Greta Gerwig has previously proved herself as an actor and writer, and now she adds director (Academy-award nominated, I might add) to her skillset. With Lady Bird, she infuses a beautifully observed tale of teenagehood with such heart and humour; it’s hard not to find yourself falling for it. We encounter the titular Lady Bird…
I, Tonya begins by stating it is ‘based on irony-free, wildly contradictory, totally true interviews with Tonya Harding and Jeff Gillooly’, and the multiple perspectives this provides, combined with a snappy script and darkly comic sensibility, makes I, Tonya a blast of a film that entertains, whilst also humanising the figure at its heart. Whilst…
Arriving with an impressive 13 Oscar nominations, Guillermo del Toro brings us another fantastical tale, one featuring an amphibian man, that, despite its other-worldly qualities, is a deeply human tale of love. It is pure cinematic magic. Set in the 1960s, during the Cold War, the film follows Elisa (Sally Hawkins), a mute woman who…
Playwright-turned-filmmaker Martin McDonaugh’s work is characterised by its pairing of darkly comic sensibilities with crime led drama, and he continues that thread here. Three Billboards is an astonishing film whose story is derived from a tragic event, yet the film manages to be equally laugh-out-loud hilarious, and utterly heartbreaking. Seven months on from the rape…
Spielberg. Hanks. Streep. A story about freedom of the press and women in the workplace. This is a film with high expectations, and high expectations that needed to be met. Thankfully (and predictably), The Post delivers in spades. The film details The Washington Post’s involvement in the leaking of the ‘Pentagon Papers’ in 1971. The…
After decades as one of Hollywood’s most well-known and distinctive screenwriters, Aaron Sorkin has stepped behind the camera for the first time with this, his directorial debut, chronicling the real-life rise and fall of Molly Bloom – the young woman who rose to run the highest stakes poker games in the world. We first meet…
An aging Hollywood film star and a young Liverpudlian theatre actor isn’t exactly a pairing you might expect, but this true tale proves it is one that happened. Showcasing a wonderful partnership between Annette Bening and Jamie Bell, Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool delivers a tender love story about the unlikely pair. Plotting the…
Following the gloriously electric A Bigger Splash from 2015, Luca Guadagnino’s intoxicating style returns to the screen with this adaptation of André Aciman’s novel, but in a much more restrained and melancholic manner, to produce one of the most authentic and touching romances of recent years. Set ‘somewhere in Northern Italy’ in 1983, the film…
Just when we were doubting if the good romcom was becoming extinct, The Big Sick arrives and proves it is very much alive and thriving, but not only that, it can still be approached from fresh angles and with minimal overused conventions. Based on star Kumail Nanjiani and his wife’s, co-writer Emily V. Gordon, real…
Jordan Peele’s directorial debut is a phenomenally original horror-comedy that carries a very real political commentary and message about our society. The film details Chris’ (Daniel Kaluuya) first visit to his girlfriend Rose’s (Allison Williams) parents’ home. Initially weary of how the white family may react to their daughter bringing home a black boyfriend, he…
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