There’s something about the perceived pristine idyll of Scandinavian society that makes horror films from that part of the world all the more creepy; just have a look at Ari Aster’s Midsomer. Another addition to that subgenre is Finnish body horror film Hatching. This menacing slow burn film plays on childhood concerns about pleasing demanding parents and young female anxieties
Read moreBritish drama Operation Mincemeat is the fascinating story of possibly the most remarkable act of espionage and deception in the Second World War. In 1943, the Allied forces were looking to invade Europe through what Churchill had called its ‘soft underbelly’ in Sicily. Unfortunately, Hitler was well aware that the Italian island was a likely avenue of attack. Consequently, an
Read moreThe seemingly endless Marvel movie parade careens ahead with the latest cgi-drenched action extravaganza, Dr Strange in The Multiverse of Madness. While as visually inventive and eyeball pummelling as any film in the various Marvel universes (MCU, Spiderverse) this movie seriously lacks the energy and fun of the best Marvel movies such as the recent Spider-Man No Way Home and
Read moreThe fun, quirkily amusing but not hilarious comedy, The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent plays on the strange, ironic cult surrounding actor Nic Cage while also (tentatively) parodying the Hollywood movie system. Cage plays a semi-fictionalised version of himself, a workaholic actor whose relentless and often fruitless pursuit of movie roles has led to divorce from wife Olivia (Sharon Horgan,
Read moreDownton Abbey: A New Era. The TV series Downton Abbey, which depicted the lives of the lords and ladies of the Crawley family who inhabited the titular estate in the 1910’s and 20’s, lay somewhere between sophisticated drama and super-sized soap. Its slightly dubious celebration of privilege and apparent endorsement of class divisions was made palatable by the quality of
Read moreThe Northman The trailer for the Viking drama The Northman suggested a slightly silly sword-swinging muscleman epic or something like a feature length episode of the compelling but at times comically overwrought TV show Vikings. All of the above is partly true but this tale of filial vengeance comes from writer director Robert Eggers who helmed the remarkable and exceptionally
Read more