Film review: ‘CHAPPAQUIDDICK’, by Nick Gardener from ‘Built For Speed’

Chappaquiddick dramatises the events surrounding the tragic incident on July 18 1969 when a car driven by Senator Ted Kennedy drove off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island leading to the drowning death of 28-year-old campaign worker Mary Jo Kopechne. The film reconstructs events based largely on transcripts of a 1970 investigation by Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. It suggests that Kennedy

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Film review: EVEREST, from ‘Built For Speed’

With its dangerous mountain climbing scenario and all-star cast, that includes Sam Worthington, Jake Gyllenhaal and Keira Knightley, Everest looked certain to be an old school, over-the-top disaster movie. Impressively, though, Everest side-steps the typical disaster movie clichés by adopting a low-key, matter-of-fact approach that provides a less sensational but more intense drama. The film is based on actual events

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Film review: DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES, from Built For Speed

Rise of The Planet of The Apes from 2011 achieved the rare feat of rebooting a franchise in a fresh, intelligent and exciting fashion.  Essentially a remake of the fourth film in the original series, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, the thoughtful, inventive and moving Rise revealed how lab apes, exposed to an experimental Alzheimer’s treatment, developed higher

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Film review: LAWLESS, from Built For Speed

Lawless is based on the true story of the Bondurant brothers – Forest (Tom Hardy), Howard (Jason Clarke) and Jack (Shia Labeouf) – who were hillbilly moonshine peddlers in Virginia during prohibition in the 1930’s.  At first they have a cosy arrangement with the local sheriffs flogging rot gut whiskey around the hills and seem to be free from the

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