Shaun the Sheep: The Farmer's Llamas, 2015 - ★★★

Pleasant enough but the loft hatch moment was just fantastic - even if I could see it coming.

October 03, 2016 at 07:38PM

The Girl with All the Gifts, 2016 - ★★★★

Combining elements from so many familiar sources has the surprisingly result of creating something that feels original. Apart from the ending, there's no doubt about how well this has been put together. It's good enough to ignore any minor plot mishaps that often come up. The ending feels odd though. For a film that feels inspired by many games it was strange to later realise that the ending I thought didn't like wasn't that dissimilar to how I chose to end Life Is Strange and so it can't be that bad.

October 03, 2016 at 07:36PM

Terminus, 1961 - ★★★

Interesting documentary although I guess it's what we'd now call constructed reality. I'd really like to see a remake showing the modern equivalent.

October 03, 2016 at 07:25PM

Exhibition, 2013 - ★★½

Even expecting this to be slow it was a lot harder to watch than I had anticipated. The characters are so distant it's hard to feel much. I did like the ambient sounds, hearing everything going on in the background was much more interesting to me than the artists' lives.

October 03, 2016 at 07:23PM

The Counselor, 2013 - ★★

At the end of the film I was asked "so what actually happened to The Counsellor", I flippantly replied "nothing" which is unfair but also kind of true. Of course things do happen throughout the film but it never feels like anything of any interest.

When this was shown on Film4 people on Twitter were suggesting the original bad reviews were unfair and it wasn't that bad, perhaps it isn't bad but it just feels like a waste of time. With the people involved it should've been better. Ridley Scott has made bad films before, it was Cormac McCarthy first screenplay so he was untested but for me it was
Michael Fassbender who disappoints the most, I didn't realise it was possible for him to act badly.

October 01, 2016 at 02:47PM

Hunt for the Wilderpeople, 2016 - ★★★★

One of my most anticipated films of the year so my expectations were high and I really wish they had been met but it didn't all quite come together. That's not to say the film isn't a complete joy because it wonderfully manages lots of big laughs and at it's heart has an emotional story that really works. In a different mood (or if the most of the punchlines hadn't been in the trailer) perhaps I would have been laughing as much as the rest of the cinema at the earlier broader humour.

I'm not sure what the problems are and why it felt like it didn't work as well as it should. It definitely feels longer than the fairly brief running time and there are definitely far too many helicopter/drone shots of the bush. Overall it just feels like it's lacking something to make it truly majestical.

September 27, 2016 at 11:03PM

Zootopia, 2016 - ★★★½

After hearing so many good things about this it was slightly disappointing to discover it was only good rather than great. It is one of the smartest films of the year, dealing with prejudice in a way that should work for all ages. The attention to detail is also incredible and the sloths provide one of the funniest scenes of the year.

September 25, 2016 at 10:02PM

Hell or High Water, 2016 - ★★★½

When people kept saying they don't make films like this anymore I should've remembered that I'm not always that keen on 70s thrillers. It's good to see something original and relatively smart even if some of the finer details of the plot were lost in heavy Texan drawl. For me it was only really the final third including a really satisfying ending that stood out as anything special.

September 23, 2016 at 06:38PM

Captain Fantastic, 2016 - ★★★½

A film I liked enough to forgive its flaws but was flawed enough to prevent me from loving it. Earlyish there's a scene featuring Noam Chomsky's which didn't make much sense. It may have just been bad editing but it stood out and could just be labelled a mistake without doing any damage. Towards the end of the film there's another scene that could also be badly edited but it may also be deliberately trying to set up some ambiguity, however because of the earlier mistake it ends up just being a distraction; was it deliberate or just poor film making. On reflection I don't think there was supposed to be any ambiguity to the ending but I can't help feeling the film would have been stronger if that had been the case.

The whole film looks great, all the performances are engaging and there a quite a few great musical moment including one of the best scenes of the year when a cop comes on the bus. I also really like the final scene which is odd because it's the type of thing I usually have a big problem with.

September 17, 2016 at 11:34PM

Versus: The Life and Films of Ken Loach, 2016 - ★★★½

A nicely put together documentary giving a great (but far from comprehensive) overview of Loach's work.

September 08, 2016 at 10:10PM

Tickled, 2016 - ★★★★

Another one of those accidental documentaries that start as one thing and become something much more fascinating than anyone could have expected. Often unbelievable (in the good way), frequently very funny and thrilling throughout. It's only let down by spending too much time leading up to a midpoint 'reveal' which was really obvious (to me, anyway) from the start of the film. The ending also lacks a satisfying conclusion to the story but that's can't be helped if that's how things actually happened.

September 02, 2016 at 04:46PM

The Summit, 2012 - ★★★

Didn't really know what this was about so it was a bit of a shock to find out. It's better put together than other documentaries with reenactments but structurally could've done with a bit more coherence and less repetition.

August 26, 2016 at 07:19PM

The Purge, 2013 - ★★★

The concept is good but the film fails to make the most of it. The central action sequence could've happened on any night of the year and just be another home invasion. I was expecting some kind of twist so it turned out to be more than it appeared but that never came either. Still an enjoyable watch though.

August 26, 2016 at 07:16PM

Suicide Squad, 2016 - ★★

The opening 20 minutes are so badly edited it actually hurt to watch. Things don't get much better although the way the rest of the footage is butchered may actually disguise just how nonsensical the plot really is. Deadshot and Harley Quinn just about save the film but even they aren't given much to do. Viola Davis is good but it feels too early to form an opinion on Leto's Joker (this really wasn't the best way to introduce the character). Everybody will probably agree that Cara Delevingne is just awful - one of the worst performances I've ever seen - but even she isn't the worst part of the film. It's the use of music throughout the film that is just horrendous, nearly always awful choices that take so much away from the scenes.

August 24, 2016 at 10:51PM

August: Osage County, 2013 - ★★★

Good actors playing bad.

August 21, 2016 at 10:10PM

Pete's Dragon, 2016 - ★★★★

Reminiscent of The Iron Giant, E.T and the works of Studio Ghibli, it never quites soars to the emotional heights of those earlier films but it delivers consistently throughout. It's in that way that it feels better than The Jungle Book and The BFG which both had dips in quality. It's certainly a huge improvement over the mawkish original.

August 21, 2016 at 10:02PM

Creed, 2015 - ★★★½

Better than originally anticipated but not as good as the later hype had lead me to believe. If I had any connection to the Rocky series I'd probably appreciate it more. Another film in a growing list of how to successfully reboot a franchise.

August 21, 2016 at 09:53PM

One Night In 2012, 2016 - ★★★★★

I wasn't going to include this as a film but it's a feature length documentary and it made me cry so that seemed like good enough justification. I'm a fan of Danny Boyle, making-ofs and of course the 2012 Opening Ceremony so it's hard to imagine how I couldn't love this. It may not do anything more remarkable than telling a fascinating story but it is such a good story.

August 21, 2016 at 09:50PM

Pete's Dragon, 1977 - ★★½

The animated Elliot is nicely done and so is the invisible work but compositing was even harder to get right 40 years ago (incidentally I saw the 2D trailer for The BFG and things looked blended together much better than I remember). The whole film feels very dated and stagey. It may still appeal to children or those with nostalgic memories of earlier viewings but it's really lacking a lot and none of the songs add any magic.

August 14, 2016 at 08:11PM

Weiner, 2016 - ★★★★

Even without the revelations that occurred during filming this would have been a great documentary because Anthony Weiner is such a fascinating character. In many ways it's a shame that the scandals occurred because we never really get to find out what his politics were either in the film and in the real world and yet we get an insight to his passion and determination to make things better. I've thought this before and it was cemented here but we really should stop caring about politicians sex lives. Yes he lied and cheated but, as far as I could tell from the film, never about anything to do with his politics or campaign and should that really stop him from doing that job.

The film feels a lot longer than it's running time but in a good way. It left me wanting to know more especially about what happened with Weiner's wife Huma (perhaps this is already well known in America and wasn't necessary for the film).

Both the man and the film are politically and psychologically fascinating, entertaining and exciting.

August 10, 2016 at 10:31PM

Piper, 2016 - ★★★★

Watched on Tuesday August 2, 2016.

August 08, 2016 at 12:21PM

Finding Dory, 2016 - ★★★★

There is something comforting familiar about Finding Dory, perhaps it is just revisiting characters you haven't seen in 13(!) years or perhaps the Pixar formula is too well known and understood now. I did enjoy nearly everything although the quarantine/tag/Cleveland plot points made even less sense than swimming from Australia to California (and back, twice in Dory's case). More problematic was the uneasy feeling around some of bullying of and by minor characters, I don't think it's as bad as this article makes out but I expect more from Pixar.

August 03, 2016 at 07:07PM

South Riding, 1938 - ★★★

There's an awful lot going on and it feels quite adventurous for it's time especially towards the end. However it also feels it's age and was difficult for me to shake the memory of the recent BBC adaptation so I never felt that engaged.

August 03, 2016 at 06:56PM

Ghostbusters, 2016 - ★★★★

A worthy successor to the 1984 original (probably more so than Ghostbusters II) which was only let down by becoming a generic action/superhero movie towards the end and an awful version of the Ghostbuster theme song in the middle. It's worth seeing just for Kate Mckinnon's performance and Holtzmann is one of the best movie characters of recent years.

August 01, 2016 at 10:30AM

Pulp Fiction, 1994 - ★★★★★

None of the brilliance has faded in the last 22 years and it was a delight to see it on the big screen. This could have been the first time I've seen it in the cinema or Pulp Fiction could've been the first 18 certificate film I saw in the cinema back in 94. It's weird that I remember talking so much about the film when it was released but now wondering if that was just based on everything I read (including the script) and the soundtrack.

August 01, 2016 at 10:15AM