Film Review: Brigsby Bear

Reviewed By Freda Cooper If you ever obsessed over a TV series as a kid, then you’ll have more than a little sympathy for James (Kyle Mooney) in Brigsby Bear. He’s grown up with Brigsby Bear Adventures, a weekly show about a loveable teddy in outer space, part fun, part education. He knows every plot line down to the minutest detail, can recite chunks of dialogue and his bedroom is…

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Film Review: The Dinner

Reviewed By Rachael Kaines The Dinner is a drama set, unsurprising, around a dinner. Written and directed by Oren Moverman, the film follows Paul Lohman (Steve Coogan) and his wife Claire (Laura Linney) as they have dinner with Paul’s brother Stan (Richard Gere) a U.S. Senator and his wife Katelyn (Rebecca Hall). The couples discuss what to do about their children, who have put themselves in a bad situation.

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Film Review: The Disaster Artist

Reviewed by Rachael Kaines James Franco, (much like Tommy Wiseau the man he plays), directs, produces, and stars in The Disaster Artist, easily his finest film to date. Based on a book by Greg Sestero about the nightmare experience of making a horrendous movie called The Room, and the extremely strange experience of being friends with the writer, director, producer, and star, Tommy Wiseau.

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Film Review: The Man Who Invented Christmas

Reviewed By Linda Marric It’s fair to say that despite his popularity amongst TV viewers on both sides of the Atlantic, Dan Stevens has found it hard to make a full transition from his high profile TV role in Downton Abbey into the film world. However, with his latest roles in the brilliantly understated Marshall and now playing a young Charles Dickens in the charming yet flawed The Man Who…

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Interview: Screenwords Meets John Panton (AKA Meat Bingo)

Words By Linda Marric From getting comedy writer and ex NME journalist David Quantick to voice-over his first project, to enlisting a whole host of household names such as Rebecca Front and Nigel Planer to star in his short films, director John Panton is by his own admission someone who has never shied away from asking for help. With an already impressive back catalogue under his belt, including a music…

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Film Review: Lu Over The Wall

Reviewed By Rachael Kaines Lu Over The Wall is a strange and enchanting new anime film from Masaaki Yuasa. Prepare to be swept away by this enchanting animation, into a world where songs, dance, and biting merpeople overcome prejudice in a rural Japanese fishing town.

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Film Review: Happy End

Reviewed by Lee Hill Earlier this year, Michael Haneke lost out on a possible third Palme D’Or for his latest film, Happy End. In the hothouse and often clubby critical atmosphere of the festival, some commentators dismissed the film as a “greatest hits” package. The big prize was won by Ruben Östlund for The Square, a younger director who shares Haneke’s preoccupations with modern anxiety, the shaky moral and intellectual…

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Film Review: Lost In Paris (Paris pieds nus)

Reviewed By Linda Marric Even if you’re a newcomer to the wonderful world of Abel and Gordon (Rumba, The Fairy), and their whimsical slapstick style of filmmaking, one cannot help but admire the amount of the work that goes into their output year in year out. Back with Lost In Paris or to give its original title, Paris pieds nus (Barefoot In Paris), the comedy duo achieve a huge coup…

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Film Review: Brakes

Reviewed by Lee Hill One of the pleasures of regular film going is seeing a favorite actor or actress in a striking cameo or supporting role. Such appearances add immeasurably to the mix of a great film and can salvage or redeem fare one might dismiss or simply forget. Brakes, the self-produced directorial debut of Mercedes Grower, who has appeared in films like Sixteen and Revolver as well as TV…

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Film Review: Manifesto

Reviewed by Lee Hill Manifesto walks a fine line between the art house circuit and the museum. The resulting feature began life as a 2015 installation by visual artist Julian Rosenfeldt and Cate Blanchett. Its purpose is to restore the original shock, boldness and honesty of various manifestos – political, literary, cinematic, social, etc. To achieve the goal of restoring radical, epoch altering energy to words that have, for better…

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