The film begins with Ryan Gosling, the chillingly cool ‘‘Driver’’, announcing to one of his employers over the phone – “I’ll give you a five minute window – anything happens either side of that, and you’re on your own”. The part-time stuntman and full-time stoic dips his leather-clad hands into Los Angeles’ crime world, whilst […]
The original 1979 Ridley Scott sci-fi horror film has always stuck with me. It’s dark simplicity has never quite been matched by any of the sequels. It is the first time we are thrust into the unknown depths of space to witness the brooding violence of the Xenomorph. It is these original, glimpsed images of […]
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a confident visual recreation of 1970’s cold war espionage. In line with the conflict itself, it appears as a suffocating but fascinating simulation of a period of intense political disillusionment. There is a mole in the British Secret Intelligence Service, and the solemnly astute George Smiley (Gary Oldman) is brought […]
Rise of the Planet of the Apes shows us a twisting double helix of evolution and revolution, yet despite some faint cinematic moments and some well rounded character development, it feels all-too simplified and, disappointingly, all too human. The prequel, set sometime in an early 21st Century San Francisco, sees the hubristic tampering with Mother […]
Wu Xia is an interesting historical fantasy that treads both old and familiar ground, as well as injecting some fresh ideas into the genre with great stylistic flare. Set in the southwestern province of Yunnan in 1917 China, the film takes place away from the royal courts of the ancient and imperial era, instead concentrating […]