Margin Call (US, 2011)

Imdb says this film cost under $4m to make which suggests its excellent cast (Spacey, Irons, Bettany, Moore, Tucci) made the movie because they wanted to make a statement against the banking system that’s still sending millions into destitution after the 2007 collapse. Writer-director, J.C. Chandor (it’s the first time he’s directed a feature), has [...]

Tyrannosaur (UK, 2010)

Peter Mullan + council estate = it’s bloody grim. This is in the tradition of realist British cinema but I wonder if there’s a tendency to try and make the slice of working class life even grimmer than the last one we’ve seen. To be fair the writer-director Paddy Considine balances the portrayal of class [...]

Carnage (Fr-Ger-Pol-Sp, 2011)

What’s the point in filming a play? Shakespeare’s robust enough to take virtually anything but a one-set, four-hander…? Well, you get to cast Jodie Foster and Kate Winslet; not to mention John C Reilly. And they are a treat; particularly Winslet: an arched eyebrow is enough to convey her annoyance at her husband’s use of [...]

Life in a Day (US-UK, 2011)

A brilliant idea, inviting anyone to submit a YouTube video about their life on 24th July, 2010, and then editing it into a feature. The producers also made camcorders available to places in the world where they are scarce in an attempt to avoid a skewed view. Much of the material, it was reported, was [...]

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (US, 1956) and The Invasion (US-Aus, 2007)

Jack Finney’s 1955 novel The Invasion of the Body Snatcher, first serialised in Colliers Magazine, has been adapted four times for cinema. The original remains the best, an independent production starring Kevin McCarthy and Dana Wynter (both of whom have died in the last couple of years). I read the novel recently and enjoyed it, [...]

The Woman in Black (UK-Can-Swe, 2012)

Hammer horror’s back, which will probably only be meaningful to the older reader. Defunct for 25 years, The Woman in Black is a welcome return for this purveyor of British horror movies; interestingly it’s only got a 12A certificate whereas the original Hammer benefited from salacious marketing emphasising the films’ ‘adult’ credentials. In Britain the [...]

Sin nombre (Mex-US, 2009)

I enjoyed this rather conventional take on migration and gangs, conventional in its narrative drive but unusual in its focus on Central America. There are two strands to the narrative: Sayra is trying to get to USA via Mexico and Caspar, who falls out with his gang leader; the two threads entwine as he tries [...]

The Descendants (US, 2011)

Trailer are often extremely poor as they show far too much of the narrative; despite this are probably the most effective form of marketing as, in cinemas, they show to a captive, target audience. Typically The Descendants‘ trailer (see here) gave far too much away but, it transpired, was also entirely misleading about the tone of [...]

The Iron Lady (UK-France, 2011)

Nothing was going to get to me to see this film because Thatcher is one of the few people I’ve truly hated in my life (I still do). However, it dawned on me that as I’m teaching a topic called ‘Thatcher’s Britain’ (Mona Lisa, 1986, and Riff Raff, 1991) I needed to go. My reluctance [...]