Reviews Archives - Page 2 of 13

Reviews

The lumbering and violent Limehouse Golem is smarter than it seems

Director: Juan Carlos Medina Starring: Bill Nighy, Olivia Cooke, Douglas Booth Running Time: 105 minutes

Imagine one of those ITV murder mystery shows that takes place over a couple of Sunday nights, add a little budget and plenty of blood and replace the usual suspects with Karl Marx, George Gissing and Dan Leno and you’re well on your way to having The Limehouse Golem, a gory thriller about a series of murders in the streets of Victorian London at the hands of a Pepsi-brand Jack the Ripper. Adapted from Peter Ackroyd’s novel Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem by Jane Goldman (of Kick Ass, Kingsman and more), the most appealing aspects of this mystery take their time in coming, with Goldman clearly enjoying the twists involved with the story’s killer. Pepsi Twist was always the better one anyway.

September 1, 2017
2017, Bill Night, Daniel Mays, Douglas Booth, Jane Goldman, Juan Carlos Medina, London, Olivia Cooke, Peter Ackroyd, Sam Reid, The Limehouse Golem, Thriller

Reviews

Stark Beauty in God’s Own Country

Although the craggy Yorkshire landscape could easily have dominated this film, instead it provides an excellent backdrop to the delicate human story at play. God’s Own Country tells the story of Johnny Saxby, a man who exploits his position on an isolated country farm to impose emotional distance on everyone he meets. Until Gheorghe, a Romanian migrant worker, comes to help out during lambing season.

September 1, 2017
Alec Secareanu, British Cinema, British Film, Francis Lee, Gemma Jones, God's Own Country, Ian Hart, Josh O'Connor, LGBTQ+ Cinema, LGBTQ+ Films, Strawhouse films

Reviews

Detroit is a brutal and messy view from the outside

Director: Kathryn Bigelow Starring: John Boyega, Will Poulter, Algee Smith, Jacob Latimore, Anthony Mackie, Jack Reynor Running Time: 143 minutes

Though the clothes and the music and the specific events make Detroit‘s setting of 1967 clear, it’s shot in a haphazard, shaky manner that suggests that this could be happening right now. The point is pretty clear of course, as the events recreated here, racial inequality, police brutality, an unjust legal system, are still happening right now. Bigelow’s film could just as easily be called Ferguson and while that does make its messages abundantly clear and easy to agree with, it may also be the biggest drawback. Here Bigelow and screenwriting collaborator Mark Boal roll up their sleeves and deliver their cinematic treatise on racism in the United States. There’s anger here to be sure, but it’s an scattergun anger, displeasure at a distance and what that results in is a film that’s unrelenting but unfocused. Are these Bigelow and Boal’s sleeves to roll up?

August 24, 2017
2017, Algee Smith, Anthony Mackie, Detroit, Drama, Hannah Murray, Jack Reynor, Jacob Latimore, Jason Mitchell, John Boyega, John Krasinski, Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal, Will Poulter

Reviews

Chemistry shields the nonsense in The Hitman’s Bodyguard

Director: Patrick Hughes Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson, Selma Hayek, Gary Oldman Running Time: 118 minutes

Movies won’t appreciate what they have in Samuel L. Jackson until he’s gone. Not the highest highs, the Djangos, but the long, long list of unmemorable, mediocre or outright awful productions that have been raised one bar higher by the sheer presence of Jackson and the level and legitimacy he brings to every performance. The Hitman’s Bodyguard is a better film than many of those, but it’s many rougher edges are a lot easier to look past when Jackson is cackling hard at the latest inconvenience he’s caused Ryan Reynolds, the titular bodyguard to his titular hitman. Recalling many of the dumb but cheerful odd couple action movies of the 1980, here the at-odds pair’s chemistry is just strong enough to prop up a deeply misguided plot international intrigue, which aims to be something like a comedic episode of 24 but is more like an episode of Chuck if they were allowed to say motherfucker.

August 18, 2017
2017, Action, Comedy, Élodie Yung, Gary Oldman, Richard E. Grant, Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L Jackson, Selma Hayek, The Hitman's Bodyguard

Reviews

A Ghost Story is modern storytelling at its finest

Director: David Lowry Starring: Casey Affleck, Rooney Mara Runtime: 87 minutes

A Ghost Story plunges the depths of themes that most filmmakers have devoted their careers to exploring. The ambition and quiet confidence with which it delves into issues such as life, death, memory and time is, quite simply, something to be marvelled at and revered. While it may challenge some movie-goers, director David Lowry (Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, Pete’s Dragon) has created a film that rewards those who are willing to listen and understand what it endeavours to explore: the enduring and resolute spirit of love in the face of significant loss. Make no mistake, A Ghost Story is 2017’s greatest film. Read more…

August 11, 2017
2017, A Ghost Story, Casey Affleck, Daniel Hart, David Lowry, Drama, Galway Film Fleadh, Horror, Rooney Mara

Reviews

The Confusing Paradox of Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets

Director: Luc Besson Starring: Dane DeHaan, Cara Delevingne, Clive Owen, Ethan Hawke, Rihanna, John Goodman Running Time: 137 mins

There’s a great chase sequence near the beginning of Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets in which the characters exist simultaneously in two alternate dimensions. One a colorful, expansive and beautiful looking desert world filled with wide-eyed consumers; the other an over-packed, messy and dangerous market planet, where the possibility of adventure (or disaster) lies around every corner. Much like this inter-dimensional marketplace, the film seems to exist in two separate states at once. And, much like the characters, viewers will likely find themselves torn between the two. Valerian is awful. But it’s also kind of amazing. And damn if it’s not great to look at!Read more…

August 3, 2017
2017, Cara Delevingne, Clive Owen, Dane Dehaan, Ethan Hawke, French, Independent Film, John Goodman, Luc Besson, Rihanna, Sci Fi, Science Fiction, Valerian

Reviews

The Emoji Movie. Why.

Director: Tony Leondis Starring: T.J. Miller, James Corden, Anna Faris Running Time: 86 minutes

In Céline Sciamma’s wonderful film Girlhood, there is a scene where a group of young girls, cosied up in a hotel room in the city which they paid for with ill-gotten money, lip-sync along to Rihanna’s “Diamonds”. Hidden away, briefly, from the world and everything that it sees them as and sees that they will be, they’re free to just enjoy themselves, their joy pumping powerfully through the screen as they sing along, a literal “vision of ecstasy”. I bring this up because The Emoji Movie also uses Diamonds. The Hi-5 Emoji, Gene the Meh Emoji and Jailbreak (who is secretly the Princess Emoji, apologies for the spoiler) read a deleted e-mail draft from the boy whose phone they live in to the girl that he likes, in which he quotes the song’s lyrics and tells her “I just think you’re so cool”. It was unclear if this embarrassing e-mail was supposed to be a joke or sincere, or it would have been if it hadn’t been obvious for some time by that point that there is no sincerity to be found here. The scene in Girlhood is genuine, vibrant and current in exactly all the ways that the scene in The Emoji Movie isn’t. Watch that instead. Watch anything instead. Maybe take your kids to the library. This film wouldn’t agree, it’s stance on words being that they are ‘lame’ and though everything you need to know about reviewing The Emoji Movie can be summed up with 💩, for thoroughness’ sake let’s proceed with the out-dated concept of words regardless.

August 2, 2017
Animated Films, Anna Faris, G A R B A G E, James Corden, Jennifer Coolidge, Maya Rudolph, Patrick Stewart, Sony, Steven Wright, T.J. Miller, The Emoji Movie

Reviews

The Farthest finds a very human beauty among the stars

Director: Emer Reynolds ‘Starring’: Voyager 1, Voyager 2 Running Time: 121 minutes

While the primary goal of a documentary is to be informative, the best ones always distinguish themselves by being visually interesting. They are after all, still movies, not lectures and the best cases for filmed documentary are made by taking advantage of the medium and providing images that remain in the mind where facts and figures can find it easier to break free. In Irish director Emer Reynold’s space-faring doc The Farthest, a combination of interviews, well-selected archive footage and photographs and impressive computer-generated imagery come together to tell the story of the NASA’s Voyager mission in a truly beautiful fashion. It’s easy to feel the awe of space exploration when it looks as good as this.

July 28, 2017
2017, ADIFF, Documentary, Emer Reynolds, History, Irish Film, Science, The Farthest

Features,Reviews

Perspectives on Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk

Dunkirk is one of those films that sets very high stakes for itself before the trailers are even released. Christopher Nolan took a risk tackling a subject that is still holds significance in the collective memory of so many. That said, the technical brilliance of the film is clear from poster to trailer to the film’s opening moments, so it’s to be expected that the Film In Dublin team would all end up watching Dunkirk on the big screen. We found that our opinions varied from Luke’s “all-out immersive assault on the senses” to “spectacle over emotion” and so we decided to collect some of our team’s reactions to one of the summer’s biggest films. Nolan has always been a divisive director and reactions to Dunkirk have been no different, so check out what our writers had to say.

July 28, 2017
2017, Blockbusters, Christopher Nolan, Dunkirk, Hans Zimmers, Harry Styles, Hoyte van Hoytema, Inception, Interstellar, Mark Rylance, The Dark Knight, The Prestige, Tom Hardy

Reviews

The Big Sick doesn’t stray away from the ‘Boy Meets Girl’ formula, it improves on it

Director: Michael Showalter Starring: Kumail Nanjiani, Zoe Kazan, Ray Romano, Holly Hunter, Bo Burnham, Aidy Bryant Producer: Judd Apatow Runtime: 124 minutes

The whole ‘Boy meets Girl’ shtick seems to have become a staple of Judd Apatow’s career. Usually concerning themselves with a funny American layabout and his/her sudden brush with romance, these films mix situational comedy with some dramatic elements in order to offer a modern spin on the ‘Rom-Com’ experience. However, while Apatow’s name is attached, this is very much Kumail Nanjiani’s film. As such, The Big Sick doesn’t just follow this formula, it improves on it as it demonstrates a high-standard of comedy mixed with some impressive writing to boot, making this Rom-Com one of the funniest and best films of the year.