As Sundance London drew to a close, this reviewer settled in to watch a film that seemed to encapsulate everything good about Robert Redford’s independent Film Festival; Safety Not Guaranteed is one of those tidy little indie films that Sundance loves to love.
A million miles, or (more precisely) several billion dollars away from the poverty of the families in Finding North we had The Queen of Versailles, a documentary about David and Jackie Siegel and their brood, a billionaire family (mega rich thanks to David’s timeshare business) who were dissatisfied with their existing mansion and decided to [...]
The pick of Friday’s Sundance Festival was a double bill of two similar, yet utterly different documentaries dealing with modern day poverty in the US. First up was Finding North: a film that featured in Utah’s Sundance Film Festival documentary competition, and was especially pertinent as it featured music produced by T Bone Burnett (also [...]
One of the joys of independent film festivals, like Robert Redford’s Sundance is that you get to see films that you wouldn’t normally see. The festival has arrived in London in an attempt to take Sundance overseas and features British premieres of 14 American feature-length movies and 8 short films from the original Utah festival. [...]
Sundance London features several documentaries, including Lauren Greenfield’s “The Queen of Versailles”, and “The House I Live In”, Eugene Jarecki’s critique of the US government’s war on drugs, but the documentary bar was set pretty high with the film about the recording and reception of Paul Simon’s 1986 album; Graceland
After a trip to the blood donors, the kindly nurses and doctors generally suggest taking it easy and drinking plenty of liquids, yet last Friday my post-donation time was spent in a disused crypt in the bowels of London Waterloo instead; in the company of Hammer Horror
By Mike Richardson When the news broke that Johnny Depp was bringing The Rum Diary, Hunter S. Thompson’s only published novel, to the screen AND it was to be adapted and directed by the man behind Withnail and I(Bruce Robinson), fans reacted with the exuberant shock and awe usually only reserved for a cannon blast.
By Mike Richardson With television choc full of talent(less) shows and “family friendly” weekend fare it’s refreshing to find a drama that grabs you and demands your attention from start to finish.
By Mike Richardson When straight-laced FBI operative Wendell Everett (Don Cheadle) travels to Ireland and is partnered with gruff, local Garda Sergeant Gerry Boyle (Brendan Gleeson) in an attempt to thwart some drug traffickers, you’d expect a fish-out-of-water, odd-couple cop movie like Red Heat (1988) or even In the Heat of The Night (1967). With [...]
