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Double Indemnity
Billy Wilder & Raymond Chandler steer this tightly plotted femme fatale insurance scam noir classic.
Halliwell says: Archetypal film noir of the forties, brilliantly capturing the decayed Los Angeles atmosphere of a Chandler novel but using a simpler story and more substantial characters. The hero/villain was almost a new concept.****
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15th Oct 2012
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Wish You Were Here
Compelling aussie drugs/holiday/infidelity mystery from @bluetonguefilms. Doesn't quite take off.
14th Oct 2012
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Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Beautifully handled, genre blending western with standout script, acting, direction.
Halliwell says: Humorous, cheerful, poetic, cinematic account of the two semi-legendary outlaws, winningly acted and directed. One of the decade's great commercial successes, not least because of the song 'Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head'.***
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14th Oct 2012
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Horrible Bosses
Generic retread of Strangers On A Train as 3 schlubs toy with murder to improve their work lives.
14th Oct 2012
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The Thing
Unadventurous, shapeless reboot of an over-rated gross-out b-movie. About as interesting as AVP.
14th Oct 2012
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Radiohead
The O2
Uninspired show from one of my favourite bands, doing many of my favourite songs, close to my house.
10th Oct 2012
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My Week With Marilyn
B-list studded meander through Marilyn's time in Britain, shooting with Larry Olivier.
6th Oct 2012
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Source Code
Plot-heavy Hitchcockian mash-up of 'Quantum Leap' and 'Groundhog Day' from Zowie Bowie.
4th Oct 2012
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Win Win
Decent riff on sports triumph. Schlubby lawyer/high school wrestling coach Paul Giamatti pulls underhand moves.
3rd Oct 2012
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Looper
Decent time-travel conundrums from @RCJohnso in this indie-meets-tentpole scifi effort. A bit like 12 Monkeys.
3rd Oct 2012
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Killing Them Softly
Disappointingly drawn out, pretentious thriller that would have made a decent short film.
27th Sep 2012
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The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Once you peel back the hype all you're left with is an overlong but stylish whodunit.
25th Sep 2012
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The Cabin In The Woods
Silly post-modern mash-up of Scooby Doo and The Truman Show. Wears thin pretty quickly.
24th Sep 2012
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Moneyball
Solid, if slightly underwhelming sports drama with decent performances.
18th Sep 2012
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Band of Horses
Mirage Rock
12 new BoH songs of between 3 and 4 minutes in length. And the variety ends there. It's like a contractually-obliged, post-plane cash Skynerd album.
17th Sep 2012
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One Day
Trite, superficial Harry Met Sally update, with laughable beards.
14th Sep 2012
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Tyrannosaur
Gut-wrenching drama from Paddy Considine. Desperate, raging performances from Peter Mullan, Olivia Colman.
12th Sep 2012
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Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Thoughtful action gives way to stupidity as Caeser becomes modern day Chimp Guervara.
2nd Sep 2012
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Killer Elite
Clunky, confused actioner that can't decide which wasted star is the protagonist.
19th Aug 2012
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The Help
Decent slice of Oscar-bait, with a scene stealing performance from Jessica Chastain.
18th Aug 2012
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Edge of Darkness
A promising story quickly plummets into dullness with a cookie cutter performance from Mel Gibson.
14th Aug 2012
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21 Jump Street
Jonah Hill & Channing Tatum refresh the 80s babyface narcs TV hit w a good dose of dumb nerd/jock gags.
5th Aug 2012
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Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Classy Brits Dench, Nighy etc phone in long distance retirees comedy drama w few surprises, many cliches.
5th Aug 2012
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The Debt
Well-meaning but dull Nazi-hunting political actioner from John Madden.
2nd Aug 2012
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A Separation
Elegant, multi-sided family drama from Iran that unravels a complex mess from everyday moments.
23rd Jul 2012
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Welcome to the Rileys
Contrived, downbeat melodrama from Ridley Scott Jnr.
22nd Jul 2012
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The Dark Knight Rises
Convoluted plot and hammy dialogue help this expensive threquel take 2.5 hours to get going.
19th Jul 2012
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Cowboys & Aliens
Jeopardy-free genre mash up that doesn't make the most of its potential, or it's cast.
14th Jul 2012
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Frantic
Harrison F cherchez sa femme in this 87 Paris thriller. Lots of Grace Jones in les clubs as une hipster helps.
Halliwell says: Amiable thriller with Hitchcockian touches, quite untypical of this director.*
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14th Jul 2012
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Cowboys & Aliens
Bond and Indy can't rescue this sci-fi western mashup from the Temple Of Dull.
14th Jul 2012
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Strawberry Fields
Low-key indie Brit flick, with two sisters strained relationship impacting summer fruit picking.
10th Jul 2012
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Killer Joe
Ugly, over-hyped exploitation movie from a past his best director that plays out like a 90s video nasty.
10th Jul 2012
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Green Lantern
Expensive, often hilariously naff B-movie about a C-list superhero. Bomb.
8th Jul 2012
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Repeaters
Rehab kids find themselves in Groundhog Day chance to make amends w past. OK B-movie execution of the idea.
8th Jul 2012
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Priest
Almost wilfully generic post-apocalypse sci-fi horror western. Warrior priest Paul Bettany v vampires w Maggie Q.
8th Jul 2012
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Friends With Benefits
Abysmal update to Harry Met Sally, with non-stop 'real' dialogue. Bizarro @Shaun_White cameo.
8th Jul 2012
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The Whistle Blower
Rachel Weisz heads up a hard-hitting post-war-crimes investigation in Bosnia. Worthy thriller.
7th Jul 2012
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Ali
Expensive, ambitious, stylish biopic with a decent turn from Fresh Prince. Unfortunately it's dead boring.
7th Jul 2012
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John Frusciante
Letur Lefr
Light on guitars and heavy on MC-ing. A non-related precursor to the forthcoming LP.
6th Jul 2012
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X-Men First Class
Decent enough reload for the series, though the groovy 60s setting is undermined by cheesy effects.
1st Jul 2012
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Newlyweds
Small scale, effortless, charming relationship comedy, made by @edward_burns for $9000. A lesson to us all.
30th Jun 2012
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We Need To Talk About Kevin
Accomplished, terrifying, kaleidoscopic portrait of a child's descent to the dark side.
29th Jun 2012
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The Amazing Spider-Man
(dir. Marc Webb)
Decent reboot with Andrew Garfield's Spidey a skating loner at school, Emma Stone a great Gwen Stacy and Rhys Ifans as The Lizard (so-so CGI, but some nuance in character makes him a bit less cartoony than the shouty villains in the last three films). Bonus points for the Gonz poster in Peter Parker's bedroom. Denis Leary, Martin Sheen and Sally Field all add class to a film that's balanced, remembers that being Spidey is fun, has some good 3D cityscape scenes and works despite the inevitable "climb up a sky scraper and FIGHT" boss level climax. Still not quite sure we needed to see the whole "how Spidey gets his powers" origin story again, but overall it's much more enjoyable than Tobey Maguire's webslinger. BTW avoid the 25 minute fan edit of all the trailers - it is basically the whole film, very odd that they'd give away so much online.
26th Jun 2012 - Add Comment - Tweet
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Sideways
This 2004 vintage indie smash has not aged particularly well, but it still has its moments.
25th Jun 2012
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30 Minutes or Less
Funny, tightly scripted comedy from @RubenFleischer with Eisenberg, @AzizAnsari and Danny McBride.
16th Jun 2012
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Moonrise Kingdom
Wes Anderson swaps man-child quirk for actual child-view in this decent, lowkey scouts rom-venture.
14th Jun 2012
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Prometheus
Shapeless script and shoddy direction add up to make this Ridley Scott's 'Attack of the Clones'. Woeful.
14th Jun 2012
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Neil Young
On The Beach
Who knows why this masterpiece spent so long unreleased? "Revolution Blues", "Walk On". Etc.
12th Jun 2012
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Arthur
Staggeringly unambitious reboot of an over-rated 'classic'.
11th Jun 2012
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Alien
Tense, timeless sci-fi. Magnificently designed and executed and only mildly showing its 33 years.
Halliwell says: Deliberately scarifying and highly commercial shocker with little but its art direction to commend it to connoisseurs.*
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5th Jun 2012
Read more 4.5 star reviews