Facebook Portal has hit the market with a new range, as the social media giant continues to pivot into smart-home-tech and steal some market space from Apple, Google and Amazon. Portal isn't simply a videophone (you’ve got the Beyonce song in your head now haven’t you?), there’s more to it, but that’s the core of... Continue Reading →
Some franchises have really been put through the ringer but few have been mistreated as much as The Terminator (okay, Alien’s had a rougher ride too). But creator James Cameron, who is credited as Co-Writer and Producer here, has reassured us in press interviews that this is the best Terminator movie since 1991's Terminator 2:... Continue Reading →
Thursday 7th November 2019 saw the world premiere of Karen Bernstein's feature documentary I'm Gonna Make You Love Me at the 10th DOC NYC in New York. The film paints a fascinating, deeply personal portrait of Brian Belovitch. Assigned male at birth, in the 1980s he went on to live as an Army wife-turned-glamorous party... Continue Reading →
Two pensioners, Nina (Barbara Sukowa) and Madeleine (Martine Chevallier), living across the hall from each other are at the centre of Filippo Meneghetti’s debut film, Two of Us (Deux). These women are not just neighbours, friends and companions as Madeleine’s children believe, they are long-term lovers. But when Madeleine is rushed to hospital, Nina is... Continue Reading →
Oliver Hermanus' Moffie is getting rave reviews and it's understandable, this South African film hits at the intersection of homophobia, immature masculinity and racist culture. Based on André Carl van der Merwe's autobiographical story about his time in the military during Apartheid, Moffie features an outstanding cast of young actors and some wonderful visuals. The... Continue Reading →
There is a moment in Xavier Dolan’s Matthias & Maxime, when Pier-Luc Funk’s character Rivette (a close friend of the film’s lead duo) is playing the piano for his mother and her friends at her insistence. As he plays the women get distracted, talking with newcomers, and eventually, they all leave the room. Rivette slams... Continue Reading →
Judy Garland was a survivor, and the documentary Sid & Judy documents her tenacity and talent through her post-MGM years and what she calls her “184 comebacks". Mixing live footage, Garland’s own personal audio recordings, the memoirs of her third husband and manager Sid Luft, and narration by Jennifer Jason Lee and Jon Hamm, Sid... Continue Reading →
Watch a movie closely enough and you’ll notice the best filmmakers share a dialogue with the audience. Expectations get subverted. Winking nods are exchanged. A filmmaker needles, prods, pokes and manipulates. When done effectively, you may feel you’ve gained a new BFF. Although we’ve never met, I feel that way about Brian De Palma, Peter... Continue Reading →
Lady Edith posing in her underwear! Butler Barrow exploring the seedy gay underworld! Mrs Patmore spilling sauce! It’s high-drama at Downton Abbey as King George and Queen Mary come to stay for the night. It is perhaps telling that in the world of Downton Abbey the threat of an assassination attempt is less important than... Continue Reading →
