undoubtedly covered in a thin coat of dust, is one of Ozploitations best offerings, Brian Trenchard-Smiths 1986 Dead End Drive-In. A Mad Max meets The Cars that Ate Paris mix, based on a Peter Carey short story and made on a budget of spare change and lint. This is a beautifully flawed film with a...

By Linda Marric Director Laura Poitras (Citizenfour, 2014) spent 6 arduous and paranoia-filled years documenting the life of one of the most controversial figures in recent times. In Risk, Academy Awards winner Poitras offers a fascinating character study of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, and charters in a very detailed fashion his rise from revered freedom of information hero, to maligned villain hiding in a foreign embassy to escape a sexual offence investigation. Risk is a complex yet thoroughly accessible piece...

This weekend saw the 50th Anniversary re-release of The Graduate, Mike Nichols’ seductive black comedy that followed Dustin Hoffman’s naïvely disillusioned college graduate, Ben Braddock, as he grappled with his ardent attraction for the sultry Mrs. Robinson (a captivating Anne Bancroft), and his sentimental adoration for her daughter, Elaine (Katherine Ross). Crafted from the original 35mm camera negative, this gorgeous new 4K restoration effortlessly enhances the film’s hypnotic visual vibrancy, whilst never detracting from the compellingly darker aspects of the...

By Linda Marric Fresh from igniting a lively debate about Netflix and their validity as fully fledged competitors at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Okja finally arrives to Netflix for the rest of us to devour. Directed by Bong Joon Ho (The Host, 2006) and co-written by British writer Jon Ronson (Them, So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed, The Men That Stare At Goats), Okja offers a wild and wonderful story about animal welfare in a near future, and mixes beautifully...

Wyndham Hacket Pain @WyndhamHP Based on the bestselling novel by Fredrick Blackman of the same name, A Man Called Ove follows Ove, a grumpy old man with a similar facial expression to that of John Sergeant, whose interests include Saab cars, making sure his neighbours are well behaved, and visiting the grave of his wife. When he looses his job of 43 years he is left with nothing better to do than kill himself. What plays out is an inconvenient...

By Michael McNulty The Last Wave, released in 1977 and directed by Peter Weir, was the film that introduced the director to American audiences. Although Picnic at Hanging Rock, the film that brought Weir and Australian New Wave cinema onto an international stage, had come out two years previous it wasn’t released in the States until 1979. The Last Wave, like Picnic, delves into the worlds of fantasy, mystery and the occult.  It is a moody genre film that offers...

By Linda Marric Loosely based on real life events and staring two of the most accomplished actors of their generation, Hampstead is a big-hearted romantic comedy which is only slightly let down by a less than believable narrative and an even more far-fetched premise. Directed by Joel Hopkins and written by Robert Festinger, the film has two plot lines running alongside each other, one being a David versus Goliath tale about the dangers of mindless gentrification, and the other one...