Many people say there is little originality in mainstream cinema. Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos is out to prove them wrong. His films push the boundaries of what it means to be different while challenging the audience with his creative approach and unpredictability. Movies like The Favourite, Poor Things and Kinds of Kindness are critical successes,…
Tag: movies
Tron: Ares
Back in 1982, Tron took cinema to a whole new dimension. The first film to use computer-generated effects was a marvel to behold, as we were taken from the real world into the land of video games, where light cycles raced around a grid, even though the computer they used had only 2 MB of…
I Swear
Very little is known about Tourette’s Syndrome and the stigma that has followed it. Well, now that is all about to change with possibly the most heartfelt, charming and emotional film of the year, I Swear, based on the real experiences of John Davidson. It is one of those rare films that will both touch…
The Smashing Machine
Mixed Martial Arts is a sport I have little idea about, apart from the fact that it involves beating the living daylights out of your opponent. So a film about one of the first names of the sport didn’t initially grab me. Yet while Benny Safdie’s The Smashing Machine is a biopic of Mark Kerr,…
Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale
Downton Abbey has become almost critic-proof. No matter what people think about the movies that have come out since the TV series ended, the fans will come out to support it. The third, and allegedly, last movie, The Grand Finale, is a perfect example of how safe it is. It is possibly the worst of…
The Long Walk
Stephen King seems to be the flavour of the month at the moment. With the excellent Life of Chuck recently released, a TV series based on the novel It, Welcome To Derry, coming soon, and a new version of The Running Man in November, King’s wealth of novels and short stories seems to be attracting…
The Roses
Take two of this country’s finest and highly respected actors, the director of the Austin Powers and Meet The Parents movies, the writer of The Favourite and Poor Things and a film based on a best-selling book that has already been made into a popular movie from 1989, and what do you expect you will…
The Thursday Murder Club
Richard Osman, TV presenter and producer, turned his hand to writing and achieved international success with his murder mystery, The Thursday Murder Club. Becoming a phenomenon, Steven Spielberg instantly bought the rights, brought on board Home Alone director Chris Columbus, and assembled a cast to die for, entering into a deal with Netflix to present…
The Life Of Chuck
When it comes to film adaptations of books, no one has had a chequered career than Stephen King. The master of horror has some outstanding film versions from Carrie (the original 1976 version) to The Shining (although King himself hates it) to more recently It (the first part). Where he has scored highly is the…
Freakier Friday
Freaky Friday was a 1972 book by Mary Rodgers that fitted the Disney family-friendly world perfectly, and so a 1976 film starring Barbara Harris and Jodie Foster was made. The tale of a mother and daughter who swap bodies to understand each other’s points of view was a massive hit for the studio. So much…
Bring Her Back
A few years ago, Australian directors and twin brothers, Danny and Michael Philippou, gave us the intriguing and compelling horror film, Talk To Me, about a mummified hand that conjured spirits. What made that film work so well was its originality and the fact that the directors gave us characters we cared about. Now they…
The Naked Gun
For those not familiar with The Naked Gun, it started life as a very short-lived TV series back in the early ’80s, entitled Police Squad. Starring Leslie Nielsen and created by the team behind Airplane! It became a feature film in 1988 and spawned two sequels, and they are still some of the funniest movies…
Stu Loves Film 