In Review

In Review: Spring Breakers

by Martyn Conterio 4 April 2013

Harmony Korine’s latest feature is a hymn to hedonism and the joys of doing nothing much at all except getting hammered and hanging with friends. It fits neatly into his oeuvre.

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Ken Loach is this country’s greatest exponent of social realist cinema. From Poor Cow and Kes, through to Riff-Raff and later films such as Looking for Eric and The Angel’s Share, Loach has imbued his stories with an important sense of authenticity. It’s no surprise then that The Spirit of ’45, an exploration of working [...]

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In Review: Jack the Giant Slayer

by Adam Vaughan 2 April 2013

“Fee-fi-fo-fum, I’ve just seen a film that’s big and dumb”. Jack the Giant Slayer is the latest in a recent spate of fairytale adventures that re-imagine the well-known classics – usually making them more violent with added lashings of irony. Bryan Singer’s film certainly boasts (albeit 12A-rated) scenes of violence and lots of pyrotechnics, but [...]

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In Review: End of Watch on Blu-ray

by Neil Sheppard 1 April 2013

David Ayer is an odd one. From writing the deliriously over-the-top carsploitation movie The Fast and The Furious (2001) and starting an infamous franchise of dubious quality, he went on, in the same year, to write dark and gritty cop thriller Training Day (2001), which earned critical plaudits and an Oscar for Denzel Washington. Now [...]

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In Review: Last Shop Standing on DVD

by Helen Cox 1 April 2013

With the collapse of HMV 2012′s documentary Last Shop Standing is even more pertinent than it was 8 months ago on release. Based on the book of the same name by Graham Jones, one of the founders of Proper Music Distribution, this modest 50 minute film explores the rise, fall and potential rebirth of the [...]

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In Review: Turn Me On, Goddammit! on DVD

by Matt Turner 29 March 2013

In this provocatively titled coming of age story, a 15 year old girl in a small Norwegian village finds herself ostracised after announcing (truthfully) at a party that a boy she likes “poked her with his dick.” This openness sets a precedent. Arriving quietly from first time feature filmmaker, Jannicke Systad Jacobsen, Turn Me On, [...]

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Book Review: The Unkindest Cut by Joe Queenan

by Helen Cox 28 March 2013

Unless, like me, you have closely followed the work of Guardian critic Joe Queenan it’s quite possible that you’ve never heard of The Unkindest Cut . Originally published in 1996, the book tells of Queenan’s attempt to follow in the footsteps of Robert Rodriguez who reportedly made his feature debut, El Mariarchi (1992) for $7000. [...]

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In Review: The Inside on DVD

by Vicki Cole 27 March 2013

When five female friends break into an abandoned warehouse to celebrate a birthday, the celebration quickly turns sour when three violent hobos disturb the party, terrifying and violating the women. Unbeknownst to all, there is something even nastier lurking in the warehouse.

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In Review: Frances Ha

by Helen Cox 27 March 2013

Shot in monochrome and set in New York, one might be forgiven for mistaking Frances Ha for a sequel to Woody Allen’s Manhattan (1979). While there are definite nods to Allen’s idealised vision of New York this picture is less-concerned with romantic entanglements, something of an obsession for Woody, and instead explores friendship and personal growth.

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In Review: Side Effects

by Adam Vaughan 26 March 2013

Steven Soderbergh’s Side Effects begins as a psycho-thriller that craftily mutates as you watch it, turning out to be something quite different.

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The Empress Speaks: On the Sanitation of Violence in the 12A Movie-Verse

by Helen Cox 25 March 2013

I recently spent a good three hours sobbing my heart out in the darkest corner of New Empress HQ; clutching my John McClane action figure like it was the last thing I had in the world. Why? I’d just received the news that A Good Day to Die Hard had been granted a 12A certificate. You see, I’m an [...]

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