Screenwize - Writing About Film
Continuing its prequel direction, the ‘found footage’ of the Paranormal Activity franchise goes back to the 1980’s with spooky sisters Katie & Kristi now young girls, haunted by an invisible force that shakes, rattles and blows. With its trademark silences and long waits as locked-off cameras reveal strange disturbances, it’s a strong installment for the series where things steadily get bumpier in the night. (more…)
By now, you know what you’re in for with a Kevin Smith film. People talk about stuff. Then they talk some more. Whether it’s a couple of slacker clerks in Clerks, or a couple of fallen angels in Dogma, it’s the Smith style, and he has developed a huge fan base that enjoys his dry comic dialogue. What then are we to make of Smith’s latest project Red State – pitched as a ‘straight horror film’? Kevin Smith doing horror? Well, Red State is horrible in plenty of places: an unruly story with an uneven tone, frequently dull, and more satire than fear or gore. And predictably, it has some very long scenes of people talking, as Smith pokes his pen at the religious right. (more…)
This robot-boxing movie - that dishes out clichés blow-by-blow - plays for the crowd, and will no doubt win a few hearts with its sentimental father and son reunion tale. But it will also lose a few minds – the formulaic storytelling and cardboard cut-out characters tipped on the heavyweight side of the scales. (more…)
For a moment it seemed like this one was going to be so bad it might just be good. But…nah, it’s just bad. With the mushometer maxed out, and a score that starts on overdrive and heads for overbearing, this ridiculously melodramatic tale of forbidden love tries to bury its narrative flaws with a colourful coating of CGI – but ends up a shiny glutinous mess. (more…)
If you enjoy a good underdog tale, take up an eyewitness view at silly mid-off for this rousing celebration of one of the greatest cricket teams of the modern era. Starting with their humiliating defeat in Australia in 1975 at the hands of Lillee, Thomson and the Chappell brothers, this documentary charts the transformation of Calypso cricket (fun, freewheeling and prone to being thrashed) into a glorious, power-packed form of the sport that made names like Viv Richards, Andy Roberts, Joel Garner and Michael Holding more like gods than men. (more…)
“If I finish life with more than two quid in my pocket then I’ve made a miscalculation.” So says Guy Martin, the good looking bad boy of motor-cycle racing, and every documentary filmmaker’s dream subject: outrageous, funny, charming and dressed in leathers – a man who always has a story to tell when he isn’t busy creating them by upsetting sponsors or disappearing when there’s a press conference he’s meant to be at. No surprise then that he is the heartbeat of a new film about the world’s most dangerous bike race that takes place every year on the Isle of Man, almost certainly taking a few lives in the process. (more…)
The film may be billed “charming” but I’m not quite so sure the same applies to Oliver Tate, its central character. But then, what 15-year-old is? It’s an awkward, angst-ridden and - let’s face it - ugly stage of life. Actor turned writer/director Richard Ayoade (yes, he’s Moss from The IT Crowd) pieces together an idiosyncratic story of Oliver – a boy from a small village in Wales who possesses an overactive imagination, embarrassingly dull parents and a crush on class-mate Jordana. (more…)
Wordy drama written for the theatre rarely makes for great cinema, and Michael Rymer’s Face to Face is a perfect example of the challenges a filmmaker faces in transforming a dialogue-driven story set in one room into a big screen experience. And whilst he definitely makes the best of it – with top-drawer performances and some action-orientated cinematic flashbacks, this still feels like the stuff of stage or small screen. (more…)
Although best known as an actor, Tom McCarthy makes a third outing as writer/director with Win Win, continuing his exploration of ordinary people and everyday problems. And, as with his previous films The Station Agent and The Visitor, he proves a superb and witty observer of humanity’s small frailties and extracts finely tuned performances from his cast – led by the poster-boy of middle-age unease, Paul Giametti. However, there’s a little less sparkle here, with the dreary suburban atmosphere getting just one suburb too close to reality for the big screen. (more…)
When Julie Shanahan left Australia 25 years ago to join a dance company in Germany, she thought she’d be back within a year. “I never imagined I could be even 10 years in one dance company,” she says “but I’ve now been there 25 years! And I am still only beginning to understand so much. That’s a testament to one person and her work – Pina.” (more…)
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