Under the Skin

Jonathon Glazer’s cinematic interpretation of Michel Faber’s Sci Fi cult novel is a slow burning, startlingly original treatise on just what it is (and is not) to be a human being. Let’s hope we don’t have to wait another 10 years for his next offering. It blends the off kilter, hallucinatory world of David Lynch…

Her

In a pristine near future LA, Theodore (Joaqim Phoenix) has a successful career writing personalised special occasion letters for the tongue tied, lazy or illiterate. The paradox of such a business venture in a world of instant and continuous communication was conveniently ignored as Spike Jonze concentrated instead on establishing Theodore’s character and personality thro’…

Stranger by the Lake

Blimey Charlie. Do not take an aged relative to this or you just might come into your inheritance early! Franck (Pierre Deladonchamps) is a an unemployed, gay, twenty something who hangs out at picturesque lake looking for love. He falls for Michel, a Freddy Mercury lookalike and seems not in the least put off by…

The Grand Bucharest Hotel

Hats off to Wes Anderson for this sumptuous and sublime confection, which for once plays it unashamedly for laughs rather than rely on his usual dry, deadpan approach. It was ludicrously good fun. The farce is broader, the satire sharper, the sight gags more inventive (check out Kovac’s fingerprint record) and there is a refreshing…

Dallas Buyers Club

A very well acted account of Ron Woodroof (Matthew McConauhey) and his reaction to being diagnosed as HIV positive in 1980s Dallas. MM does an outstanding job – and is a worthy Oscar winner – as the Rodeo loving good ole boy, whose homophobia and hostility gradually give way (via denial and incomprehension) to acceptance…