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
This review could get me into trouble – a lot of trouble: my wife LOVED “Taken”, LOVED the slightly dodgier “Taken 2″ and even LOVED “Taken 2.5: he flies!” (a.k.a. last year’s “Non-Stop” vehicle for Neeson). It was a given (if not a taken – LOL) that she was going to LOVE “Taken 3”. … Read more
Whiplash is simply astonishing. Miles Teller plays Andrew, a gifted and highly ambitious drummer in his first year at an elite New York music academy. There his talents are spotted by Fletcher (J.K. Simmons), an equally ambitious coach and mentor who is always looking for the “next big thing” but has never found it. … Read more