As much as I enjoy a good action flick with a badass hero, the films that have the most effect on me are the ones about ordinary people. Let’s face it, regular folk who must rise to the occasion allows for way more food for thought. I have lost count of the number of indie […]
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No Country for Old Men starts out at like a modern-day western, then it begins to look like a cape thriller, before turning into a full-blown bloodbath… which involves a psychopathic killer with a really bad haircut. I expected this film to be a majestic, artsy piece of cinema and while it certainly was that, the […]
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In T2 Trainspotting, Renton (McGregor) and the gang are back wreaking havoc in Edinburgh once again, twenty years on from their 1996 drug-fuelled adventure. This sequel is everything I could have hoped for – it’s funny, entertaining, visually sharp and it’s a joy finding out what these characters, now middle-aged, have been up to… Renton: Heading […]
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It might be overdone, but the post-apocalyptic genre is continuously consumed by our culture. From zombies, aliens and vampires, depictions of life after the end of the world are pretty saturated, as we’ve seen it all before… But maybe not. Into the Forest is a more realistic and grounded take on the genre, which focuses on the […]
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Everything about Drive is just cool. It’s the film that introduced me to Ryan Gosling and I’ve been a fan ever since. He portrays ‘Driver’, a Hollywood stuntman by day, but a ruthless getaway driver by night. When he steps in to protect next-door neighbour Irene (Carey Mulligan) and her son, from the gangsters that her husband […]
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Can you blame a man for a crime he committed as a child? This is one of the questions melodrama, Boy A – adapted from Johnathan Tigwell’s novel – explores in abundance. The film tells the story of a rehabilitated juvenile killer (Garfield), the newspapers once called “Boy A”. After spending fourteen years in prison, he attempts […]
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It’s a filthy job getting to the top, especially for corrupt Edinburgh cop, Bruce Robertson (James McAvoy), who’s determined to secure a promotion to detective inspector. Drug-abusing and hard-drinking, he’s willing to do whatever means necessary to get what he wants. I’m always a sucker for any film starring James McAvoy. In comedy-drama Filth, adapted from […]
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Can you imagine what it would be like to live a life within four walls? This precise question is explored in the heart-breaking Room, written by Emma Donoghu, based on her novel of the same name. The film tells the story of Joy Newsome (Brie Larson), and her five-year-old son, Jack (Jacob Tremblay), who have been held captive […]
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Over twenty years on and Trainspotting is still a timeless classic. Seriously, how can anyone not like it? Little compares to the glorious adventures of heroin addict Renton (Ewen McGregor), and his five friends: Spud (Ewen Bremmer), Sick Boy (Johnny Lee Miller), Begbie (Robert Carlyle) and Tommy (Kevin McKidd). They are Scottish youths living in Edinburgh, deeply immersed […]
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The Prestige is never anything less than intriguing. Right from the beginning, the film is a mystery, forcing the viewer to take a closer look. “Are you watching closely?”, a voice-over proclaims as we are introduced to stage engineer John Cutter (Michael Caine), who tells the viewer every magic trick has three acts: The pledge, the turn and […]
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David Fincher’s Fight Club has a plot like nothing you’ve ever seen – it challenges your expectations, makes you think real hard and leaves you laughing out loud. In my eyes, it is the ultimate cult classic. It follows the unnamed Narrator (Edward Norton), an insomniac who leads a directionless life. He visits support groups for men with […]
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The legend of American fur trapper and frontiersman, Hugh Glass, manifests onto our screens in Alejandro G. Inarritu’s, The Revenant. After being attacked by a Native American tribe, the pursuit of survival is disrupted when Glass is mauled by a bear and left for dead. Leonardo DiCaprio portrays the lead role, which finally won him […]
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