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From the Archives: Shed Your Tears and Walk Away (2009)

9 Jun

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The picturesque market town of Hebden Bridge is nestled in the beautiful rolling Pennine valleys of West Yorkshire. It’s a bohemian place popular with tourists and alternative types, but filmmaker Jez Lewis finds himself returning with increasing frequency for funerals of suicide victims. Seeking answers for this spate of drink- and drug-related deaths, Lewis tracks down his old friend Cass, hoping he’ll be able to provide an explanation. But the Cass he finds is suffering from alcoholism and liver damage, and has just been given two years to live unless he can kick his booze habit. What unfolds is a raw and honest insight into what can happen when hope seeps out of a community in a brutal and emotional documentary on grief and desperation.
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Evil Dead (2013)

28 May

My review of Evil Dead that appeared in Metro’s Tablet Edition back in April…

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Simon Killer (2012)

22 May

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Antonio Campos’ directorial follow-up to his critically lauded picture Afterschool delves deep inside the mind of  the sociopathic Simon (a haunting Brady Corbet), cast adrift in Paris, ostensibly to get over the breakup of a long-term relationship.

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Red Dawn (2012)

16 May

Here’s my mini review of Red Dawn which featured in Metro back in March…

 

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The Place Beyond the Pines (2012)

15 Apr

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Derek Cianfrance announced himself as a director of real craft and as a writer with a particular flair for character with the brilliantly sombre love story Blue Valentine.  The Place Beyond the Pines reunites Cianfrance with Blue Valentine’s lead Ryan Gosling, a deft decision which elevates this sprawling and unconventional triptych to sumptuous heights.  Hollywood is oft criticised for being staid and unoriginal, obsessed with remakes and never-ending sequels, so it’s a refreshing relief when a film like this comes along and blows off the cobwebs, because The Place Beyond the Pines is  brimming with unabated quality. Continue reading →

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Evil Dead (2013)

19 Mar

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Sam Raimi’s 1981 picture The Evil Dead is rightly regarded as a classic of the horror genre, a pitch perfect, no-budget thrill ride suffused with terror yet tinged with knowing humour.  Fede Alvarez’s Evil Dead is less a remake or sequel and more of homage to Raimi’s pioneering spirit and in fact to horror as a whole.  Given the nature of this beast it is wholly derivative, yet the fact that it still delivers what feels like a fresh take on a genre that has veered towards either torture or the paranormal in recent years is welcome and in these meta, post The Cabin in the Woods times that is an impressive feat in itself.

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Cloud Atlas (2012)

20 Feb

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David Mitchell’s sprawling epic novel that intertwines a sextet of seemingly disparate narratives across the sands of time forms the basis for this hugely ambitious synonymous imagining from the Wachowski siblings and Tom Tykwer.  Critically lauded upon its release for the effortless synergy of its unconnected strands, Mitchell’s novel was soon labelled unfilmable when the inevitable adaptation was mooted.  Studios tended to agree and shied away from financing the project, but the passion and determination of the Wachowski’s and lead Tom Hanks ensured that with a little help from the German government and multiple independent financiers the film got made.

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This Is 40 (2012)

17 Feb

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There are few constants in life; the changing of the seasons, the relentless progression of time and family are but a few.  Judd Apatow has always concerned himself with the latter; thematically it’s central to much of his work, but here, as with Knocked Up to which This is 40 acts as a sequel of sorts, he casts real life wife Leslie Mann as main protagonist Debbie and delightful daughters Maude and Iris as her progeny.

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Gangster Squad (2013)

22 Jan

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Being bumped from an awards friendly September release date to the month where films go to die, ostensibly on account of post-Aurora reshoots, should have been warning enough that all was not well with Ruben Fleischer’s Gangster Squad.   Yet, despite a stellar cast, a blistering, old fashioned ‘true’ story of gangsters, tommy guns, glamorous molls and dapper brogues, no amount of reshoots could have salvaged this muddled romp through crime ridden post war LA.

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Sightseers (2012)

4 Dec

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Ben Wheatley wowed and baffled audiences with his thriller horror Kill List, an ethereal, atmospheric and very stylish tale of contract killers caught up with a mysterious cult.  It also announced Wheatley as director of real substance and one in possession of a masterful eye. It might come as a surprise then that Wheatley would choose to follow Kill List with a pitch black, very British comedy, a tongue in cheek tale of murderous caravaners bludgeoning their way through the picturesque English countryside.  But we should be thankful that he did, because Sightseers is a rare beast, a gorgeous, utterly bonkers and fiercely original breath of fresh air, a film brimming with self-conscious joy that is a pleasure to behold.

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