Essential, Reviews

Serpico (1973)

What happens to a good cop in a rotten system? Frank Serpico (Al Pacino) found out the hard way. Serpico is a classic 1970s film dealing with police corruption and it’s based on a true story. Beyond his hippy looks and rogue street tactics, Frank Serpico represents justice. He epitomises a brave and law-abiding person, standing up […]

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Essential, Reviews

Easy Rider (1969)

Reigning as one of the most iconic films in cinema history, I had to watch Easy Rider. A film shot on real locations with a young Jack Nicholson and made on a budget of $55,000, I had no idea what I was in for. But with a tagline of “A man went looking for America … and […]

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Reviews

Dallas Buyers Club (2013)

Get this – Matthew McConaughey went from lousy rom-coms, like Ghost of Girlfriends Past, to starring in some of the best films of recent times, like Interstellar. He’s become an actor with so many shades, it’s hard to keep track. Dallas Buyers Club was key to McConaughey’s transition away from comedic roles, with many dubbing his change “The McConaissance”. […]

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Reviews

JACKIE (2017)

So, why do we remember Jackie Kennedy? The mention of her name doesn’t mean that much to me, because she was around before my time, just like many of you reading this. It only takes a quick look at the past to see what an inspirational and iconic figure she was. But I’ll skip the history […]

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Reviews

Hacksaw Ridge (2017)

The word relentless springs to mind when I think of Hacksaw Ridge. It’s a film that commits completely to capturing the intensity and brutality of war. It does not hold back. Bloods, guts, limbs are on full display and young Desmond Doss (Andrew Garfield) is at the heart of the action. Volunteering to fight in WW2, […]

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Essential, Reviews

American Beauty (1999)

American Beauty, directed with such an ingenious vision and technical flair, is the ultimate midlife crisis movie. Spacey gives a great performance as forty-something Lester Burnham, an ad executive who’s sick of his job and his life. He is unhappily married to Carolyn (Benning), a neurotic real estate agent obsessed with keeping up appearances; their […]

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Reviews

La La Land (2017) 

After just five minutes into La La Land, I was certain that I was going to hate it. The large ensemble number, titled “Another Day in the Sun” opens the film, with numerous people jumping out of their cars, singing and dancing on a busy L.A freeway. I normally keep my distance from musicals, but I decided to give La […]

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Essential, Reviews

Arrival (2016)

“Life is a journey, not a destination”, is a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson, and I see Arrival as an adoption of that phrase. This is arguably the most mysterious and obscure alien thriller, to come out in a long while. As I don’t want to spoil anything, I’m keeping this review short and sweet. The […]

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Reviews

Room (2015)

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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Essential, Reviews

Hell or High Water (2016)

You’ve seen it all before – Texas outlaws causing havoc with the cops on their tail. Hell or High Water proves that sometimes you can’t have too much of a good thing. This film tells the story of two brothers, divorced father Toby (Chris Pine) and ex-con Tanner (Ben Foster), who go on a bank-robbing spree […]

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Essential, Reviews

Inception (2010)

When Inception crashed into theatres, I rushed to see it and to this day, it’s still one of the best films I’ve seen at the cinema. And it was literally the only thing I wanted to talk about for at least a week after watching it. An Ingenious Action Thriller With its quality action and a complex […]

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Essential, Reviews

The Revenant (2016)

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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