Stuff happens
Richard Linklater’s observational chronicle, Boyhood, was 12 years in the making and is 166 minutes long — that’s nearly three…
Run away
If it were up to me this would be called ‘The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window, Fell, and…
Hit and miss
As far as ‘jukebox films’ go, Mamma Mia! was a riot, Sunshine on Leith was tolerable, just about, while Walking…
Teen spirit
The Fault in Our Stars, which is based on the bestselling young-adult novel by John Green, is about two teenagers…
Petticoats galore
Belle is based on the true story of Dido Elizabeth Belle, the illegitimate, mixed-race daughter of a sea captain and…
Irresistible turkey
Grace of Monaco, the Grace Kelly biopic starring Nicole Kidman, is an absolute joy, and I highly recommend it. Unless…
Love actually
When you see the latest corporate entertainment juggernaut hurtling at you, what are your options? When I saw X-Men: Days…
Visual bombast
Godzilla is from the director Gareth Edwards, a Brit whose first film, Monsters, truly put him on the map, as…
Out of the ordinary
Frank is a music biopic, but only of sorts, as it is not at all like your average music biopic.…
Shock and gore
Blue Ruin is a low-budget yet highly accomplished revenge thriller although whether you have the stomach for it is another…
Insult to women
The Other Woman is not just an extremely bad film but also a wholly reprehensible one (she says, with her…
Road to redemption
If the very first scene of Calvary doesn’t immediately draw you in there’s every chance there is something seriously wrong…
Double trouble
I should warn you that if you go see The Double it is one of those films that will trouble…
Backing stars
Have you ever looked at backing singers and thought: what is their story? Do they or have they ever prayed…
Height but no depth
A Long Way Down is about four would-be suicides who meet for the first time on the top of a…
Going nowhere
OK, Need for Speed, if we must, and we must because I sat through it (running time: 130 minutes) and…
For your eyes only
The Grand Budapest Hotel is the latest Wes Anderson film and it is beautiful to look at, scrumptious, luscious, such…
Keep on running
The Book Thief is based on Markus Zusak’s novel of the same name which, although written for young adults, appears…
Blood lovers
Jim Jarmusch is the noted American ‘cult director’, and if you were to judge him solely on the basis of…
Sympathy vote
Although you’ll have heard that Dallas Buyers Club is fantastic and Matthew McConaughey gives the performance of his career, I…
Lies, damned lies
Alex Gibney’s The Armstrong Lies is fascinating as far as it goes but it may not go as far as…
War of the divas
If you and your family are bored — if, for example, it’s one of those dull Sunday afternoons that seem…
Fortune’s fool
Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street will set the cat among the pigeons as a number of films do.…
Brace yourself
Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave goes directly to the heart of American slavery without any shilly-shallying — unlike The…
Uphill struggle
The biopic Mandela: The Long Walk to Freedom is a timely tribute, and an earnest and respectful and well-meaning one,…
