Michael
MICHAEL will inevitably attract ire with its depiction of Jackson’s life, or, more accurately, what it seems to omit. However, MICHAEL is also an inexplicably boring film which is bland at best and cowardly at worst.
All posts by Jim Ross
Save The Ultimate Picture Palace
If cinema is to survive as a community experience, we need to value and protect places like the Ultimate Picture Palace in Oxford, now in the middle of a campaign to secure its long-term future.
Omaha
OMAHA might not employ the most thoroughly crafted methods by grabbing the heartstrings in its fist, but the cast’s performances capture an honest empathy that is difficult to put aside. And maybe you shouldn’t.
Exit 8
EXIT 8 leans a little too heavily on [the ‘liminal space’] aesthetic to remain fully engrossing for even the succinct 95-minute runtime, but the film finds its way much faster than The Lost Man did.
The Wizard of the Kremlin
A dose of Polonium-210 already begins to feel inviting a mere half hour into the prolonged 136-minute runtime of THE WIZARD OF THE KREMLIN.
Departures
Even if DEPARTURES leans heavily on its influences before it establishes what it wants to say, there are enough novel angles and flourishes that its bolshy Mancunian voice is clearly heard and worth listening to.
The Drama
THE DRAMA renders philosophical thought experiments as tangible personal relationships. The film is both fiendishly juvenile and thought-provoking, with Kristoffer Borgli’s black comedy approach harmonising these two qualities.
The Bride!
The story of Shelley’s Frankenstein is, in part, about unchecked ambition and “filthy creation”. In pursuing greatness for himself, Victor brought misery upon a creature of which he lost control. Maybe THE BRIDE! is a good adaptation of her work in spirit, if not in practice.
Project Hail Mary
PROJECT HAIL MARY remains emotionally simple (sometimes stubbornly so), but few films can offer as many shining moments.
Think of England
THINK OF ENGLAND starts by evoking the idea of indecency with a wry grin, but what it ends up producing is something more reflective.