Matthew Vaughn, who’s previous films in the director’s chair number just four – “Layer Cake”, “Stardust”, “Kick Ass” and “X-Men: First Class” – does not do subtle. But he certainly does do stylish and entertaining. Of this set of past works, Kingsman is probably most closely aligned to Kick Ass with its anarchic tone and … Read more
Clint Eastwood has become a highly respected figure in the film industry. His iconic acting would have got him there, but add on his prolific film score composing and the fact that American Sniper is his 37th (THIRTY-SEVENTH!) directorial credit and the much over-used epithet “legend” is surely applicable. Given that I was less than … Read more
Ex Machina has a simple story dealing with a deeply complex and philosophical topic: namely what makes humans human. The increasingly omnipresent Oscar Isaac plays billionaire Nathan Bates, genius creator of ‘Google’ – my mistake – ‘BlueBook’, the world’s “leading search engine”. Living in the middle of the American wilderness (in reality, a very picturesque … Read more
Every comedian clearly has a burning desire to be seen as a “serious actor” at least once in their career: Jim Carrey had his “Truman Show”; Steve Coogan wrote himself into “Philomena”; and (whilst he has denied that he is desperate for this sort of attention) Foxcatcher is Steve Carell’s turn…. and boy does he … Read more
At one point in Birdman “or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)“, Michael Keaton as ‘celebrity turned serious actor’ Riggan Thomson rants at a vicious New York Times critic Tabitha (the excellent Lindsay Duncan – – “About Time”; “Dr Who: Waters of Mars”) about how all critics lamely fall on “labels” and “comparisons” to describe their … Read more