Film Guide

In spring 1945, the German army collapses. As the Allied forces sweep across the Motherland, five children embark on a journey which will challenge every notion we have of family, love and friendship. After her Nazi parents are imprisoned, Lore leads her younger siblings across a war-torn Germany in 1945. Amidst the chaos, she encounters mysterious Jewish refugee Thomas, who shatters her fragile reality with hatred and desire. To live, she must trust someone she was taught to hate and face the darkness within herself.

Lore releases on DVD, February 6th, 2013

In order to save a young girl’s life, an emergency operator must confront a killer from her past. Read the rest of this entry »

Seeking a Friend for the End of the World stars Steve Carell and Keira Knightley and had an ok trailer. Ok enough, that when paired with the lovely Keira, it seemed like a good way to spend an evening, plus I’d get bonus points with the wife for bringing home a rom-com.

Set in a close future, the film takes a light look at what people will do when humanity’s last days are at hand, focussing on the respective journeys of Dodge (Mr. Carell) and Penny (Ms. Knightley) whose paths converge, and an unlikely romance begins to bloom.

One of the many problems with Seeking a Friend is it just doesn’t know what it wants to be, on the one hand we see a work mate of Dodge’s jump to his death after he realises life has no meaning anymore, and we witness as riots start to break out, giving a glimpse to the serious side of the end of days, but then you realise that if society has begun to break down, why is everything else so normal, with power-plants still fully staffed and running, and no mad rush on food supplies.

Then there’s the comedy aspect, which misses and much as it fires, with some exception scenes that sparsely populate a comedic barren wasteland. You would be stretching genre definitions to call this baby a comedy.  Read the rest of this entry »

When a clumsy deadbeat accidentally kills his landlord, he must do everything in his power to hide the body, only to find that the distractions of lust, the death of his beloved brother, and a crew of misfit characters force him on a journey where a fortune awaits him. Read the rest of this entry »

This Is England ‘88 confirms Shane Meadows’ hybrid This Is England franchise as one of Britain’s top film and television offerings, sitting comfortably alongside such excellent recent works as Gatiss & Moffat’s hugely popular modern reinterpretation of the Sherlock Holmes adventures and Charlie Brooker’s lesser known but highly inventive dystopian mind trip Black Mirror. Whereas these latter shows cover the procedural-thriller and sci-fi psycho-thriller genres respectively, working class Brit auteur Meadows brings to bear his considerable talent and experience to deliver sharply observed social realism with a mystical edge and a near perfect balance of darkness and humour.

Like the original feature and ‘86 television instalment, This Is England ‘88 showcases great writing, direction, and strong performances. Shane Meadows enters the third outing in his world with his cast, if not the central group of friends, intact. I think the franchise (for want of a better term) is so successful because Meadows still has plenty to say: unlike many a renewed TV show or movie sequel he’s not content to trot out the usual suspects giving us more of the same. Instead he explores relationship and personal development in a very keen eyed manner with a bunch of people and storylines that all ring true. Meadows’s motley crew may not exactly mirror our social circles but we’ve all, at least to some degree, been to similar places.

With fast approaching Christmas 1988 as the film’s highly visible backdrop the miniseries opens pre-credits to the key storyline characters waking up on a typical day illustrating their current lot. Shaun and Smell are living at his mum’s but things are taking a rocky turn; Lol is now a single mum who catches the gang when she can, which is not often enough, walking a knife-edge of overwhelming depression as best she can; Milky is returned from world roaming to visit his and Lol’s daughter Lisa and to Christmas with his friends; meanwhile Woody has quit his sphere and is attempting to live the responsible working man’s life, almost convincing his family and new girlfriend if not himself. It’s easy to forget how fast time can work to divide as well as to join. Read the rest of this entry »

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An art auctioneer who has become mixed up with a group of criminals partners with a hypnotherapist in order to recover a lost painting. Read the rest of this entry »

Frank is a UK comedy that casts Michael Fassbender alongside Maggie Gyllenhaal and Domhnall Gleeson. The film follows Gleeson as Jon “a young wannabe musician who discovers he’s bitten off more than he can chew when he joins a band of eccentric pop musicians led by the mysterious and enigmatic Frank (Fassbender) and his terrifying sidekick Clara (Gyllenhaal).”

DEAD MAN DOWN is an action thriller that stars Colin Farrell and Noomi Rapace as two strangers whose mutual desire for revenge draws them together and triggers an escalating trail of mayhem. The film, which also stars Academy Award nominee Terrence Howard and Dominic Cooper, marks the American theatrical debut of director Niels Arden Oplev (the original The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo). Read the rest of this entry »