Starring Ricardo Darín, Soledad Villamil, Guillermo Francella, Pablo Rago, Javier Godino
Directed by Juan José Campanella

★★★★

This fine Argentinean film has been topical in various media recently for, aside from being a solid thriller, scooping this year’s Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The only reason being, that it was assumed to be a two horse race between A Prophet and The White Ribbon. Personally I think these periodical ‘shocks’ of that specific category are of no significance because so many potential entries have to vie for the one award slot. Furthermore, said disbelief only really seems to occur when the awarded film has not yet even been released in the disbeliever’s own territory. Continue reading The Secret in Their Eyes →

Starring Russell Brand, Jonah Hill, Sean Combs, Rose Byrne & Colm Meaney
Directed by Nicholas Stoller

★★★

John Cleese, Rowan Atkinson, Sacha Baron Coen, Ricky Gervais and now Russell Brand. The comic English man in Hollywood has proved bittersweet over the years, as the CV’s of some of the above would attest. Thankfully, Brand’s first lead outing proves to be on the sweeter side. Continue reading Get Him to the Greek →

Starring Adrian Brody, Sarah Polley, Delphine Chanéac
Directed by Vincenzo Natali

★★★

Good grief, here’s an interesting one; ethical warnings, parental fears, the cost of opening Pandora’s Box and oedipal desires, all in the one film.

Splice, the latest shock horror from The Cube’s Vincenzo Natali, is an example of that great movie marketing that does the circuit from time to time, the kind that excites some and appals others in equal measure. Over the last while this film has been turning industry boffin’s heads and firmly making itself heard. How firmly? Why its director even had the audacity to dare describe it as our beloved ET, coupled with the kind of activities we’d all rather not imagine our lonely alien friend having anything to do with. Continue reading Splice →

Starring Ben Stiller, Rhys Ifans, Greta Gerwig
Directed by Noah Baumbach

★★★★

Anyone who has heard word of mouth about Greenberg will probably have heard that it marks Ben Stiller’s first ‘serious role’. This is not entirely the case but while he hasn’t quite done a Robin Williams or Jim Carrey-esque U-turn, what he has done is give the best and most interesting performance of his career. Continue reading Greenberg →