2013

A Thousand Times Good Night (2013) – Review
From the outset, you get the distinct impression that Erik Poppe’s new film is not going to be a picnic. A Thousand Times Good Night is Poppe’s fourth film, of which great things were expected, and he grabs your attention even before the opening credits have finished. Make no mistake about it, Popp wants you focused from the getgo and is not the slightest bit concerned about showing you difficult, uncomfortable imagery to convey that fact.

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Joe (2013) – Review
Nicholas Cage’s movie career is like Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates. I have said on more than one occasion that Cage is an excellent actor but sometimes makes spectacularly bad choices. If you check out his CV, there are pearls there, to be sure, but for every one of those, there’s at least half a dozen Ghost Rider sequels that could potentially queer his pitch.

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Garden Of Words (2013) – Review
A Capsule Review
This latest film, Garden Of Words, from visionary animator Makoto Shinkai (5 Centimetres Per Second) is above all else, gorgeous to look at. Dubbed ‘eye porn’ by some, it is hard deny the quality of the imagery on display, and Shinkai’s use of all of the elements in a scene will not be new to fans of his back catalogue. Writing and Direction credits are applied to Shinkai here and it is very clear that he is indeed fostering a continued, now familiar artistic thread throughout all of his work.

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Blue Ruin (2014) – Review

Showing for the first time on our shores in February (Glasgow), despite doing the festival rounds for the best part of a year, starting in Cannes last May, cinematographer Jeremy Saulnier directs only his second feature here in the form of moody thriller, Blue Ruin. Out on a limited release in cinemas on May 2nd 2014, the film is already available on demand globally.

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At Middleton (2013) – Review
Two sisters in real life playing mother and daughter in this imaginary, albeit charming, one? How was that going to work then? I looked at the cast list, featuring both Vera Farmiga (Bates Motel) and younger (twenty-one years younger, admittedly) sibling Taissa (American Horror Story) and needn’t have worried.