Tag Archives: Film review

Overrated Crap: Moulin Rouge!

I absolutely hate this film. I saw it with some girlfriends at the cinema and seemed to be the lone naysayer. I don’t hang out with those women anymore. Baz Luhrmann’s fin de siecle “spectacular” is like Cirque De Soleil for pre-teens who’ve never seen films-or the circus- before. It’s an absolute disaster.Worse yet, itContinue reading “Overrated Crap: Moulin Rouge!”

Vintage Film Review: A Place In The Sun

George Stevens’ 1951 film eschews his usual screwball comedy genre for a melodrama focusing on an extremely toxic love triangle. Montgomery Clift is George Eastman, a social climber who dates Alice Tripp (Shelley Winters) a dowdy co-worker in a local factory. But when he discovers the beautiful Angela Vickers (Elizabeth Taylor) a society lady, heContinue reading “Vintage Film Review: A Place In The Sun”

Archive Film Review: Machine

thetempohouse GFF Review: Machine March 7, 2020 • Spoilt Victorian Child Photo: GFF Part of Glasgow Film Festival 2020. Machine, directed by Justin Krook, posits where we are in an era of AI (Artificial Intelligence) in this insightful, if flawed, documentary. Using a vast array of talking heads such as roboticist Hiroshi Ishiguro, and fighter pilot, now autonomousContinue reading “Archive Film Review: Machine”

Film Review: Emma

How bad is Autumn De Wilde’s adaptation of Emma? The awful Miranda Hart has a “comic” turn in it as Mrs Bates, that’s how bad. Anya Taylor -Joy takes the lead as Emma Woodhouse, depicting her as the spoilt, unlikeable gossiping brat with a peripatetic accent, who spends all her time matchmaking and studiously tryingContinue reading “Film Review: Emma”

Documentary Review: The Myth of Marilyn Monroe

  What an utter train wreck of a documentary, The Myth of Marilyn Monroe is. Directed by Oliver Elphick, it charts her rise and fall, with some historical context of America in the fifties, as opposed to telling her life story with any nuance. Instead, fairytale rags to riches clichés abound. The American Dream symbolismContinue reading “Documentary Review: The Myth of Marilyn Monroe”

Archive Review : The Punk Singer

Arts:Blog Cinema Review: The Punk Singer Posted by Across the Arts on March 4, 2014, at 8.20am “Girls to the Front!” Lorna Irvine reviews the celebration of music icon Kathleen Hanna. Once upon a time in the early nineties, long before Britney, Beyonce, Miley and Ri-Ri, Bikini Kill, along with Bratmobile, Huggy Bear, Die Cheerleader, Lois and Sleater Kinney, were part ofContinue reading “Archive Review : The Punk Singer”

Vintage Film Review: Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things (1972)

There is a reason that some film directors are regarded as maestros of the genre, whereas others are relegated to cult status, and so by extension are their products mere cult fodder. This 1972 film sits firmly and comfortably in the latter category. With all the scares of ‘Scooby-Doo’, plus some of the wardrobe, directorContinue reading “Vintage Film Review: Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things (1972)”

Film Review: Marcel The Shell With Shoes On

Dean Fleischer Camp and Jenny Slate’s mockumentary is one of the most lovely family films I’ve ever seen. In the hands of Disney, it probably would have been a treacly exercise in trite sentimentality, but leave it to independent filmmakers to create something pithy, poignant and rather beautiful. Marcel (adorably voiced by Slate) is indeedContinue reading “Film Review: Marcel The Shell With Shoes On”

Film Review: Back To Black

Sam Taylor- Johnson’s Amy Winehouse biopic suffers from the factor that afflicts many musical biopics: it’s too linear and on -the-nose, with a Wikipedia approach to its subject. So it’s all laid down here in heart -breaking detail: everything that’s well-documented about the talented Londoner- from her closeness to glamorous nan Cynthia (brilliant as everContinue reading “Film Review: Back To Black”