Nolan. Tarantino. Scorsese. Spielberg. These names are synonymous with the term “master of cinema” and are often mentioned when one discusses the great directors of our time. All have brought us groundbreaking stories, timeless classics and masterpieces that have stood the test of time. However, there is one name that is left out: David Fincher.… Continue reading Directed focus — David Fincher
“It’s a hard thing, realising people aren’t who you want them to be.” Such a poignant, sincere line was first heard in the trailer for Scott Cooper’s new Bruce Springsteen biopic, which sees The Bear star Jeremy Allen White tasked with embodying “The Boss”. Yet, it wasn’t until I was sat captivated in the cinema… Continue reading Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere — the man beneath the surface
Picture this – a street in Northeast London, a row of houses, two storeys, lines of windows punctuated by front doors, garden walls, wheelie bins. Look up to the roofs, tiles, chimney pots. Now, imagine a bed on one of those roofs, white wrought iron frame, red crochet blanket. It was here – on the roof – that… Continue reading Power to the people: an interview with artist and filmmaker Daniel Edelstyn
From watching a blockbuster at the cinema to watching a programme on Netflix, the entertainment industry has had to adapt at a rapid pace to be able to keep up with demand from audiences. But to what detriment? For starters, the movie industry has produced multiple classics over the years. This ranges from the 1950s… Continue reading The slop era is upon us
There needs to be some way to distil a review that enables audiences to navigate the sheer density of productions in one quick bite. With the average ticket becoming prohibitively expensive, it would be impossible for even the most avid theatregoer to watch everything on offer across the UK and West End. Understandably, we turn… Continue reading The Fault in Our Stars — should the UK rethink our quantitative assessment of theatre?
I watched One Battle After Another in the same week that I rewatched Longlegs and Weapons. Following the double bill of cultish mind control and paranormal fascination, I oddly found myself much more disturbed and sweaty watching the plot of Paul Thomas Anderson (PTA)’s new film unfold. A loose adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s 1990 novel… Continue reading One Battle After Another review — mankind is scarier than any ghost
Alice Lowe’s Timestalker is an inventive, genre-bending dark comedy that traverses time, love and existential questions with her signature sharp wit and emotional depth. Following her critically acclaimed debut feature Prevenge (2016), Lowe returns with a more ambitious and stylistically experimental project. In Timestalker, she once again demonstrates her unique voice, blending comedy with moments… Continue reading Timestalker — Alice Lowe’s darkly hilarious journey through love and time
Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon, which marks its 50th anniversary this year, struggled at the box office when it was released. It remains one of the director’s most under-appreciated films. Unlike 2001: A Space Odyssey or The Shining, which have been endlessly dissected in books and essays, Barry Lyndon has received relatively little scholarly attention —… Continue reading Barry Lyndon at 50: why Kubrick’s most overlooked masterpiece deserves another viewing
Indian filmmaker Payal Kapadia’s new film, All We Imagine as Light, won the prestigious Grand Prix award at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival in May. The film exhibits an Indianness that is distinctive from the one most frequently represented globally. Within mainstream Hindi cinema, India is often presented as a homogeneous Hindu, upper-caste, middle-class Hindi-speaking… Continue reading All We Imagine as Light review — disrupting popular narratives of Mumbai
Ridley Scott’s 1977 debut, The Duellists, is often hailed as one of his most visually stunning films, and any list of the best Scott films would be incomplete without it. Premiering at the Cannes Film Festival, The Duellists received critical acclaim and won the prestigious Best First Film prize. However, according to Scott, it was… Continue reading Ridley Scott claims ‘The Duellists’ was supposed to win the Palme d’Or, but the jury was “bribed”
