Jun 30, 2014 | chART
By BRUCE DENNILL Riddick / Directed by David Twohy / 16VLN Vin Diesel’s range is not terribly impressive, but when he’s placed in a position where he’s allowed to play to his strengths – strong silent type; doesn’t mind a fight – he can be very effective...
Jun 21, 2014 | chART
By BRUCE DENNILL The Conjuring / Directed by James Wan / 16VH It’s incredibly difficult to make a film that’s actually scary anymore. Hollywood has gone through the motions too many times, and the conventions and tropes that are meant to make audiences...
Jun 15, 2014 | chART
By ALAN SWERDLOW The Fault In Our Stars / Directed by Josh Boone / PG13 I must admit up front that I’m not fond of sentimentality or schmaltz. Any subject treated in that way becomes artificial and offensive to me; after all, sentimentality is an...
Jun 12, 2014 | chART
By BRUCE DENNILL This is a book about books, and also about a love of books – hell, an all-abiding passion for the things. In the course of prescribing literature, perspectives and themes meant to help readers come to terms with, ignore, solve or, yes, cure any...
Jun 7, 2014 | chART
By ALAN SWERDLOW Maleficent / Directed by Robert Stromberg / PG What is this current obsession with revisiting comic book and cartoon figures from the past? There is something vaguely recidivist about the notion, or, at the very least, egoistically...
May 29, 2014 | chART
By ALAN SWERDLOW The Railway Man / Directed by Jonathan Teplitzy / 16V At one point in The Railway Man, Colin Firth, portraying one Eric Lomax (on whose memoir this film is based) says very emphatically, “I am not a train spotter, I am a railway...
