Mike Richardson

In Review: How I Spent My Summer Vacation

by Mike Richardson 10 May 2012

Mel Gibson, the mega movie-star of the 1990s is back, in the crime or comedy shambles of a film that is How I Spent My Summer Vacation.

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Sundance London: Safety Not Guaranteed

by Mike Richardson 1 May 2012

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.

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Sundance London: The Queen of Versailles

by Mike Richardson 30 April 2012

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 [...]

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Sundance London: Finding North

by Mike Richardson 30 April 2012

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 [...]

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Sundance London: Nobody Walks

by Mike Richardson 28 April 2012

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. [...]

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Special Report: Dracula Prince of Darkness (1966)

by Mike Richardson 29 February 2012

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

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In Review: The Rum Diary

by Mike Richardson 15 November 2011

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.

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Public Enemies: A special BAFTA report

by Mike Richardson 31 October 2011

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.

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In Review: Midnight in Paris

by Mike Richardson 26 October 2011

By Mike Richardson Woody Allen is back in an all too familiar piece of Parisian whimsy

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In Review: The Guard

by Mike Richardson 21 August 2011

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 [...]

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In Review: Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season 3 on DVD & Blu-ray

by Mike Richardson 3 August 2011

By Mike Richardson The original (and the best) Star Wars film A New Hope (1977) blew my childhood mind and rocked my toy buying world. The original trilogy became the biggest thing in this (or any other) galaxy, the re-issued, re-mastered, re-released special editions were watched and enjoyed and I must admit I was giddy [...]

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