Director Douglas Tirola boasts (somewhat cheekily) that Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead features more bare breasts than any other documentary in history. Judging by the raucous end result that details the hard-partying genesis and spectacular flameout of the National Lampoon humour magazine, he may well be right. (more…)
Ex Machina hinges on the Turing test, an idea which states that a machine has true artificial intelligence when its answers are reasonably similar to how a human would respond. In other words, once a machine’s conversational responses can fool a human, that machine has essentially achieved AI – what some would call a soul. (more…)
“I’m not going home poor!” shouts a sailor in Black Sea as he risks life and limb in the pursuit of gold. There’s an interesting subtext (that’s eventually brought to the fore) in this submarine/heist/action film about desperate men taking desperate measures to secure their futures in these times of austerity and financial uncertainty. (more…)
Swathed in moody black and white and boasting a memorably rad soundtrack, writer-director Ana Lily Amirpour’s debut feature A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night is a synthesis of many filmic influences in the spirit of Tarantino’s now-familiar style of pastiche. (more…)
Most horror movies are about teenagers (played by much older actors) but very few get at the core of adolescence as well as It Follows. The film captures the late summer malaise of young adulthood perfectly while marrying it with a back-to-basics horror concept that relies more on characterization and slow-burn chills than shock jumps and cheap scares (although those are present as well). (more…)
The improbably long lasting Fast & Furious films soldier on with signature excessiveness and goofy sincerity in Furious 7. The last instalment to star affable surfer bro Paul Walker in the face of the actor’s untimely passing, Furious 7 admirably manages this unforeseen hurdle and pays tribute to him in a mostly satisfying entry that amps up the action, emotion and one-liners to near unsustainable levels that nonetheless proves to be a mostly smooth ride despite some bumps in the road and a surplus of passengers. (more…)
“God has to be busy with everyone else” intones a young man near the end of the plainly poetic and visually sumptuous documentary Rich Hill. It’s heartbreaking and hopeful, like much of the film itself, and implies a faith that things can improve and a knowledge that it hasn’t yet happened for him. (more…)
Will Smith tries on a new cinematic persona in Focus, a puzzle box romance set in the illicit world of professional con men (and women). The movie seeks to combine the heist elements and effortless cool of Ocean’s Eleven with the smoky romance and rat-a-tat dialogue of Elmore Leonard adaptations like Out of Sight with varying results. (more…)
It’s easy to dismiss many modern romantic movies, partly because they often adhere to rigid templates. Like comedy, it’s actually a hard genre to successfully pull off and the best examples make it look effortless. (more…)
There are many different types of war movies. They run the gamut from traditional (Saving Private Ryan, which defined the modern template), larger-than-life biopics (Patton), exploitation takes (Inglourious Basterds) and deadly serious ones (Schindler’s List). And as we’ve moved further away from the most filmed conflicts (WW2 and Vietnam), there’s been a slew of war-on-terror films ushering in a new era of kinetic and brutal war pics (like Black Hawk Down, The Hurt Locker and Lone Survivor). (more…)
Glen On Film 