Remainder Review

If you like your films a little out of the ordinary, then give Independence Day: Resurgence a miss this weekend and see if you can find a cinema playing Remainder instead. Think Donnie Darko meets Synecdoche, New York and you might be getting an idea of what an oddball little film this is.

Here's a snippet of my review from last year's London Film Festival:

Rushing through a city and pulling a black case behind him, an unnamed man (Tom Sturridge) is hit by falling debris from the sky. After awaking from a coma and going through extensive rehabilitation, he discovers that he has been awarded with £8.5 million to keep quiet about the incident. He is plagued by strange visions of a building, a boy, an old woman and some cats on a roof, and decides to hunt down these elements in order to piece together the fragmented puzzle forming in his head. His recreations are handled by helper Naz and become more elaborate, including eventually the staging of a bank robbery.

Sturridge's character becomes like a filmmaker, manipulating and directing these recreations from his mind, while an ever-expanding roster of 'actors' are employed to carry out the actions and scripts that he envisions. The surreal nature of his visions means he must dress extras in morph suits, have people repetitively play Chopin in the same building and an old lady constantly cook liver so that the smell will waft up to his apartment. He is obsessive in capturing the detail, repeating the process over and over again to the befuddlement of all others involved...

Interested? Head to Starburst Magazine for the rest of my review of Remainder.

Here's the trailer:

More reviews from I Love That Film:

Tale of Tales

 The Measure of a Man

The Conjuring 2

Mon Roi

Green Room

Son of Saul

Louder Than Bombs

Green Room Review

Bloody hell, this one has been a long time coming. I was lucky enough to catch Green Room in October of last year, but now it is finally released to you all. Make sure you go see it! Especially if you saw and loved director Jeremy Saulnier's last film Blue Ruin (which is on UK Netflix right now!). But even if you didn't, Green Room is well worth your attention. It's got punk, it's got Patrick Stewart, Imogen Poots, Anton Yelchin and Alia Shawkat AND AND AND Macon Blair, the lead actor in Saulnier's Blue Ruin. More to the point, if you like siege movies, this is as tense, violent and gripping as they come!

Here's a snippet of my review:

Punk band Ain't Rights are going nowhere fast, playing crappy gigs and siphoning petrol just to keep their clapped-out tour van running. After an interview with a local journalist and a disappointing take from their latest gig, they hear of a backwoods gig where they can make some quick and easy cash. The only rub is the clientele at the venue are far right (or are they extreme left?) nutters and the Ain't Rights don't help matters by opening with a cover of The Dead Kennedy’s Nazi Punks.

However, the poop really hits the fan when they witness a murder backstage in the green room and find themselves trapped in the venue by those who don't want them to get out alive. Led by Patrick Stewart's gang leader and venue owner, an army of skinhead 'red laces' are soon lining up to pick off the band members of Ain't Rights one by one.

Forget Assault on Precinct 13, at least the victims in that had a whole police station to hide in. In Green Room, it's literally just that. One room. The claustrophobia is palpable, particularly as one of the Nazi thugs is trapped in the room with the band. Saulnier builds the tension gradually with plenty of time to get to know the characters before any blood spills.

Read more of this Green Room review at Starburst Magazine. Do it now, do it right now!!!

Here's the trailer:

More recent reviews from I Love that Film:

Son of Saul

Louder Than Bombs

Hardcore Henry

Zootropolis

Disorder

Louder Than Bombs Review

Despite being set up in the opening scene as the main character, Jesse Eisenberg takes a back seat, allowing relatively unknown talent Devin Druid to shine in Joachim Trier's bittersweet drama Louder Than Bombs. Eisenberg is on solid, if not exceptional form as a son who returns to the family home to find his father and younger brother still in a complete mess after the death of his mother. He injects moments of welcome humour into what could have been a stifling exploration of grief in the modern world.

College lecturer Jonah (Eisenberg) has recently become a father himself and is feeling the weight of responsibility when he is called home to sort through some of his mother's belongings. His father Gene (Gabriel Byrne) hasn't managed to sort through the undeveloped photos that his late conflict photographer wife took before she passed, and now a gallery is hoping to put together an exhibition of her final work. Jonah's younger brother Conrad is unaware of the exact circumstances surrounding his mother's untimely death in a car crash. With a revealing article about to expose the truth about her 'accident', Jonah and Gene must decide whether they should tell the disturbed boy about his mother’s depression before it becomes public knowledge.

Dealing with grief and the fallout from a death in the family runs the risk of piling on clichés and treading ground that has already been amply trodden on by many filmmakers in the past. Even with its familiar troubled teen at the centre of the story, Louder Than Bombs manages to be heard above the clamour of similarly themed stories. This is largely due to terrific performances from its trio of male leads and some perceptive exploration of what it means to live in a time where everything is mediated, and it is increasingly difficult to find meaning in life.

Conrad sits in his darkened room, immersed in violent and fantastical videogames where he can become any character he likes, or kill people at will. He is withdrawn and surly, and his father has no idea how to communicate with him. The sadness of this relationship and the catastrophic ways that Gene tries to learn more about his son are tempered by some extremely comical moments. With Jonah helping him to come out of his shell, Conrad blossoms into the film’s raw exposed heart.

Despite bursts of voiceover from a number of different characters, as well as a complex chronology that contains flashbacks within flashbacks, it is really Conrad’s point of view in which we see the world through. His heart on sleeve writings and curious dancing behind not-so-closed doors make him utterly endearing, even if he does spit in a teacher’s face in one scene. Memories and dreams of his mother have a powerful hold on his mind, but it is his fragmented view of the world that resonates most. Like the flashes of his mother’s photos that we occasionally see on screen, or the YouTube videos he consumes daily, Conrad is lost in a disjointed reality, a reality reflected in the inventive structure of the film.

Getting under the skin of a few of its characters is daring, but could easily be accused of a lack of focus. However, Louder Than Bombs has a decent stab at examining not only three generations of men, but also the woman who affected their lives in profound ways. All of the film’s flawed characters deliver moments of heart and humour, but as distressed teen Conrad, it is Devin Druid who deserves the most praise for his exceptional performance.

Watch the trailer:

Ben Wheatley's High-Rise Review, starring Tom Hiddleston

Down Terrace, Kill List, Sightseers, A Field in England... It's fair to say that Ben Wheatley has had a pretty interesting career so far. His latest High-Rise is out in UK cinemas on Friday and here's a snippet of my review from the London Film Festival:

While lesser filmmakers get their heads down and sprint into the mainstream after even the most offbeat of beginnings, Ben Wheatley appears determined to keep himself steadfast on the outskirts of conventional filmmaking. High-Rise may feature his starriest cast yet with a so-hot-right-now Tom Hiddleston and Sienna Miller, but this is definitely no cautious step towards blockbuster boredom. Wheatley follows up the dazzlingly weird and wonderfully experimental A Field in England with something higher budget but equally perplexing, adapting J. G. Ballard's ‘70s novel.

Opting to keep the ‘70s setting of the book, High-Rise offers an oddly nightmarish vision of what a near-future building would look like as conceived in the ‘70s. It’s the future as seen from the past, and at the same time an apparition of a future that has already passed. The residents of a brand new tower block descend into a mad orgy of sex and violence as the different floors of the building turn to tribalism and savagery. Isolated by their own free will from the outside world, petty grievances over usage of the building’s swimming pool and waste chutes become amplified as the high-rise structure begins to disintegrate and the formerly ‘civilised’ society inside collapses.

Sound like your cup of tea? Check out the rest of my High-Rise review at Starburst Magazine now.

Watch the trailer below:

More reviews from the London Film Festival 2015

The Witch Review

What is it with witches? Almost 20 years ago The Blair Witch Project sent horror fans and the mainstream into a frenzy, and now comes The Witch to terrify cinema-goers all over again. The title of this film has been trending on my Twitter feed on and off for months now. 

This witch may not be from Blair, and she's definitely not part of any project, but she is as scary as Angelica Huston in The Witches. Yes I said it. 

I saw The Witch at the London Film Festival which I attended for Starburst Magazine. Here's a snippet of my review:

"What went we out into this wilderness to find", says patriarch Will at the beginning of Robert Eggers' spine-chilling debut feature The Witch. Anyone still smarting almost 20 years later over the complete lack of any witch sightings in The Blair Witch Project can rest assured that The Witch is not nearly as coy about revealing its scary woman in the woods. It may be a slow burner, but it builds to a crescendo that might very well give many horror fans a little too much full frontal witchery at the expense of some far more interesting earlier ambiguity.

A strict Christian family are banished from their plantation in 17th century New England; William (Ralph Ineson), Katherine (Kate Dickie), their four children and brand new baby boy. Settling on the edge of a dark forest, their crops will not grow and hunting in the woods results in no meat. Then, baby Sam mysteriously disappears without a trace while under the watch of oldest child Thomasin (Anya Taylor-Joy). Despair and desperation soon take hold of the family, leading to paranoia and a further descent into pious babbling. Eggers makes it clear that there is something wicked in the woods, but The Witch explores how innocent the family are themselves.

Read the rest of my The Witch review at Starburst Magazine.

Here's the trailer:

More from the London Film Festival 2015

Rattle the Cage Review

Rattle the Cage is apparently out in the UK on Friday 19 February, though how you can watch it, I'm not exactly sure. According to UK film release schedule, it is getting a 'limited release' so it should be playing somewhere. Good luck finding it though! I saw it at the London Film Festival 2015 and here is a snippet of my review:

Talal (Saleh Bakri) is behind bars in a tiny police station somewhere out in the middle of nowhere in ‘80s Arabia. There’s no further specifics given about the time or place and there’s precious little to go on about why Talal has been jailed for much of the film. However, it emerges that it had something to do with a scuffle, and while the man that Talal is imprisoned for scrapping with is released on bail quickly, Talal looks like he has a long wait on his hands.

When a man named Dabaan (Ali Suliman) enters the precinct and brutally kills the only deputy on duty, Talal becomes the victim of a psychopath whose motivations remain frustratingly vague. Trapped in his cell, Talal becomes a powerless pawn in this man’s plan.

Read the rest of my Rattle the Cage review at Starburst Magazine here.

Before you go, watch the trailer:

More from the London Film Festival 2015

The Survivalist Review

The Survivalist is getting released in key cities and On Demand around the UK this weekend. I was lucky enough to see this post-apocalyptic drama at the 2015 London Film Festival. My review is up at Starburst Magazine. Here's a little taster:

Opening with a simple red line that charts the exponential population growth that occurred around the time oil production began, The Survivalist offers a bleak new world after the collapse of civilisation when the population has plummeted back down to sustainable levels again. We don't get to see much of what this post-apocalyptic future is like, but we see enough to learn that human nature hasn't changed a bit since the dawn of man.

Martin McCann plays an isolated loner who has settled in the woods and is scraping a living by setting traps to catch anyone who comes near his tiny farm. Here he is growing enough food to survive, and burning pages of the bible to keep his bare hut warm. With no dialogue for a decent chunk of the film, the titular protagonist goes through his daily rituals, concentrating only on the basics of life; warmth, keeping clean and making food. It is only when a starving mother and daughter arrive and ask for food that his solitary existence is shattered.

Read the rest of my review of The Survivalist at Starburst Magazine here. 

Stephen Fingleton won Best Debut Director at the British Independent Film Awards in 2015 for this so go give it a shot!

Here's the trailer:

More from the London Film Festival 2015

Green Room Red Band Trailer

This film is so far up my street, it f**king hurts. Green Room is from Jeremy Saulnier, director of the excellent Blue Ruin, and stars Anton Yelchin, Imogen Poots and Alia Shawkat (from Arrested Development). A punk rock band witness a murder at a dingy backwoods venue, and the Neo-Nazi psychos that did it won't let them leave, leading to a tense stand-off with the band trapped inside the venue's green room for most of the film.

Patrick Stewart, as you've never seen him before, is the calm, softly spoken leader of the Nazi thugs who are determined to make sure all this mess gets cleaned up before the police get a sniff of the crime.

I was lucky enough to see it at the London Film Festival 2015 and my review of Green Room is at Starburst Magazine here.

Watch the trailer:

More from the London Film Festival 2015

Goosebumps Review, Starring Jack Black

Goosebumps, based on the kids books by R. L. Stine, hits UK cinemas on Friday 5th February. I was lucky enough to catch it at the London Film Festival late in 2015, where I reviewed it for Starburst Magazine. Here's a snippet of my review:

When teen Zach (Dylan Minnette) moves to Delaware following the death of his father, he arrives to find he is living next door to a mysterious and moody neighbour (Jack Black). While settling into a new school is hard enough (especially when his mum is the new Vice-Principal), Zach becomes suspicious of his neighbour, who is very keen to keep his daughter Hannah (Odeya Rush) from speaking to Zach. Turns out the mystery man next door is actually reclusive Goosebumps author R.L. Stine, and all hell breaks loose when the many monsters of his imagination are released from the pages of his manuscripts into the real world. Zach, Hannah, Stine and Zach’s new tagalong friend Champ must stop the creatures including murderous garden gnomes and a giant praying mantis before they destroy the entire town.

Like the sound of this? Read the rest of my Goosebumps review at Starburst Magazine.

Watch the trailer:

More from the London Film Festival 2015

Youth Review, Starring Michael Caine and Harvey Keitel

Youth, the latest film from Paolo Sorrentino (The Great Beauty), hits UK cinemas on Friday 29th January. I was lucky enough to catch it at the London Film Festival late in 2015, where I reviewed it for Starburst Magazine. Here's a snippet of my review:

Michael Caine and Harvey Keitel must have thought that writer/director Paolo Sorrentino was taking the piss sending them a script titled Youth. On the other hand, who could resist working with the Oscar-winning Sorrentino, especially when the long-in-the-tooth acting legends get to spend most of the shoot in a luxury Swiss spa in one of the most beautiful locations in the world.  
 
Caine and Keitel star as old friends Fred and Mick respectively. Fred is a retired composer, who while enjoying his vacation at the spa is visited by his daughter Lena (Rachel Weisz). He is resisting coming out of retirement to conduct a concert of his greatest work for the Queen of England. Mick, on the other hand, is an active film director, desperately trying to figure out an ending for his next film with a small group of writers who have joined him at the spa.

Like the sound of this? Read the rest of my Youth review at Starburst Magazine here. 

Watch the trailer:

  

More from the London Film Festival 2015

TV in 2015: Toast of London, Community, Game of Thrones, Walking Dead and more!

I've watched a hell of a lot of TV this year, especially for me! Getting Neflix might have something to do with it. Here's what I watched:

Utopia Series 1
This could and should have been brilliant. Stylish and violent, but fell a little short of what I was hoping for.

Toast of London Series 1, 2, 3
Surreal and silly, frequently juvenile sitcom starring Matt Berry. The best bits are always in the booth.



Green Wing Series 1 and 2
Re-watched this sitcom set in a hospital. Another surreal one. Still don't get why Mark Heap isn't a huge star.



House of Cards Series 1
This is a bloody slog. A bit too mature for me. That is until people start getting murdered. Then it see-saws into becoming too far-fetched. Picky bastard aren't I? Well, they're all bastards in the show as well. Drive me fucking nuts.

The Office Series 1-7
Had a go at the American version, despite not wanting to tarnish my memories of Ricky Gervais' Slough-set original. It's decent. But it's made me go back to the original again. Very difficult to decide if Dwight or Gareth is the better creation. I love them both so damn much. The worst thing about this is that just as I was getting close to finishing the entire show, Netflix removed it.

Better Call Saul Series 1

Not Breaking Bad. Fun enough, but I don't think this is ever going to get close to its big brother.

Community Series 1-5

Or the Amazing Adventures of Abed. Can't believe they span this out to five seasons. I raced through them. Sometimes it was very easy to switch off while watching. Whole episodes would go by and I'd feel as though I had seen nothing. But then other episodes were so full of creativity, imagination and excitement, that it makes the show all worthwhile. Was gutted when Troy left though.



Game of Thrones Series 5

A bit frustrating. Lots of changes from the book that felt unnecessary. I wish they would just slow down and draw this out. Allow George to get his books written so we can enjoy them first. And why the fuck have we not got a little lady named Stoneheart yet? Seriously? Why change that? Why?

The Walking Dead Series 6
Good so far. Alexandria has been action-packed and the whole Glenn thing was awesome. Also, Morgan's episode of backstory was brilliant. Excuse me while I go and sign up to an Aikido class.

This is England 90

Without doubt, my favourite TV show of the year. Such a brilliant end to a brilliant saga. Tragic, yet also hopeful and incredibly bittersweet. The best performances and direction of the year. I've just got the 86-90 boxset for Christmas so I'll be putting myself through it all again. Shane Meadows and his wonderful cast nailed it. I will miss these characters, but this is the way it has to end. As much as I'd love to see them return, This is England 90 was the perfect send-off.

What did you watch? Any recommendations for me this year?

Books of 2015: Found Footage, Film Studies for Dummies, Shock Value

I made a determined effort to read more film-related books this year. That started off very well with the first few books, but then petered out by the end of the year. This must also be the first year ever where every book I've read was non-fiction. Here's the books I read in 2015:

Found Footage Horror Films: Fear and the Appearance of Reality by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas

Just brilliant. Not many people are so devoted to studying these often very frustrating films. As I'm in the final year of my thesis on this subject, I read this at almost the perfect time. I managed to reference it a great deal in my thesis and I found it fascinating from cover to cover. I WISH I had read it before completing my book on The Blair Witch Project as Heller-Nicholas' analysis of that film would have given me a lot more to write about. The analysis of Paranormal Activity is also excellent and the detailing of how Highway Safety Films have influenced found footage was also something that I had not considered in my own thesis.

If you like found footage, or are just interested in its appeal, this is an absolute must read. Buy it here.

Film Studies for Dummies by Dr James Cateridge

I'd never read one of these 'for Dummies' books before and I thought that after 14 years of studying and teaching film studies, it would probably cover little that I didn't already know. Wow was I wrong. This book has been absolutely essential reading for me. It has clarified some of the most complex ideas in film studies, it has given me new ways to teach certain topics, it has broadened my knowledge of areas where I had little.

In short, it is a brilliant overview of the subject. I would recommend it for any student who is about to embark on Film Studies A level or a degree course. I think I learned more from this one book, than in much of my studies. Somehow it is perfectly pitched for both beginners and people who have been studying film for some time. Buy it here.

Shock Value by Jason Zinoman

Another must read for horror fans. Covers all the big classics from the 70s and the guys behind getting them made. It was especially timely to read this, as soon after I finished it, Wes Craven sadly passed away. Even though films like Texas Chainsaw, Halloween and The Exorcist have been written about to death already, Zinoman still manages to make this feel like a pretty fresh look at some of the greatest films ever to be unleashed from the genre. It would have been a good book to have around while writing my dissertation on the representation of the family in 70s horror. Buy it here.

12 Years a Slave by Solomon Northup

I saw this in a shop for something like £3 and as it was my favourite film of 2014, had to pick it up. A quick read and well worth it, even if you have seen the film. There are many harrowing parts and a quite a few memorable moments that were not included in the film. Overall, a story that deserves to be told and retold and retold.

Revolution by Russell Brand

Just a massive brain-fart really. I like Russell Brand and I like his outlook, but this came across as hopelessly naive in places. Still, there's lots of good stuff here and I hope Brand continues his crusade to try and change the world. I'm still listening.

The Hell of it All by Charlie Brooker

A collection of Brooker's columns for The Guardian. I laughed out loud a lot. After a whole book of reading Brooker's miserable ramblings, it can get a bit much. But he's still a brilliant writer and a lot of fun to read.

I'm also half way through Ayoade on Ayoade: A Cinematic Odyssey which is frankly, just bonkers.

What did you read this year? Any recommendations?

In the Heart of the Sea Review

Ron Howard gets right to the heart of the true story that inspired Herman Melville to write Moby Dick. Reteaming again after the success of Rush with Chris Hemsworth, and more importantly DOP Anthony Dod Mantle, Howard goes beyond Melville's story of man vs whale to reveal the harrowing tale of survival that followed the sinking of the whaling vessel Essex in the 1820s.

Melville (Ben Whishaw) visits an old Tom Nickerson (Brendan Gleeson), last survivor of the Essex and offers him a wodge of cash in exchange for the full story on what went down in the middle of the ocean all those years ago. So begins Nickerson's version of events; a story of conflict between Captain George Pollard (Benjamin Walker) and First Mate Owen Chase (Chris Hemsworth), as the two men hurl their ship across the oceans in pursuit of whales. Their quest for whale oil brings them into conflict with a giant monster of the sea; a white whale that won't even stop when it has destroyed the Essex itself.

Survival at sea has rarely looked so horrible, even after the likes of Life of Pi and Unbroken. The whale is the least of this crew's worries once the Essex goes down. Storms, sun, starvation; attack of the Hollywood skinniness. By the end, Hemsworth and his fellow survivors look like zombies as they resort to unspeakable actions in order to survive. You'll soon forget that you're watching Thor and the future Spider-Man Tom Holland face to face, as their eyes become sunken holes in their scrawny heads.

As the months aboard the Essex pass, there's a sense of excitement and adventure every time the crew find whales. But mixed with the majesty of the great creatures is the tragedy of their hunting, killing and butchering. Howard and Dod Mantle find the oily business grotesque and it shows in the inky, off-kilter cinematography. In fact, In the Heart of the Sea very clearly becomes Dod Mantle's film as it goes on. The shot choices become more bold and more stark as the situation for the crew gets more desperate.

In its heart, it’s a conflicted film. Hemsworth skips around the sails in typical hero style, but then the film mourns the first whale he manages to kill. He's clearly more cut out for the sea than his captain, who for the first half at least, is set up as the villain. But things get far more interesting once the monster whale turns up and cuts them all down to size. Howard does a decent job of making us sympathise with the men, investing just enough to make a few of the characters register above their blooming beards.

But the whale is the real heart of the sea. The tagline of Jaws: The Revenge said it best: This time it's personal. The incredible creatures might all be made of CGI, but that big white whale steals the show. Smashing, crashing and chasing his foes in payback for the family it has lost, it's a stark reminder of how nature can respond if men keep abusing the planet so arrogantly and recklessly.

In the Heart of the Sea is an epic odyssey of survival; much bigger, more emotional, and more exciting even than this year’s other great disaster story, Everest. 

Watch the trailer:

Seen it? Let me know what you thought in the comments or on Twitter @ilovethatfilm