There are many, many things that do not work about This Means War; check out Rotten Tomatoes, where the film is currently getting a 26% fresh rating. The movie is home to enough clichés to power about fourteen thousand post-modern comedies (like Friends with Benefits) about how clichéd romantic comedies are. The ending you can […]
The Oscar-nominated third installment of HBO’s Paradise Lost documentary series is provocatively unsettling to watch. The crippling poverty, widespread ignorance, self-righteous rage and incomprehensible hatred that mark the Arkansas town of West Memphis made me shudder. You sit and you watch excruciatingly unedited crime scene footage from the murders at the centre of the story […]
Girls are crazy for Channing Tatum. Seriously, there was a row of girls behind me at The Vow who literally squealed when he appeared shirtless for 15 seconds (they also giggled during the love scenes and muttered “say yes” in case Rachel McAdams looked like she might say no). And, like the Gerard Butler fascination, […]
Chicago is the best movie-musical ever made, Singing in the Rain is my favourite classic and I will always have a special place in my heart for the underrated gem that is the Madonna-Antonio Banderas-Jonathan Pryce version of Evita. But there’s only one film that’s “The most successful movie musical of all time!” and that’s […]
The Vow is exactly what you expect from watching the trailer. This is a good thing, generally, because it means that you can watch those three minutes and know, absolutely, if this movie is going to be worth your time. But let me help you even further. The trailer makes the movie look cheesy. It […]
I am the first one to admit that I flipflop on this issue. I am a massive Rom-Com fan. It’s probably my favourite genre. When I was little and we went to Men in Black for my brother’s birthday and I got really scared by that opening scene where they blow up the alien, my […]
This was a tricky movie to make, no one’s going to argue that. There’s never been more sensitive ground for modern American filmmakers to tread than the memory of 9/11. But Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close should have moved me. It made me cry, I’ll admit to that, but it didn’t move me- and yes, […]
When I was little, I went to see The Secret Garden in theaters with my mom. During one scene, as young Mary Lennox is creeping towards the garden, I started to freak out. When my mom asked, “What’s wrong?” in a very nice voice, although I’m sure what she meant was “Why the hell is […]