Given the title of this blog, and my ongoing obsession with Jaws, I was always going to give this latest shark-fest an outing. Let me count the ways in which the two are not alike. Jaws isn’t really about the shark – it’s really about three aspects of masculinity (the… Continue reading
I’ll confess, sometimes I want to shake Wes Anderson and yell “Stop being so bloody Wes Anderson!” So twee and cool and hipster and symmetrically framed and deadpan. In the hipster bar of the boutique cinema after you seen Isle of Dogs you are likely to overhear some guy called… Continue reading
Let’s get it sorted all the things this film isn’t. It isn’t an effective neo-noir thriller, despite some well constructed shots and a love of neon. It isn’t a complex, multi-layered narrative that demands the viewer to construct the pieces. It isn’t a beautiful evocation of cityscapes. So it’s not… Continue reading
Every year there seems to be one film that features a child in a dysfunctional family operating at the edge of fantasy and reality. See for example, A Monster Calls and Beasts of the Southern Wild. Giants follows young Barbara, who struggling to deal with her mother’s terminal illness, has… Continue reading
This film is all bags full of problematic. Perhaps more than any other recent actress Lawrence epitomises the new wave of strong women in cinema. Other are better actors (Blanchett) or more prominently feminist (Chastain), but none have the iconic role that was Katniss. I admire her willingness to take… Continue reading
