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Month: December 2017

Most Anticipated Movies of 2018

By Freda Cooper

So that was 2017, the year when horror became the genre of choice and broke a few boundaries into the bargain. When every month had at least one blockbuster, or a superhero movie – or both. When some superheroes weren’t exactly super. And when fan backlashes became the norm, from La La Land to The Last Jedi.

But, most importantly of all, people still kept going to the movies. Because, despite the inevitable flops and disappointments, as well as the more serious, longer term issues, it was a pretty good year as far as the films themselves were concerned. Those of us that write about cinema have had one hell of a job compiling our top tens – even top twenties – this year, because there were so many contenders.

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Film Review: The Greatest Showman

Reviewed by Matthew Turner

The trailer for The Greatest Showman goes out of its way to convince you that it’s not a musical, and that it is, in fact, an uplifting let’s-do-the-show-right-here biopic of 19th century circus impresario P.T. Barnum. However, a musical it most emphatically is, while its biographical details have received something of a revisionist tweak.

The feature debut of Australian director Michael Gracey (who has a background in commercials and music videos), The Greatest Showman stars Hugh Jackman as Phineas Taylor Barnum, a dreamer from an impoverished background who’s determined to make a name for himself. After marrying childhood sweetheart Charity (Michelle Williams) against her wealthy parents’ wishes, Phineas swindles himself a bank loan and opens a Museum of Oddities in New York, recruiting the likes of bearded lady Lettie Lutz (Keala Settle), diminutive Tom Thumb (Sam Humphrey) and mixed-race trapeze artist Anne Wheeler (Zendaya).

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Film Review: Song of Granite

Reviewed by Ian McMillan

So. Slow-paced, black-and-white, atmospheric films are not exactly my go-to thing for a weekend evening, but I’m a sucker for anything in the Irish language, and the trailer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBbfPpWPuoE) for Song of Granite, despite the English-language title, was just chock full of lovely natural Irish and I couldn’t resist.

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The 10 Best TV Shows of 2017

Rachael Kaines picks her favourite TV shows of 2017. Do you agree?

We have been blessed by yet another great year for television, with the golden age showing no signs of ending or even slowing down. Deciding a top ten is very difficult this year, it could have easily included things like Catastrophe, Big Little Lies, Game of Thrones, Easy (why is no one talking about this show?), and, of course, Twin Peaks (not allowed on this list, everyone decided it was a movie).

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Film Review: Pitch Perfect 3

Back for another dose of a capella shenanigans, Pitch Perfect 3 makes its way onto our screen this week, but is it any good? Matthew Turner gives us his verdict. 

The original Pitch Perfect was a charming and very funny hit in 2012, but it blotted its copybook with a dismal follow-up in 2015 that failed to hit any of the right notes. Unfortunately, this third and supposedly final entry in the series isn’t much of an improvement over its lacklustre predecessor, thanks to a half-hearted script and a corresponding lack of charm and wit, though the songs are as catchy as ever.

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The Best Christmas Films You Will Re-Watch Yet Again This Christmas

Complied by Rachael Kaines

Christmas is a time of joy, and in honour of that so is this list. Filled with the films that you will quite happily watch for the ninth time (even though you insist it’s crap) after a cheese course large enough to down an elephant, whilst sipping slow gin and fluctuating between contentedness and intense nausea. These movies as much a part of Christmas as turkey and fights with the in-laws.

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Best Films Of 2017 By Sigridur Petursdottir

Icelandic film journalist and screenwriter Sigridur Petursdottir picks her favourite films of 2017. 

Three​ ​Billboards​ ​Outside​ ​Ebbing,​ ​Missouri​ – Martin McDonagh

Frances McDormand has been one of my favourite actresses for a long time. In this movie, she gives it her all. Mildred is funny, tragic, dangerous, sensitive, clever, hurt, but also crazy. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is a brilliant film. It’s well written, it makes you laugh, and it makes you cry and everything else in between. 

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Film Review: Bingo: The King of Mornings

Reviewed by Lee Hill

“My makeup is dry and it cracks round my chin / I’m drowning my sorrows in whiskey and gin,” The Kinks sang on their 1967 hit single, The Death of a Clown, and that in many ways sums up the theme of Bingo: The King of Mornings. Audiences love a tale of the clown that cries on the inside. Bingo is the slickly executed directorial debut of Daniel Rezende, the Oscar nominated film editor of City of God, Elite Squad, Motorcycle Diaries and the Tree of Life. This is the fictionalized reworking of the real life of Arlindo Barreto, who became a perverse kind of celebrity in the 80s playing the Brazilian version of Bozo the clown. To preserve his mystique for children, Arlindo was not allowed to reveal his identity, which hampered future acting prospects and led him into a cycle of alcohol and drug abuse.

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