In My Room (Review)

Towards the start of Mati Diop's (director of the fantastic feature, Atlantics) lockdown based short film, we see her writing an email in which she is explaining her pitch for the film we are watching. It's playfully meta, yet also incredibly vérité, and sets the tone for the rest of the film. We are seeing … Continue reading In My Room (Review) →

The Old Guard (Review)

There are things to like in The Old Guard. First of all, it is a pleasingly diverse film in a very natural feeling way: we have two female leads; the film's major romance plot is between two men (and is achingly romantic in the way that we, sadly, too frequently see reserved for heterosexual relationships). … Continue reading The Old Guard (Review) →

Knives Out (Review)

One of Rian Johnson's gifts as a screenwriter and director is his ability to play with genre and audience expectations. In his murder mystery pastiche Knives Out, this quality flourishes. Knives Out is centred around the presumed suicide of a wealthy crime writer (Christopher Plummer) and the suspicions that then fall upon his family. The … Continue reading Knives Out (Review) →

Ford v Ferrari (Le Mans ’66) (Review)

If Ford v Ferrari was a car, it would be an SUV. It doesn't serve much purpose, it somewhat belongs in the past, it's oversized and it can be pretty toxic. However, it's also weirdly good looking and when you get into driving it, it wins you over: it's comfortable, it's pleasingly simple, it's well … Continue reading Ford v Ferrari (Le Mans ’66) (Review) →

Sorry We Missed You (Review)

Much like their previous masterpiece (I, Daniel Blake), Ken Loach and Paul Laverty’s Sorry We Missed you is a robust, yet accessible, critique of capitalist Britain. This time, the focus is the gig economy and the spiralling issues caused by the ultra-competitive nature of our current system. The film focuses around a single family, using … Continue reading Sorry We Missed You (Review) →

Official Secrets (Review)

At the heart of Official Secrets is a very important story that people need to know. For this reason, people should see this film. Outside of this, Official Secrets is unimpressive. There's an excellent central performance by Keira Knightley but there are a number of cartoonish performances and bizarre film-making choices that relegate Official Secrets … Continue reading Official Secrets (Review) →

Banana Skin (Short Film) (Analysis)

Disclaimer: this film was made by a close friend of mine. However, I've hated things that close friends have made before... Sorry, close friends... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIWmhns4v9M Banana Skin (a short film by photographer Jessie Leong) begins as an emotionally open look into identity and outsider status, using sharp photography of ultra modern Hong Kong cityscapes to … Continue reading Banana Skin (Short Film) (Analysis) →

NastyPALs – Episode 1: Zombie Flesh Eaters

Welcome to my new project! My friend (Adam Page) and I have signed some Faustian pact forcing us to record a podcast on every single video nasty (the 72 films banned in the UK under the obscene publications acts in 1983). Okay.. Faust jokes aside, why do this? Well... I'm really rather fascinated by them … Continue reading NastyPALs – Episode 1: Zombie Flesh Eaters →