Category: Reviews
Revisiting Lilo & Stitch: Disney and progressive cinema
Disney’s 2013 feature Frozen has done a magnificent job of stirring the pot. The film has been lauded as a one of the most progressive of the pantheon to date, which has in turn sparked a series of discussions concerning the progressiveness of Disney films as a whole. It is no secret that these childhood…
Bad Words and Good Writing: A lesson in screenwriting
Bad Words is the kind of movie that gives critics trouble. It’s easy to write about the dregs – I could pound out 1,000 words on Need for Speed without breaking a sweat – and it’s easy to write about the good stuff. It’s the middle-of-the-road movie that is hardest to capture. But let’s give…
Religion in the movies: The Kendrick case study
God is making a comeback in movies, and this time, it’s personal. After several years free of biblical cinema, 2014 may well be remembered as the year that Hollywood found religion again. First up is Son of God, produced by Touched by an Angel’s Roma Downey and her husband, Survivor mogul Mark Burnett (perhaps the…
Understanding Coriolanus: The upside of obsession
When I decided to attend my local screening of the National Theatre Live production of Coriolanus (2014) I was expecting to see rows of empty seats. The audience for Kenneth Branagh’s Macbeth (2013) had been no more than a dozen people, and it is a far more appreciated play. This time, the theatre was packed.…
Nymphomaniac: A one night stand with Lars von Trier
Despite the accolades he’s amassed over the course of his career, Lars von Trier in 2014 is more commonly a topic of discussion than a receptor of praise. Following the release of 1996’s Breaking the Waves, he was hotly tipped to be the next great European auteur, especially in light of the bold Dogme 95…