Room, based on the book by Emma Donoghue, starts on young Jack’s 5th birthday. He gets a birthday cake from his mother (but no candles); a visit from his father; and a gift, albeit belatedly. This would all be perfectly normal except that all of this takes place within ‘Room’ – a confined space with … Read more
I went to see “The Revenant” on the day that it was nominated for 12 Oscars, which certainly sets the expectation that it is going to be good – and it is. But I saw it described by DiCaprio as an “epic arthouse western” and that’s a good description. In the same way that Iñárritu’s … Read more
I always approach a Quentin Tarantino film with a degree of nervous excitement. The nerves arise since the levels of gratuitous violence in his films is about 2 notches above the level I personally find comfortable. The excitement comes from the fact that the guy is an undisputed genius of storytelling through film. The Hateful … Read more
As a boxing movie Creed packs a heavyweight punch. Sylvester Stallone (as the film’s producer) has covered a lot of miles with his Rocky legend, most recently with his 2006 Rocky Balboa. As such I had thought there was little milk left in the cash cow, but “Creed” proves me wrong. This time, with Stallone’s … Read more
Under the assured direction of David O Russell, “Joy” tells the dramatised tale of the eponymous heroine, loosely based on the true life story of Joy Mangano. Jennifer Lawrence plays her as a struggling inventor trying to get the crazy idea in her head onto paper and then into the shops. When you consider that the product … Read more