Showing posts with label A Most Violent Year. Show all posts
Showing posts with label A Most Violent Year. Show all posts
Monday, 14 September 2015
Home Comforts: The best in TV, VOD, DVD and Blu-ray (Monday September 14 - Sunday September 20)
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Thursday, 9 July 2015
My top 20 films of the year... so far (Part #2)
Numbers 10-1 on the countdown of my favourite UK cinema releases (January 1-June 30)...
10. Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief
(Director: Alex Gibney UK release date: June 23)
This enthralling and forensic take down of the L Ron Hubbard-foundedreligion cult is a real eye-opener from which Tom Cruise ("the nicest man in the world", according to TV's Graham Norton) does not emerge well.
This enthralling and forensic take down of the L Ron Hubbard-founded
9. It Follows
(Director: David Robert Mitchell UK release date: February 27)
It might owe a debt or two to John Carpenter, but Mitchell's second feature is a genuinely unsettling horror with a single, brilliant idea at its core. The director is mostly concerned with conjuring an oppressive atmosphere but when the scares arrive they don't disappoint.
(Director: David Robert Mitchell UK release date: February 27)
It might owe a debt or two to John Carpenter, but Mitchell's second feature is a genuinely unsettling horror with a single, brilliant idea at its core. The director is mostly concerned with conjuring an oppressive atmosphere but when the scares arrive they don't disappoint.
8. Appropriate Behaviour
(Director: Desiree Akhavan UK release date: March 6)
Hilarious relationship comedy/drama following the travails of a bisexual Iranian woman in New York. First-time writer/director Akhavan delivers razor-sharp one-liners, one after the other, like her life depends on it.
(Director: Desiree Akhavan UK release date: March 6)
Hilarious relationship comedy/drama following the travails of a bisexual Iranian woman in New York. First-time writer/director Akhavan delivers razor-sharp one-liners, one after the other, like her life depends on it.
7. White Bird in a Blizzard
(Director: Gregg Araki UK release date: March 6)
Criminally-underrated coming of age/missing person drama which boasts a sharp script and terrific performances from Shailene Woodley (below) and Eva Green. Perhaps not quite as essential as Araki's wonderful Mysterious Skin but certainly in the same ballpark.
(Director: Gregg Araki UK release date: March 6)
Criminally-underrated coming of age/missing person drama which boasts a sharp script and terrific performances from Shailene Woodley (below) and Eva Green. Perhaps not quite as essential as Araki's wonderful Mysterious Skin but certainly in the same ballpark.
6. Girlhood
(Director: Celine Sciamma UK release date: May 8)
Excellent French-language drama set in and around a tough Parisian estate and focusing on the members of a black girl gang. Karidja Touré is splendid as Marieme, a strong, determined and resourceful young woman who simply refuses to buckle under the weight of a difficult life.
(Director: Celine Sciamma UK release date: May 8)
Excellent French-language drama set in and around a tough Parisian estate and focusing on the members of a black girl gang. Karidja Touré is splendid as Marieme, a strong, determined and resourceful young woman who simply refuses to buckle under the weight of a difficult life.
5. A Most Violent Year
(Director: JC Chandor UK release date: January 23)
A moody, slow-burning crime drama from Chandor (Margin Call, All is Lost) that somehow makes the business of selling heating oil utterly compelling. Its leads - Jessica Chastain and the ubiquitous Oscar Isaac - are both superb.
(Director: JC Chandor UK release date: January 23)
A moody, slow-burning crime drama from Chandor (Margin Call, All is Lost) that somehow makes the business of selling heating oil utterly compelling. Its leads - Jessica Chastain and the ubiquitous Oscar Isaac - are both superb.
4. Whiplash
(Director: Damien Chazelle UK release date: January 16)
Abusive music teacher Terence Fletcher (Oscar winner JK Simmons, below) pushes talented young musician Miles Teller to the edge in a punishing drama. Who knew the world of jazz drumming could be so brutal or so entertaining?
(Director: Damien Chazelle UK release date: January 16)
Abusive music teacher Terence Fletcher (Oscar winner JK Simmons, below) pushes talented young musician Miles Teller to the edge in a punishing drama. Who knew the world of jazz drumming could be so brutal or so entertaining?
3. Birdman or (the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
(Director: Alejandro G. Iñárritu UK release date: January 1)
A great big strutting peacock of a movie that puts the satirical boot into actors, acting, ego, hubris and superhero franchises. Did it deserve the best picture Oscar? Who cares, it's a hoot from start to finish and Michael Keaton (pictured, top of page) has never been better.
(Director: Alejandro G. Iñárritu UK release date: January 1)
A great big strutting peacock of a movie that puts the satirical boot into actors, acting, ego, hubris and superhero franchises. Did it deserve the best picture Oscar? Who cares, it's a hoot from start to finish and Michael Keaton (pictured, top of page) has never been better.
2. The Look of Silence
(Director: Joshua Oppenheimer UK release date: June 12)
Jaw-dropping follow-up to The Act of Killing, Oppenheimer’s documentary about the 1965 Indonesian genocide of alleged communists. Here, the brother of one of the death squad’s victims confronts his murderers.
(Director: Joshua Oppenheimer UK release date: June 12)
Jaw-dropping follow-up to The Act of Killing, Oppenheimer’s documentary about the 1965 Indonesian genocide of alleged communists. Here, the brother of one of the death squad’s victims confronts his murderers.
Drumroll, straightens bowtie, opens envelope... and my favourite film of 2015 so far is...
(Director: Ana Lily Amirpour UK release date: May 22)
Utterly beguiling ‘Iranian vampire western’ that quickly transcends its influences to deliver something quite unique. Playful, funny and romantic at times it may be, but writer/director Amirpour's full-length debut never loses sight of its sinister horror edge. Superb soundtrack too.
Read my full review here.
Saturday, 6 June 2015
Reviews: A Most Violent Year, Ex Machina, and Girlhood
A Most Violent Year
Director: JC Chandor
Starring: Oscar Isaac, Jessica Chastain, David Oyelowo
Running Time: 125 mins
An atmospheric, slow-burning drama from Chandor (Margin Call, All is Lost) that somehow makes the business of selling heating oil utterly compelling. Set in New York in 1981 (to that point, statistically, the most violent year in the city’s history), Isaac plays immigrant businessman Abel Morales. He is successful and ambitious but lately has seen his drivers assaulted and other parts of his operation under attack, presumably from one or more of his many rivals. Worse still, he is being investigated for tax evasion and price fixing by Oyelowo’s Assistant District Attorney, while his mob-connected missus (Chastain on top Lady Macbeth form) is urging him to take robust action against the saboteurs. If A Most Violent Year was merely a portrait of a flawed man desperately trying to hang on to his sanity, dignity and humanity in the face of enormous provocation, it would already be a very good film. The fact it offers so much more than that – superb performances, a critique of US capitalism, a vivid recreation of the period, and sumptuously-shot views of wintry New York – is what makes it one of the finest dramas you’re likely to see all year. It would have been easy for Chandor – who also wrote the screenplay – to do the predictable thing and turn this into a typical mob drama full of wiseguys trading blows and bullets, but he’s far cannier than that and his film is all the better for it.
Rating: WWWW
A Most Violent Year is available on DVD, Blu-ray and VOD now
Ex Machina
Director: Alex Garland
Starring: Oscar Isaac, Domhnall Gleeson, Alicia Vikander
Running Time: 108 mins
The ridiculously versatile Oscar Isaac crops up again here, this time playing a reclusive and hubristic alcoholic who just also happens to be a brilliant tech billionaire. Isaac’s character Nathan chooses Caleb (Gleeson), one of his employees, to spend a week at the vast, sprawling and remote estate he calls home. There, Nathan shares the secret of what he has been working on – a walking, talking Artificial Intelligence named Ava (Vikander), upon whom he wants Caleb to perform a “Turing test” to gauge whether she has attained independent thought. Ex Machina is an expertly woven three-hander that starts off as an engaging bit of sci-fi exploring ideas of consciousness, humanity and attraction, but ends up as an out-and-out thriller. Garland’s directorial debut (if you discount his reported input into the disappointing Dredd) is a tense and tight affair, with some fine twists that invite you to try and figure out who is manipulating who and to what end. There are moments when it reminded me of last year’s Joaquin Phoenix/Scarlett Johansson AI movie, Her. But, in truth, Ex Machina is a far darker and altogether more satisfying piece of work.
Rating: WWW
Ex Machina is available on DVD, Blu-ray and VOD now
Director: Alex Garland
Starring: Oscar Isaac, Domhnall Gleeson, Alicia Vikander
Running Time: 108 mins
The ridiculously versatile Oscar Isaac crops up again here, this time playing a reclusive and hubristic alcoholic who just also happens to be a brilliant tech billionaire. Isaac’s character Nathan chooses Caleb (Gleeson), one of his employees, to spend a week at the vast, sprawling and remote estate he calls home. There, Nathan shares the secret of what he has been working on – a walking, talking Artificial Intelligence named Ava (Vikander), upon whom he wants Caleb to perform a “Turing test” to gauge whether she has attained independent thought. Ex Machina is an expertly woven three-hander that starts off as an engaging bit of sci-fi exploring ideas of consciousness, humanity and attraction, but ends up as an out-and-out thriller. Garland’s directorial debut (if you discount his reported input into the disappointing Dredd) is a tense and tight affair, with some fine twists that invite you to try and figure out who is manipulating who and to what end. There are moments when it reminded me of last year’s Joaquin Phoenix/Scarlett Johansson AI movie, Her. But, in truth, Ex Machina is a far darker and altogether more satisfying piece of work.
Rating: WWW
Ex Machina is available on DVD, Blu-ray and VOD now
Girlhood
Director: Céline Sciamma
Starring: Karidja Touré, Assa Sylla, Lindsay Karamoh
Running time: 113 mins
French writer/director Sciamma’s film (her third) couldn’t be more different to last year’s similarly-titled Boyhood. Where Richard Linklater’s much-celebrated coming of age tale was all about a typical middle-class American kid and his family, Girlhood is set in and around one of the tough estates on the outskirts of Paris and focuses on the members of a black girl gang. Never mind growing up and going to college, in Sciamma’s story it’s all about surviving. Marieme (splendid newcomer Karidja Touré) escapes life’s hardships – no father, no job, insufficient schooling, and a bullying older brother – by hooking up with Lady (Assa Sylla), Adiatou (Lindsay Karamoh) and Fily (Mariétou Touré). They rechristen her Vic (for Victory) and together the four bond over trips into the city, shoplifting clothes, punch-ups, and, in one of the film’s finest moments, miming along to Rihanna’s sublime Diamonds. Of course, membership of the gang only offers temporary respite from Marieme’s troubles, a situation that comes to a head when she is physically attacked by her brother for sleeping with a boy then flees the estate to commence a short-lived life of crime. Sciamma – a white woman – has been criticised in some quarters for portraying black characters and their lives negatively but this is as much about the limited choices and pressures faced by young women as it is a film attempting to chronicle the black or immigrant experience in France. Besides, at no point does Girlhood seek to denigrate its main characters or their choices. In fact, Marieme is an empowering, inspiring creation; a strong, determined and resourceful young woman who simply refuses to buckle under the weight of a difficult life. Eventually, you know, she’ll be just fine.
Rating: WWWW
Girlhood is in cinemas now
Ratings
WWWW = Wonderful
WWW = Worthwhile
WW = Watchable
W = Woeful
Starring: Karidja Touré, Assa Sylla, Lindsay Karamoh
Running time: 113 mins
French writer/director Sciamma’s film (her third) couldn’t be more different to last year’s similarly-titled Boyhood. Where Richard Linklater’s much-celebrated coming of age tale was all about a typical middle-class American kid and his family, Girlhood is set in and around one of the tough estates on the outskirts of Paris and focuses on the members of a black girl gang. Never mind growing up and going to college, in Sciamma’s story it’s all about surviving. Marieme (splendid newcomer Karidja Touré) escapes life’s hardships – no father, no job, insufficient schooling, and a bullying older brother – by hooking up with Lady (Assa Sylla), Adiatou (Lindsay Karamoh) and Fily (Mariétou Touré). They rechristen her Vic (for Victory) and together the four bond over trips into the city, shoplifting clothes, punch-ups, and, in one of the film’s finest moments, miming along to Rihanna’s sublime Diamonds. Of course, membership of the gang only offers temporary respite from Marieme’s troubles, a situation that comes to a head when she is physically attacked by her brother for sleeping with a boy then flees the estate to commence a short-lived life of crime. Sciamma – a white woman – has been criticised in some quarters for portraying black characters and their lives negatively but this is as much about the limited choices and pressures faced by young women as it is a film attempting to chronicle the black or immigrant experience in France. Besides, at no point does Girlhood seek to denigrate its main characters or their choices. In fact, Marieme is an empowering, inspiring creation; a strong, determined and resourceful young woman who simply refuses to buckle under the weight of a difficult life. Eventually, you know, she’ll be just fine.
Rating: WWWW
Girlhood is in cinemas now
Ratings
WWWW = Wonderful
WWW = Worthwhile
WW = Watchable
W = Woeful
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