Olivia Wilde’s break into feature film directing showcases a hilarious Beanie Feldstein (Molly) partnered with equal comedic match, Kaitlyn Dever (Amy). The inseparable pair have used their time at high school to play it safe and get good grades with their eyes set on illustrious careers. This whole escapade topples down the day before graduation when Molly overhears a conversation in the school’s gender-neutral bathroom. She uncovers that her supposedly dim-witted classmates, who have seemingly spent their high school careers partying hard, will also be gracing the halls of the Ivy League. Fuelled with resentment, Molly coerces Amy into a night of frivolity to show her fellow students she, too, can work hard/play hard.

Female friendship is finally getting its cinematic due. Molly and Amy are two imperfect people who have found a genuine and sincere bond in a way that is reminiscent of Feldstein playing against Saoirse Ronan in Greta Gerwig’s 'Lady Bird'. The two lay in Amy’s childhood bunkbeds and cover a multitude of topics from masturbation to the girl Amy has a crush on and not once is the conversation superficial or toxic, it is simply two young women enjoying the company of one another. It may sound so simple; however, it is still too often that women are written talking down on other women, a theme Amy herself highlights. Watching them just get along and laugh and hype one another up with pep talks about how good the other’s outfit is is what makes this narrative so endearing.

Wilde did an immaculate job of dealing with her ensemble cast, aided by the words of all four women credited as writers; Susanna Fogel, Emily Halpern, Sarah Haskins and Katie Silberman. Every character that Molly and Amy met along the way felt fully realised and would be deserving of their own spin-offs, which is incredibly difficult to achieve. Supporting cast members are often victims to their stereotypes but the likes of Hope, Jared and Annabelle all possess subtle nuances which help to paint colourful and detailed personalities that still manage to serve the story of the two leading ladies.

Comedies can so often be laborious with their consistent notion of pushing for laughter which makes them one of the most dangerous genres to tackle. It is so easy to jump at the cheap laugh; a pratfall or two will often do the trick but the writing in 'Booksmart' commits to striking a balance between witticism and physical humour. Watching Feldstein and Dever tackle this challenge, bouncing off one another’s comedic energy for 102 minutes is the great excitement of this film.
Everything just works. The marriage of Wilde’s direction with the words of great women is a dream for two fantastic up and coming actresses who are making wonderful career moves as of late. It is one of the greatest female driven comedies since 'Bridesmaids' and I hope everybody involved continues to burst the door wide open for more pieces like this to be made.

Jessie Buckley was always destined for greatness. First coming to prominence in televised talent contest I’d Do Anything, where her performances were clear standouts, she went on to tackle numerous heavyweight Shakespearean roles, and warble her way through the Menier’s acclaimed A Little Night Music, all of which stood her in good stead for taking on Rose-Lynn Harlan, the exuberant aspiring country (not western) singer at the heart of 'Wild Rose'.

Buckley’s is a virtuosic performance. The hard-bitten Glaswegian whom we first meet being discharged for the umpteenth time from prison is as far removed from the soft-spoken Kerry native as one is likely to get. About the only thing they have in common is their love of music and the lungs of steel with which they express it. But as integral as the songs are to this piece, infusing and pulsing through it as they do through our lead character, there is far, far more to this film than a simple rags-to-riches tale of a frustrated musical prodigy.

Nicole Taylor’s screenplay is a masterclass in economy, effortlessly eliciting tears and laughter and revealing swathes of information in a few choice words. She is helped of course by her stellar cast. Not only Buckley but the incomparable Julie Walters, an inspired choice for Rose-Lynn’s long-suffering mother Marion – too often lumbered with looking after her wayward daughter’s young children – who walks a knife edge between aching compassion and an almost terrifying steeliness. Even as she repeatedly and brazenly urges our hero to give up her dreams of stardom for the sake of her real-world responsibilities, we are never fully able to root against her. Taylor skilfully keeps our allegiances shifting, sympathetic to both the idealistic dreamer and her ruthlessly pragmatic would-be protector. Their long history is apparent in every scene, whether they are at loggerheads dredging up old scores, or sharing a moment of tender reconciliation. When Marion offers Rose-Lynn an olive branch, conceding that her grandson prefers his long-estranged mother’s mince to hers, her daughter tearfully responds: “I don’t have a mince. My mince is your mince.” Cue waterworks.

Elsewhere we are treated to fabulous work from Sophie Okonedo, the disgustingly affluent yet delightfully naïve wife of a conservatory mogul who employs Rose-Lynn as a cleaner. Initially wrong-footed by her new employee’s uncouth demeanour, her attempts to appear cool and worldly are played to comic perfection and the ever-shifting status dynamic of their relationship provides many of the film’s laughs. We are also privy to a cameo from BBC Radio 2’s “Whispering Bob Harris”, which while entertaining is perhaps the film’s only misstep, Harris evidently being better suited to presenting than acting.

At its heart, 'Wild Rose' is a meditation on finding your own voice, recognising that what you want and what you think you want may be radically different things, and ultimately turning what you might perceive as insurmountable obstacles into strengths. As one character cheerfully observes: “May all your heartbreaks be songs, and all your songs be hits.” In Rose-Lynn, Taylor and Buckley have created a heroine for the ages, constantly striving to do what’s right for her and her children, bereft of any meaningful guidance, and all too often failing both. We see ourselves at every turn. So eminently believable is she that at times it’s hard to accept we aren’t watching a musical biopic of an already established star. Much must be made of Tom Harper’s canny direction, of course, grounding his film so beautifully, but the detail and specificity from all departments is exemplary, and for all the deserved fanfare around its central star turn, this is a consummate ensemble piece.

Which brings us, at last, to the music. As soon as Buckley opens her mouth it’s plain to see why Rose-Lynn pursues her dream with such fervour. Her voice vibrates with passion, running the gamut from trembling fragility to thunderous, brassy power, and the material with which she is gifted is hauntingly, transportingly beautiful. A fitting heartbeat to a film that has heart to spare, and then some.

‘Children of the Snowland’ is one of the best documentaries I’ve ever seen. From the first scene to the last it had me on the edge of my seat, laughing and crying and falling in love with it’s main protagonists. These beautiful, funny, curious, sensitive and clever young people who for the sake of their families were prepared to take on one of the most perilous and physically challenging journeys and in the process learned so much about themselves, their beautiful country and the cruel circumstances that led their parents to make the most heartbreaking decision of their lives. I felt so grateful to be allowed to tag along.

Whenever privileged white westerners make any kind of film about the rest of the world there is a danger that they either put themselves in the centre of the narrative or that they treat their subject as an exotic bird to be watched in awe and not interacted with. Thankfully the makers of ‘Children of Snowland’ did none of that. Instead they provided three of the youngsters with camera equipment and some training and let them tell their own story. And the result is spectacular. There is a great sense of discovery throughout since these children were very young when they left their home and so have very few memories and are not at all used to the way of life in the remote mountain villages of Nepal. But there is also familiarity and an inevitable sense of belonging as they breathe the mountain air and wrapped in the love of their family, slowly find their roots.

Family, truth, inevitability, time, loyalty. These are the precious strands of saffron running through this film which make it absolutely compelling.

'Everybody Knows' is a thriller, but not in a conventional sense. It's not about a heightened sense of fear, but an immersion in the realism of family and village life. So identifiable and human, that when disaster strikes for main character Laura (Penelope Cruz), it keeps you on the edge of your seat with compassion. Laura is on a trip back home to Spain from Argentina with her children, for a family wedding. Her 16 year-old daughter is played by Carla Campra, whose performance stands out, then lingers for being as riveting as it is natural.

Like the walls of the sun-bleached brick houses of the Spanish village where the story is set, this is a film built from many parts. It’s a puzzle film, a mystery to be solved by the viewer. It’s immersive, I could taste the dust in the wind and mouthfuls of the meals that Penelope Cruz’s character could hardly eat. I didn't want it to end. The chemistry between real-life couple Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem (Paco) sizzles out from the screen and seems inevitable, befitting the script and sumptuous to watch.

Some of the early dialogue, action and cinematic choices early on in the film may feel a little heavy-handed in terms of plot direction to begin with. It could even feel as though the writer director, Asghar Farhadi, is underestimating his audience. But in a more subtle way, this is the genius of the film. This creates the sense of inevitability, that drives the film forward, told to the audience first with the with the clockwork mechanism of the village clock in the opening credit sequence. Family life, and love can seem inevitable. And with this Asghar Farhadi asks, is love inevitable? And it’s a fascinating question to ask. As such the symmetry of this film is perfect. Intellectually it's like a chewing gum that doesn't run out of flavour.

'Everybody Knows' doesn’t have the subtlety of Asghar Farhadi’s other films, like 'A Separation', for instance. This is a more glamorous and melodramatic beast. But even with a large serving of Hollywood glamour, it’s still peppered with the realism of messy interiors and tired decor, which makes the imperfect lives of the characters seem even more real.

For those not familiar with cult films, 'The Disaster Artist' is about the making of notorious box office flop turned midnight movie sensation 'The Room'; written, directed, produced and financed by eccentric man of mysteries Tommy Wiseau, who also starred in it. Wiseau allegedly spent around $6 million on the film, with an opening box office week of $1800, and kept it in two theatres for 2 weeks to qualify for the Academy Awards...without success, in case you were wondering. 
According to most, 'The Room' isn’t just a bad film: it’s the worst film ever made, and/but 99 minutes of non-stop laughter. This earned the film an Audience Award in New York, and it later turned a profit through the Midnight movie circuit while reaching cult status. And nearly 15 years later, it’s still playing regularly in theatres such as the Prince Charles Cinema in Leicester Square, in case you’ve missed it until now ('The Disaster Artist' actually begins with various film personalities-JJ Abrams included-talking about this phenomenon more than 10 years on). ​

Based on the book The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside The Room, the Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made written by Tom Bissell and Wiseau’s co-star and friend Greg Sestero, 'The Disaster Artist' tells the story of Wiseau and Sestero, from their first meeting during a scene class in San Francisco, up to the film’s Hollywood premiere. With James Franco, Dave Franco, Seth Rogen, Judd Apatow and Zac Efron in the cast, I went in expecting pure comedy from start to finish. And the film has plenty of hilarious moments, starting with James Franco’s first appearance as Tommy in a hysterical rendition of A Streetcar Named Desire, part Frankenstein’s Creature, part 40-something hipster-Goth-90s-rock (ie 120% Wiseau). Franco’s commitment to the part is spectacular, and completely fitting to Wiseau’s own “just let it go” philosophy.

Against Dave Franco’s self-conscious all American Greg, we have a classic comedic pair from the get go. But what keeps us involved in the story is something else. Franco’s commitment goes beyond walking around a film set directing his cast literally butt naked (except for some penis covering pouch. What was that?) then filming a bafflingly ridiculous sex scene during which he seems to be making love to his co-star’s navel. Franco also shows Tommy’s cracks. Ok, very bad timing. I DO NOT mean his butt crack. Well, that too (you’ll see…). But there are also the cracks that allow the light to get in, as Franco’s Tommy is also vulnerable, sensitive, dark, generous, childlike, tyrannical, exasperatingly stubborn.... It’s all there, making the character larger than life comedy gold, and yet completely 3-dimensional and believable. Even moving at times.

Similarly committed are Dave Franco’s Greg, whose mounting frustration with his friend (yet love for him) is equality anchored; and Seth Rogen’s Sandy Schklair, Tommy’s dead pan script supervisor for 'The Room', who remains true to himself and his view of Wiseau to the very end, unlike many others which will have demanded some sort of bonding moments between Tommy and Sandy. 

This fantastic balance between comedy and drama is also thanks to a great by Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber (who also penned '500 Days of Summer' and 'The Faults in Our Stars') and to Franco’s overall direction. (The only time the film lost me was early on due to a choice of guerrilla style camera movement that felt quite jarring, but it didn’t last very long at all.) ​

After 26 years one of my all time favourite films returns to cinemas. And not just that, but we are being treated to a polished version with pristine picture quality that will rival anything out today and James Cameron threw some 3D on top of it. What else do you need?

In short: a ticket! Cos you won't want to miss this. Especially if you've never seen 'Terminator 2' on the big screen - or never seen it at all (yes, I found proof these people do exist!). For all the lucky sods who get to experience the brilliance that is now merely known as T2 for the first time, let me give you a rough idea what it is about. Everyone else, topple your furniture and give me some chinups!

After dispatching the Terminator at the end of T2's predecessor, Sarah ended up in a mental institution. Her son John, the last hope of mankind in the fight against Skynet (a computer which has become aware and taken over the world), is now a teenager and has to live with uncool foster parents; and lo and behold a new Terminator is on its way from the future to deal with this nuisance of a human to ensure Skynet's survival and world reign. But a new saviour is also on its way. Who will get to John first? Does that even matter as we can just make numerous attempts at this scenario until we get the desired result? Time machine, hello! Does that mean endless Terminator films?

The time travel paradox will make your head hurt so better forget about this altogether and enjoy one of the best sci-fi action films ever made. Arnie returns as the famous T-100 and he gets to have even more fun with this role than the first time around. Linda Hamilton is back, better than we could have ever dreamed of (her transformation still wows me). We get to see young John Connor and his transformation as he realises his mother isn't crazy and has been training him for a good reason. And then there are the first few steps towards creating Skynet. Oh, and did I mention a new, even more badass Terminator makes an appearance? This one is made of liquid metal. The effects were ground-breaking in 1991 and still look fantastic today. It can't be said of many FX films with 26 years of age that they hold up against the current fare of blockbusters. But this one does. 

The script is tight. No fat to be found here. Everything is set up for easy digestion and builds upon the story of its predecessor nicely. The character choices make sense and everyone grows throughout the film. Something that doesnt seem to be standard procedure  anymore nowadays. The performances are great. Nuanced. Layered. The characters interesting and relatable. And the action is top notch! This is a James Cameron film after all.

The newly added 3D doesn't really add much to the film in my opinion. And that's not a bad thing. There are no jojo effect gimmicks (thank god) even though I half expected the metallic finger might be protruding towards the viewer. Instead we get a 3D treatment the way I like it, giving the picture depth as if you were truly seeing it with your own eyes. Does that make for a more immersive experience? I'm not sure as I have always found the film engaging and did again this time (plus surfing on a huge wave of nostalgia). It's not the 3D that makes the film and it wasn't the reason I was so amped up about seeing this version. Getting to see T2 on the big screen is the highlight here, not the 3D. Technically very well done - I was sitting off centre and didn't experience any halo effects around shapes as is sometimes the case in more recent productions - I would have never thought the 3D was done in post. Other than some scenes that would have been obviously framed differently if shot for 3D, it all worked well together and makes T23D THE version of T2 you should make sure you see. Fighting for the future of the human race has never looked better.

Benefiting from being an already (dys)functional unit, the cast are on equally charming form as in the first. Each of them taking their fair share of the spotlight and enough memorable lines for the audience to quote over the coming months, no matter the personal favourite of the bunch. Though Drax (Dave Bautista) and Baby Groot (Vin Diesel) again prove themselves the standouts in terms of laughs. The biggest - and most surprising - impact, however, stems from the increased focus on Nebula (Karen Gillian) and Yondu (Michael Rooker), whose layers are peeled back to reveal new facets and endearing depths to their characters.

Such is the greatest accomplishment in 'Guardians of the Galaxy'. Though it is as standalone from the rest of the MCU as you could possibly get, it doesn't simply refresh and repeat. In the spirit of all truly great sequels, it refuses to rest on its laurels. It takes what was already there and was already great - both in terms of the world and the characters - and expands upon it. Rather than give the characters fresh wounds to deal with and explore, it merely delves deeper into the ones established in 'Vol. 1'. Be it Drax reflecting further upon the family he lost, Peter reconnecting with the Father he never knew, or Rocket coming to terms with and reconciling the conflicting aspects of his nature. All the while strengthening the bonds between the characters, but between them and the audience as well.

This mix is the film’s greatest strength: unlike Sharon Stone’s Catherine Tramell, many of us know people like Michèle and her circle of friends. Thanks to Isabelle Huppert’s multilayered, internal yet transparent performance, we get drawn to her as if she were (like L’Avenir’s Nathalie) an everywoman protagonist, yet with the simmering fear she might be leading us on. And even as the end credits were rolling, I was sitting still, unable to get up and clueless as to what had just happened.

The supporting characters are also essential to this quasi mid-life crisis drama / thriller hybrid. For example, Michèle’s work environment is filled with employees who have something against her. Enough resentment for tasteless bullying, but not to reach full blown thriller level. Again, many of them look like the computer geeks and startupers we run into daily.

The same can be said of Michèle’s lover, of her neighbours, of her son... Each disarmingly normal, each with a chilling Shadow Self. This could happen next door. Unlike many thrillers, here there is no distance between us and them. This is also thanks to great casting and wonderful performances across the board (though Anne Consigny, Jonas Bloquet and Laurent Lafitte were particularly impressive. I only knew Lafitte from 'Les Petits Mouchoirs' and now hope to see more of his work).

Though 'Elle' often flirts with thriller clichés like an homage to the genre’s classics, the details and the reality it creates put the film apart from a great many, and also put it in the coveted position to take its audience to unsafe territories. Whatever it was I was expecting to see from the film, 'Elle' definitely took me somewhere else and a thousand shades darker. Darker definitely, but with heart nonetheless.

On the other side of things the Marine Life Institute is played off somewhat neutrally. Whilst when push comes to shove the movie seems firmly set in the idea that animals should be free rather than in cages (or tanks in this instance), it’s not heavy handed with this message and the humans are never portrayed as the villains of the story.

On the negative it’s not as tight as the original, some of it feels a little needlessly rambling and the new characters perhaps aren’t as well rounded and interesting as say the shark support group or the dental offices fish tank inmates from the first movie. That being said the finale is perhaps an even bigger emotional experience than the original even though the build up might be a little slow to really hook you.

​“This is storytelling. This is cinema. Hacksaw Ridge is utterly brilliant!”

Gibson does a remarkable job telling the tale of Desmond Doss. Most biopics I have seen usually get a bit checklisty, jumping from one major event to the next, killing the flow of the narrative. Not so in 'Hacksaw Ridge'. The story progresses at a nice pace from Doss’ early years all the way to the event that made him famous. Gibson takes his time to introduce the characters. No unnecessary bits, no fat to cut. And that at 140 minutes running time is impressive. While the film definitely racks up in intensity once the battle starts, the more tranquil earlier bits are just as captivating and not without conflict and Gibson even manages to work in several funny moments. They are the perfect counterweight to what is to come.
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With the soldiers ready, naval artillery ploughs the battlefield and everyone in the audience is right there with them, feeling every single shot. The soldiers advance quietly, someone screams, and all hell breaks loose. The noise is deafening, the chaos complete. Everyone is staring at the screen in utter disbelief as to the carnage we are seeing. Gibson doesn’t hold back. War is brutal. War is chaotic. War is death. The cinematography is stunning. Intimate and grandiose in equal measure, finding the beautiful moments amongst chaos and destruction. We see numerous people mowed down within seconds by bullets we didn’t even see, but hear. It is an assault on the senses. Overpowering. The sound design is phenomenal. Explosions shake your body. You hear bullets whistling past. You hear them impact, FEEL them impact. You hear, before you see, someone step on a decomposed body. The squishy sound making you nauseous now that you know what it is. This film is a disgusting experience of the horrors of war. In all its gutsy, gritty, brutal and chaotic splendour.
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But overall it is a film about faith and principles. We see Doss endure hardship due to his beliefs, but he soldiers on. We witness him stumble, lose faith upon a friends’ death. He is lost without his faith and only the cry for a “medic” snaps him out of it. Fuelled by his reaffirmed faith he runs into the thickest chaos to help others, with no regard for his own life.

Well this is an odd one. Documentary filmmaker Patrick Shen goes on an existential quest to understand the concept of silence and peacefulness and how it may apply to the chaos of modern life. He speaks to experts on the subject of silence (yes, there are experts on the subject of silence), analyses the historical significance of silence in prayer and meditation as well as some of those customs that still take place, including a look at John Cage’s famous composition 4’33” which still inspires artists today.

As a concept this probably sounds kind of dull and as a movie it’s pretty far from exciting, in fact it’s basically about the pursuit of a lack of excitement, a lack of anything, but oh my God I cannot get this movie out of my head. I was utterly transfixed even when nothing was happening, and there are large portions where arguably nothing is happening, and the message of the movie has stuck so deeply in my brain that I find myself altering the way I perceive the world as we know it.
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Honestly, I don’t think a movie has ever inspired me to change the way I live my life before but this one has certainly made me stop and think. Let me sell it to you, because I’m aware it’s doesn’t sound that interesting.

First of all, yes it’s slow paced and completely lacking in thrills. This isn’t the story of a serial killer or obsessive fan or one of those documentaries with an engaging narrative, this doesn’t really have a narrative at all. It probably is everything you fear it will be, I’ll just be upfront about that. What it is though is a complete look at something you’ve never really thought about but which affects you’re life every second of every day in ways you never bothered to consider.

It’s easy to think of the world in a visual way, and in that regard the film is beautifully shot in parts, but equally if not more so we are audio-centric beings. We are always hearing the world all of the time, we receive much more audio input than visual and the film sets out to explore that. This isn’t purely about “inner peace” there’s a genuine health concern about the noise that affects our lives. Before this film I had no idea that the World Health Organisation lists excessive noise as one of the most serious health risks in the modern world, just behind air pollution. We take for granted how much sound we consume every day and somehow assume that it wouldn’t have a lasting effect on us because it’s basically invisible.

Disney does it again. After the amazing 'Zootropolis' earlier this year Disney throws in a few coconuts, an engaging heroine, a singing Dwayne Johnson and an epic journey to save the world to bring us one of the best animated films of recent years. I am still reeling from what I have just experienced.
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Catchy new songs are already auto-playing in my head, I’m almost skipping out of the cinema on my emotional high, overhearing young and old excitedly sharing their favourite bits of 'Moana'. And there are many. It won’t surprise anyone that Disney has another hit on their plate, but I’m calling it now, this is Disney’s new 'Frozen'. Parents, ready yourself for soundtracks being played on repeat in the little time you will get between repeat viewings of 'Moana' once it hits home video. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, and maybe do yourself a favour and leave the kids at home.

'Moana' takes place in a mythical Polynesia. Te Fiti’s heart has been stolen, unleashing darkness upon the world. A chosen one is said to restore the heart and defeat the darkness forever, or so the little children are told by Moana’s granny. Her son, the chieftain, believes everyone is safe on Motunui Island as long as they do not venture beyond the reef. But when the darkness starts to affect their home Moana can no longer abide by her father’s rules and sets out to restore Te Fiti’s heart. First she must find the demigod Maui to help her on her quest and he might not be the hero everyone thinks he is.

The opening prologue immediately reminded me of 'The Lord Of The Rings' and the similarities did not end there; a great evil can only be stopped by returning a small shiny item to where it belongs by getting the unlikeliest of heroes to set out on a seemingly impossible quest. The Ocean chooses Moana, who is determined to undertake this mission for the sake of her people. During her adventure she doesn’t only discover the world, but her true self.

It’s nice to see Disney continuing its trend of having the princess being the hero, though Moana would argue she is not a princess (“If you wear a dress and have an animal sidekick, you’re a princess”, Maui tells her). It is Moana who saves the world, not Maui, though he does lend a helping hand. It was Maui who stole the heart, causing the entire mess, and he gets his redemption in the end, but it is Moana who gets to do the heroic deed.

Within the first few minutes of the film we are shown exactly who Moana is. When cute as a button baby Moana (voiced by Auli’I Cravalho) wants a shiny seashell but sees a baby turtle in need, she abandons the seashell to help the baby turtle to the water without being eaten by birds; she even gets some foliage to shield it from the sun. It is an adorable sequence, showcasing how kind and selfless Moana is. She is rewarded by the Ocean becoming her friend, edging out some space by holding back the water for Moana to get to the seashell. We are introduced to the Ocean as a character, cleverly represented by something akin to the water entity from 'The Abyss'. Nature has been personified in 'Moana' with the Ocean and Te Fiti taking on shape and personality, making the green message of the film even clearer. It never hits you over the head with it as 'Zootropolis' sometimes did. 'Moana' is more subtle in its approach.

On the other end of the spectrum we have demigod Maui (voiced by Dwayne Johnson), who is self-absorbed and in constant battle with his conscience, visualised by his animated tattoos. Instead of lending a helpful hand, he steals Moana’s canoe first chance he gets and only ends up part of the mission due to circumstance and Moana’s perseverance.

Also along for the ride, more by accident than anything, is the sidekick and comic relief, the chicken Heyhey. When the film started I suspected the cute little piggy would function as Moana’s sidekick, but the brainless chicken was chosen instead. It leads to some funny bits and, as I’d hoped, it gets its moment to shine and validate its existence later on. I wasn’t too taken with that character as it had no character to speak of and was surprised to hear kids and adults alike seemed to love the chicken as we walked out of the cinema.
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The unlikely trio make for an interesting team. Moana and Maui’s juxtaposed personalities lead to a lot of wisecracking and bickering, making every scene a joy to watch. The voice actors clearly had fun with their characters. And if not for all three of them one of the best action sequences in the film wouldn't have worked as well as it did. When the Kakamori approach, Moana turns into a kids version of 'Mad Max', with high speed action that has your head spinning. Against impossible odds Moana shows courage and perseverance again and again. She is the badass hero that not only kids like to see. And don't call her a princess just because she has an animal sidekick.

The animation is eye-watering beautiful, especially everything to do with water, which is everywhere in 'Moana'. Making the Ocean a character in itself adds an additional layer to an already well-crafted and impacting film. The actors bring a lot of energy and emotion to every scene. There wasn’t a single moment the characters, the music or the animation didn’t affect me. An utterly beautiful experience from start to finish.

The icing on the cake of this already well rounded package is the music. The score and songs are utterly brilliant. The songs all serve purpose in the narrative and move the story along. They are catchy and beautiful, all co-written by Hamilton’s Lin-Manuel Miranda. Auli’I Cravalho has a tremendous voice, belting out Moana’s songs with such vigour I got emotional every single time. When Johnson started singing I was readying myself to cringe. And yes, he is not a great singer, but the song suits him and turned into THE song loads of adults and kids were talking about after the film. He puts so much energy and fun into his performance that you can't help but join in. People were singing his song “You're welcome” when leaving the cinema, and I still have it stuck in my head days later.

Speaking of leaving, make sure you stay until after the credits for an additional scene. I won't spoil it for you, but I enjoyed it and had another giggle. The music during the credits doesn't make it tough to stay behind so do yourself a favour and linger.

I could keep going, but this is getting rather lengthy. When you watch 'Moana' you’ll notice tons of things I haven’t talked about that are worth mentioning. It’s beautiful, fun, emotional, crazy, full of action, witty dialogue, adventure and so much more. 'Moana' will stick with you long after you have left the cinema, not only thanks to its earworm-status worthy songs. Engaging characters, beautiful visuals and catchy songs make 'Moana' one of the best animated films of the year.

Dr Louise Banks (Amy Adams) is an expert in linguistics who is haunted by the tragic death of her young daughter. She mopes from her lonely home to the university where she teaches seemingly with as little human interaction as possible; but on finding her classroom nearly empty one morning she soon learns the news that strange craft from another world have descended upon Earth and obviously everyone is a bit caught up in the excitement and/or fear of the situation.

Dr Banks seems relatively unmoved though and happy to watch from a distance until Colonel Weber (Forest Whitaker) shows up at her door looking to recruit her as a translator for the incomprehensible communications the military have managed to establish with the mysterious visitors. She pairs up with Ian (Jeremy Renner), a mathematician, and the two of them set out to decipher the alien language and figure out just what these travellers want whilst the rest of the world squabbles on the brink of war over what to do about them.

This film is very much my kind of science fiction. I love big sprawling sci-fi as much as the next nerd but this kind of small scale soft sci-fi is definitely something I can’t help but enjoy, and in fact this movie hits very closely to another fandom of mine, H.P. Lovecraft. Yes I’d say this is the closest we’ve ever seen to a modern day Lovecraft adaptation, and that includes any movie that’s actually directly based on his works.
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If I’ve lost you, H.P. Lovecraft is the creator of the Cthulhu mythos and wrote a wide range of stories that are technically fantasy horror but more often than not read like surrealist science fiction, treating magic and the unknown like sciences we don’t understand yet, but not in a lazy Marvel way, more in a highly thought out complex way. He allowed his works to exist in the public domain, taking no copyright, because he wanted people to use his ideas and basically anything in this genre is probably influenced by him in some way.

;Arrival' definitely is under this influence, this is high concept stuff and once the full understanding of that kicks in and we begin to see all the pieces fit together it transcends well beyond it’s humble beginnings. But whilst it might take a moment to wrap your head around these details the film does linger on the reveal a little longer than necessary, which is actually the films only real problem. Don’t get me wrong I liked this film a lot and loved seeing all the secrets come together, but the movie does meander and seems to get distracted with backstory and asides that don’t appear overly relevant.

So the movie pads it’s run time with Dr Banks taking a bit too long too process everything, but it’s still really interesting and she isn’t being slow on the uptake so much as she’s in absolute shock and awe. Buried in that a subplot about some of the soldiers supervising them freaking out and deciding that maybe the aliens need a dose of violence to show them whose boss disappointingly hits it’s climax and then just sort of goes away, and maybe a little of the Dr Banks show could have been sacrificed to flesh out these elements.

Having said that this is definitely Dr Banks story, for more reasons than I can reveal here, and without giving too much away it all pays off in the end. I’d love to discuss this further but it would take far too long and spoil the entire premise of the movie. If you can’t tell this movie was a pretty easy sell to me, it hits several of my pre-existing fandoms, but still trust me that if you like high concept sci-fi you’ll get that a good dose of tension and intrigue as well, though you may wish the movie was a half hour shorter.

When it comes to his daughter Seek Woo isn’t neglectful, he’s just one of those workaholic Dads who is perhaps a little more selfish than the average person and doesn’t really know how to relate to a ten year old girl. He and his wife are separated for undisclosed reasons and Soo-an is missing her mother desperately. For her birthday she asks that she can visit her in Busan even if she has to go by herself and after much anguish and with great reluctance her father agrees. They board the KTX train from Seoul and so their journey into hell begins.

You see unknowingly Seek Woo is actually saving his daughter as he and the other passengers of the train are inadvertently fleeing an industrial accident that is rapidly turning the inhabitants of Seoul and indeed much of South Korea into a horde of ravenous zombies. Unfortunately the virus has found it’s way onto the train and whilst they slowly learn of the country collapsing around them the passengers find they must fight for their lives and hope that somewhere along the line they find safety. Seek Woo is about to learn he has to be a better father and person in the harshest way possible.
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You might know this movie as that South Korean zombie film people like me won’t shut up about and it definitely lives up to the hype. I went in excited for this film (often a dangerous prospect) but I was not disappointed, in fact my expectations were exceeded, and as neither a fan of horror or zombies this is saying something. My DVD collection in this category pretty much consists of the original 'Evil Dead' and 'Shaun of the Dead', but will soon include 'Train To Busan' as well.

Our cast is a relatively typical cadre of disaster movie cannon fodder, Seok Woo is our average man just trying to keep his daughter alive, there’s a tough heroic type guy trying to protect his vulnerable pregnant wife, a pair of teens working out their feelings for each other, an old lady who doesn’t stand a chance, and a selfish panicky jerk whose bound to get several people killed before he gets his comeuppance, but the slightly predictable nature of this set up just doesn’t matter. The characters are all well rounded and sympathetically flawed (except the jerk, he can suck it) and even the expanded cast, because there’s a whole train load of people to deal with here, are more than just victims in waiting, the horror of the outbreak feels real and terrifying even as it spreads through the nameless crowd.
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It’s also nice to see a zombie movie where the zombies are a real threat. I know that sounds weird but most of the time the problem in a zombie apocalypse seems like the other people who are stuck in it with you. Here the zombies are a relentless terrifying horde turning people into a rabid frenzy, you really get the sense that all they want to do is kill, and not for any purpose just because they need to. It’s scary and the mechanics of it are played out familiar enough that they don’t need to waste time explaining what’s happening to us, but also with a couple of interesting new twists that fit neatly into the story and add to the tension in some extremely well crafted set pieces.

I honestly can’t praise this film enough, I absolutely loved it. It is the perfect blend of humour, action, emotion and horror; never being too heavy on any one but performing each with grace and ease. Dong-seok Ma as a man protecting his pregnant wife is easily the most kick-ass character in this genre you’ve seen since Woody Harrelson in 'Zombieland', except that Woody was playing it for laughs and here you’re completely invested in the characters struggle, fearful for his survival, torn up over his anguish and cheering at his heroism.
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If you’re a horror fan and a zombie movie fan in particular I don’t know why you’re even asking me if you should be watching this film, just get out and see it. And if you aren’t but are curious you should still get out and see it, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

Once the play moves to Prospero's mysterious island, and the venue for the remainder of the production, the sparseness of the staging really becomes apparent. Geoff Norris as director has made Shakespeare himself the main character in this production, in that it is his masterly plotting and scene development that holds sway and the audiences attention. Too many times in past productions and, I would guess, with far larger budgets directors have bamboozled and beguiled with effects and lavish sets. For me, this isn't what Shakespeare is about. It is the beauty of the words and phrases when partnered with the brilliance of performing the script that should always focus the audiences attention. The responsibility of bringing The Bard to life once more is that of the cast and not a well stocked FX department! The lighting effects are effective and sparingly used with most of the focus on the large backdrop with the sun/ moon being lit appropriately to accentuate the time of day. The use of actors to convey the drowning scene are effective and brilliantly portrayed with minimal fuss.

The cast for The Tempest are an international delight and expertly bring to life every emotional delicacy that is available to be tasted. This sounds like an overly flowery statement to make but it is one that is perfectly appropriate. Richie Donaldson's Prospero has the depth and emotional power of a man that has long ago slain his past demons but, and at the same time, demonstrates his
world weariness. Here to is a deep love for his daughter, Miranda, and I delighted in the scenes where he lovingly tells the story of how they came to live on the island. Miranda, brought to vivid and stunning life by Italian actress, Elena Mazzon. I have enjoyed some of Elena's previous productions and always love the emotional intensity she brings to her performance. Samuel Mattioli's Ferdinand is simply a wonder and his dizzying, almost drunken stupor, on learning the news that Miranda is in love with him lit up the stage. Manish Srivastava is appropriately oafish as the slow witted, Calaban, yet evokes tremendous sympathy as a character who just wants to escape the shackles of slavery. Drunken comic relief is provided by Michael Claff and Alexander Yousri in their portrayals of Stephano and Trinculo respectively provided many comedic moments. The dastardly and quick witted Antonio is brought to acerbic life by Eshy Moyo and his scenes with Sebastian, Robert Land, are both funny and intense. Their planned betrayal of the irritatingly wordy Gonzalo, turncoat and weasel, is devious but perhaps understandable if only to cease the man's incessant prattling. Ted Duran is strident and true in his performance of Alonso and it is his scenes with Prospero that provide an emotional resonance.

Available on DVD June 29th!

A decade in the making, and two decades overdue, Peter Anthony brings to the screen both a revelatory character portrait and an incredible story. Turning the traditional documentary format on its head, potentially creating a whole new genre unto itself, 'The Man Who Saved The World' is a film that is an equal blend of real-life, then present day footage and dramatised reconstruction. The former telling the story of a forgotten man, broken by time and circumstance rediscovering the love that exists in the world. And the latter of which, featuring fluid editing and an amazing score, is captured with the kind of cinematic flair more becoming of a Hollywood blockbusters of the famous faces Stanislav encounters, as he embarks on a tour across the United States which he delivered from utter anihilation. Posing and giving voice to some extremely important social and political questions and insights along the way.

Armed not with a gun or super-strength but with heart and compassion, Peter Anthony has placed the name of a real-life hero - of Stanislav Petrov - amongst the fictional likes of John McClane, Iron Man, and ninety-nine percent of Arnold Schwarzenegger characters. As well as, simultaneously, crafting a truly stunning and accomplished film around him, demonstrating that truth really is stranger than fiction and true heroes do exist, even if they themselves fail to see it and the world fails to realise. A film that, in the modern climate, offers concerns more troubling and carries a message that is more poignant than ever. A verdict made all the more impressive and inspiring given the fact that this is the Danish filmmaker's directorial debut.

In cinemas May 8th in the UK!

Writer and director Céline Sciamma has stated that she did not want to make a film where the audience peers through the looking glass at a world seemingly removed from our own. There is a danger, especially when writing a story that is not a life the writer themselves have lived, to delve into an almost nature documentary-like quality, poking into the forest and observing with wonder the creatures that emerge. Sciamma has avoided this trap, instead writing characters we all know and recognise in a story trenched in reality and humanity. It is, in essence, a classic coming-of-age story in a modern setting.