The Man Who Killed Don Quixote

I suppose if there is one place you might expect The Spanish Inquisition, it is in 16th century Spain, and Terry Gilliam is not about to let the opportunity to stage this most sublime of in jokes slip. He begins with a self effacing pre credit intertitle “this film was 25 years in the making…

Mr Jones

“Something is happening here, but you don’t know what it is. Do you Mr Jones?” Well I think it’s fair to say that Dylan was definitely not referring to Gareth Jones, the Welsh photo journalist who, in 1930, blagged his way into the Soviet Union in and uncovered the extraordinary and horrifying truth behind Stalin’s…

The Lighthouse

A friend described this to me as ‘Batshit Crazy’. He may have been guilty of understatement. Now I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, there are simply not enough films about lighthouses. But when they do emerge they are usually all the better for including some or all of the following elements.  1.…

Parasite

Don’t suppose anyone knows the morse code for “Where’s the DDT?”. Now unless you’re a film fan who’s been marooned in a subterranean vault for the last year or so, you’ll have been itching to see Parasite. Was it worth all the fuss? Well, fittingly, since it is a film about duality; yes and no.…

Waves

I’m guessing that someone knew just what director Trey Edward Shults wanted for Christmas – a brand new Rotorscope camera – because it is deployed here with such evident enthusiasm and to dizzying effect (quite literally) in the opening scenes of this film. It’s one of any number of cinematic tricks which he uses to…

Bombshell

Surprising that Jay Roach has made a film which manages to evoke sympathy for Fox News employees. Astonishing that he has made one in which the Murdoch family feature as the good guys – well it’s all comparitive isn’t it – and when your yardstick is the truely reptilian creature that is Roger Aires (an…