NOT: Alice in Wonderland

Tim Burton is a director with a very distinct view of things. He tends to show the beauty in some of the most unlikely characters, embrace the dark and review a new good within it. Some might say he is the Mad Hatter of the world of cinema.

However, his latest film Alice in [...]

HOT: A Single Man

Colin Firth won a BAFTA a few days ago with his role as George Falconer in A Single Man. If you watch this film you’ll see why.
The first foray of Tom Ford, uber-fashion designer, into film is an intense and elegiac work about the nature of love, loneliness, repression and the small poignant moments in [...]

HOT: The Prophet (Un prophete)

I had no idea what to expect from The Prophet (Un prophete) – I only knew that the French film that had received lots of praise, including a Best Foreign Film Oscar nomination.
“Oh no” I thought as I bit into my choc top and the blood splattered on screen, “It’s going to be two hours [...]

HOT: The Road

What distinguishes The Road (based on Cormac McCarthy’s novel) from other post-apocalyptic films is John Hillcoat’s focus on the realistic issues that humanity would face in such a situation, raising questions on the ideals of humanity and human nature. What part of humanity do we expect to last in a situation where the world is [...]

HOT: Up in the Air

Up in the Air does the almost impossible – it makes redundancy humorous.
Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) is a corporate downsizing gun-for-hire who flies around the country firing employees for bosses who are too cowardly to do the dirty work themselves. He’s a smooth operator, full of pretend concern and oft-repeated platitudes but with just the [...]

NOT: It’s Complicated

I am a little confused with Meyers’ latest. It’s blessed with great acting from Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin, but the overall feeling is fake and almost irritating.
I am a little confused with It’s Complicated, Nancy Meyers’ latest film. It’s blessed with great acting from Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin, but [...]

HOT: The Men Who Stare at Goats

If someone told you that the US military had approved a special unit to train psychic soldiers in the 80s and tested their effectiveness on goats, would you believe them? Grant Heslov’s feature, The Men Who Stare at Goats, cautions the viewer at first sight by warning that more of the film than what we [...]

NOT: The Lovely Bones

Jackson’s latest outing  The Lovely Bones is definitely not an epic film, which has been his forte. By contrast, it is a decidedly small drama with an ensemble cast that’s as good as it gets. On top of that, Jackson’s signature is obvious in the editing, the attention to detail and the special effects. However, [...]

HOT: Nowhere Boy

Poor John Lennon. Nowhere Boy is an engaging biopic directed by conceptual artist Sam Taylor-Wood about the turbulent teenage years of the Beatles’ life in post-war Liverpool. From age five he’s brought up by his strict and stern Aunt Mimi and kindly Uncle George and then he discovers that after all these years his mother [...]

HOT: In Search of Beethoven

Who would have thought that a documentary about Beethoven would be so popular? We tried to get tickets to sold-out sessions of In Search of Beethoven twice before we finally managed to get seats.
First things first – I am a great admirer of Beethoven. I love his passionate wildness, the musical innovations he developed and [...]