Claire Stewart’s second year at the London Film Festival helm set sail with the European premiere of Paul Greengrass’s Captain Philips and ended with the world premiere of John Lee Hancock’s Saving Mr. Banks, both beamed simultaneously by satellite to 30 towns and cities across the UK and Ireland. At the closing press conference, Tom […]
Directed by Ben Wheatley Produced by Anna Higgs Written by Amy Jump Released by Drafthouse Films UK. 91 min. Not rated With Reece Shearsmith, Michael Smiley, Julian Barrett, Ryan Pope, Peter Ferdinando & Richard Glover Ben Wheatley, the award-winning director of Down Terrace, a domestic gangster movie; the crime/horror hybrid Kill List; and the serial-killer […]
Directed by Stephen Frears Produced by Gabrielle Tana, Steve Coogan & Tracey Seaward Written by Coogan & Jeff Pope, based on Martin Sixsmith’s book The Lost Child of Philomena Lee Released by the Weinstein Company UK/USA/France. 98 min. Rated PG-13 With Judi Dench, Steve Coogan, Sophie Kennedy Clark, Mare Winningham, Barbara Jefford, Ruth McCabe & […]
Written & Directed by Rowan Athale Produced by Ed Barratt, Mark Foligno, Gareth Pritchard Released by Oscilloscope Laboratories UK. 106 min. Not rated With Luke Treadaway, Timothy Spall, Matthew Lewis, Iwan Rheon, Vanessa Kirby, Neil Maskell & Gerard Kearns British director Rowan Athale’s feature debut opens in the gloomy confines of a police station, where battered […]
Directed by Rufus Norris Written by Mark O’Rowe, based on the novel by Daniel Clay Produced by Dixie Linder, Tally Garner, Nick Marston & Bill Kenwright Released by Film Movement UK. 90 min. Not rated With Tim Roth, Eloise Laurence, Cillian Murphy, Zana Marjanovic, Robert Emms, Faye Daveney, Rosalie Kosky-Hensman, Martha Bryant, Bill Milner & […]
Perhaps the two main stories that emerged from this year’s Cannes Film Festival were the jewelry heists (who knew Brian De Palma’s Femme Fatale was so prescient?) and the praise and immediate backlash heaped on the Palm d’Or winner Blue Is the Warmest Color, namely Elaine Sciolino’s piece in the New York Times in which […]
Directed by Michael Winterbottom Produced by Melissa Parmenter Written by Matt Greenhalgh Released by IFC Films UK/USA. 107 min. Not rated (definitely would be rated R) With Steve Coogan, Imogen Poots, Anna Friel, Tamsin Egerton & Chris Addison After an eclectic career that covers art house, neo-noir, docudrama, and comedy, prolific director Michael Winterbottom brings […]
Directed by Neil Jordan Written by Moira Buffini, based on her play A Vampire Story Produced by Stephen Woolley, Alan Moloney, Elizabeth Karlsen, William D. Johnson & Samuel Englebardt Released by IFC Films UK/USA/Ireland. 118 min. Rated R With Gemma Arterton, Saoirse Ronan, Sam Riley, Jonny Lee Miller, Daniel Mays & Caleb Landry Jones Eleanor […]
Written & Directed by Peter Strickland Produced by Keith Griffiths, Mary Burke Released by IFC Films UK. 92 min. Not rated With Toby Jones, Cosimo Fusco, Antonio Mancino & Tonia Sotiropoulou Peter Strickland’s second feature is an inventive homage to the art of analogue sound and the power of the medium. Sometime in the 1970s, […]