The Fabelmans, the latest film from Steven Spielberg, is a semi fictionalised account of the director’s early life. That’s in no way apparent from the title which sounds more like the name of a 1950’s family sitcom. That title, however, not only reminds us that this is not a straight biopic but it’s largely about family and the values the
Read moreThe Banshees Of Inisherin, the latest film from In Bruges and Three Billboards writer/director Martin McDonagh, is a beautifully shot, wonderfully acted, very quirky, if slightly uneven tragi-comedy that sits somewhere between folk tale, shaggy dog story and revenge fable. The leads from In Bruges, Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, play two locals, Padraic and Colm, living on the fictional
Read moreAfter a mere 13 years comes the first of apparently many sequels to James Cameron’s Avatar, the highest grossing film of all time. I had mixed feelings about the 2009 original which depicted the giant blue alien Na’vi people’s battle to preserve their home world of Pandora from greedy, destructive earth forces. While its central science fiction concept of people’s
Read moreWhile it doesn’t always hit the mark, in its best moments the jet-black culinary comedy The Menu cleverly (and violently) skewers foodie pretention, the cult of celebrity chefs, the loss of artistic credibility and America’s unspoken class system. There are familiar flavours here with dashes of Agatha Christie, Alfred Hitchcock, Michael Haneke, disturbing dinner party dramas like Luis Bunuel’s The
Read moreGonzo sci fi comedy/drama Something in the Dirt sits at the low-budget, DIY end of the movie making spectrum. This is both a blessing and a curse as the film has a raw, freewheeling energy but also feels unfocused and leaves us with the gnawing sense that the opportunity for a much more interesting film has been missed. This is,
Read moreDirector Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther sequel Wakanda Forever faced an unusual challenge in that it’s star Chadwick Boseman, who played the title character, tragically passed away in 2020. This left us with the question, without Black Panther himself, is there enough in the world of Wakanda to really engage audiences? The answer is yes (just) but at 161 minutes, this
Read more