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6 articles
DVD Review: 'Bullhead'
6 hours ago
★★★★☆ When critics talk of works of cinema where "testosterone oozes from the screen", they're usually describing some machismo-laden action flick. That same terminology feels perfectly apt for Michaël R. Roskam's Belgian crime yarn Bullhead (Rundskop, 2011), although it exists as a literal interpretation here, particularly in the case of its superlative lead turn from Matthias Schoenaerts. He plays cattle farmer Jacky Vanmarsenille, a rural mob enforcer who is employed by the local criminal network to ensure farmers around the region are using illegal hormone enhancements to fatten up their livestock which will drive profits.
A burly, mountain of a man (he's been given the titular moniker), Jacky appears more animal in nature than human. He's a simmering ball of suppressed rage which stems from a tragic childhood incident and the fact that he, too, is stock-piling steroids for his own use. The murder of a federal policeman working on the »
- CineVue UK
Cannes Film Festival 2013: 'Stranger by the Lake' review
9 hours ago
★★☆☆☆ Set during one particularly hot and steamy summer, in Stranger by the Lake (L'inconnu du lac, 2013) French men visit a secluded spot on the shore of the lake to cruise for sex. One individual seems to be there just for conversation, whilst another conceals far more sinister motives. Gay cinema auteur Alain Guiraudie's Un Certain Regard offering slowly reveals itself as part-sex exposé, part-murder mystery. Franck (Pierre de Ladonchamps) is a young man out for stimulation who's immediately attracted to Christophe Paou's Michel. However, Michel appears to already have a boyfriend, so Franck amuses himself with a casual hook-up or two.
The ever-inquisitive Franck consequently spends a lot of time chatting to the fat, middle-aged Henri (played by Patrick d'Assumçao), who claims to be straight despite his obvious interest in the gay frivolities that perpetually surround him. Between swimming in the picturesque lake and listening to the presumably »
- CineVue UK
Cannes Film Festival 2013: 'Shield of Straw' review
9 hours ago
★☆☆☆☆ Cult Japanese director Takashi Miike is often forgiven for the hit-and-miss nature of his output due to the fact that he's so prolific - occasionally churning out multiple films in a single year. Hopes were high for his new Cannes competition entry after the sublime 13 Assassins (2010) slashed through Venice a couple of years ago. Sadly, Shield of Straw (Wara no tate, 2013) is a stone-cold dud which really has no place on the Croisette. When a little girl is raped and murdered, her super-rich grandfather offers a huge reward to anyone who kills the suspected killer, Kunihide Kiyomaru (a maniacal Tatsuya Fujiwara).
There are conditions, however. The killer has to be found guilty and the state must sanction the act. Two police officers from the State Security Service - the grieving Kazuki Mekari (Takao Osawa) and single mother Atsuko Shiraiwa (Nanako Matsushima) - are given the job of transporting Kiyomaru (who »
- CineVue UK
DVD Review: 'Vehicle 19'
12 hours ago
★★☆☆☆ American actor Paul Walker has carved out a career that largely consists of driving cars and being both fast and furious. Playing firmly within type, Walker returns to screens this week in Mukunda Michael Dewil's Vehicle 19 (2013). Alongside an international cast including Naima McLean and Gys De Villiers, Walker plays Michael Woods, a reckless ex-con determined to change his life for the better in an attempt to save his relationship with an estranged girlfriend. Unfortunately, a mix-up at a Johannesburg car rental company leaves Michael stuck with the wrong car and distressed hostage Rachel (McLean) in the boot.
Michael quickly becomes embroiled in a hot pursuit when he is chased across Johannesburg by a dangerous, corrupt and powerful Detective Smith (De Villers). Unable to go to the police and having already broken parole, Michael not only has the hostage's life to save, but he must also save his own »
- CineVue UK
DVD Review: 'The Sessions'
12 hours ago
★★★☆☆ Based on a true story, Ben Lewin's emotive new Us drama The Sessions (2012) follows the heart-felt journey of Mark (John Hawkes), a man trapped in an iron lung after being stricken with polo as a child, and his quest to ultimately lose his virginity. Played with incredible conviction by journeyman Hawkes, Mark is a man who - despite being paralysed from the neck down - relishes all that life has to offer. Being trapped inside his head for the best part of his life, Mark writes poetry in an attempt to make more sense of the world around him. Frustrated with having never had sex, Mark turns to a councillor who suggests a sex surrogate.
This surrogate comes in the form of Cheryl - portrayed by an unabashed Helen Hunt, who casually bares all for the audience in order to convey her sexually liberal attitudes. Interspersed with light theological conversations with his priest, »
- CineVue UK
DVD Review: 'Django Unchained'
12 hours ago
★★★★☆ Widely and rather wildly lauded as a dramatic return to form, Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained (2012) serves as a brilliantly entertaining, although not altogether unexpected piece of pastiche, caricature cinema. Set to the backdrop of America's pre-Civil War plantations, it is in equal parts a revenge thriller and a buddy movie, led by a stellar cast with Jamie Foxx and Christoph Waltz on sublime form as its leading men. The story begins with Django (Foxx) being transported as a slave through the backwoods of Texas. On the journey, he and his captors happen upon what turns out to be fateful encounter with Waltz's Dr. King Schultz.
Schultz frees Django and subsequently decides to help him reunite with his wife Broomhilda, played by Kerry Washington. However, the evil Calvin Candie, played to sadistic perfection by Leonardo DiCaprio, is currently holding her captive on his Candyland plantation. What ensues is the tale of an unlikely friendship, »
- CineVue UK
6 articles
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