End of Watch, The Hunt, Sightseers

Three of the best films of last year, David Ayers' End of Watch, Thomas Vinterberg's The Hunt and British Ben Wheatley's Sightseers are all either just out now on DVD and Blu-ray or are released this coming Monday for you to buy or rent.

I reviewed all three of these films for Static Mass Emporium when they were in cinemas last year and now that they are out for home release, my reviews are proudly sitting on the front page again today.

David Ayer’s End Of Watch is a blistering look at a pair of LAPD cops played by Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña and the bravery it takes to fight drug dealing cartels.

Mads Mikkelsen stars in Thomas Vinterberg’s powerful Danish drama The Hunt, a tense tale of a teacher accused of a crime against a child that he did not commit.

With Sightseers, director Ben Wheatley follows Kill List with a pitch black British serial killer comedy that lets loose psychotic lovers on a caravan driven killing spree through Yorkshire.

All three of these films made it in to my top 20 films of 2012 with End of Watch and The Hunt taking the 3rd and 2nd places respectively just behind The Dark Knight Rises at the number one spot. Sightseers came in just outside the top 10 at number 12.

I'm very proud of these three reviews and even more proud to be sharing positive reviews of three films that really deserve to be seen by as many people as possible. End of Watch you've no doubt heard of and if you are a British reader, you likely saw a poster or trailer for Sightseers but I'm sure not everyone heard of or even got a chance to see The Hunt. Now is the time to rectify that.

Please click all the above links and check out my reviews of End of Watch, The Hunt and Sightseers. I'm sure that at least one of these great films will take your fancy!

Let me know your thoughts!

Top 20 of 2012 PART 1

It's that time when everyone has to write their best of the year lists. I'm no different. Though I waited a year to write my best of 2011 list, I've decided that I can confidently write my best of 2012 list today! That is in no small part due to all the films I've been reviewing for Filmoria and Static Mass Emporium. So a massive thanks to those sites because I'm actually ending the year having seen quite a lot of 2012 releases.

In fact by my count I've seen 68 films released in 2012 in the UK. That's out of a total of 193 films I watched for the first time this year. I'm sure with all the films I re-watched this year, that would comfortably take me over the 200 mark for films I have watched in 2012. Respectable but I hope to do better in 2013!

And now on to the list:

Films I didn’t get to see that may well have made an appearance: The Master, The Raid, Rust and Bone, Headhunters, Beasts of the Southern Wild, The Hobbit

Honourable mentions (if only this were a top 25): Avengers Assemble, The Grey, The Descendants, Safety Not Guaranteed, Coriolanus

20. Looper

My own silly expectations are to blame for this being outside the top 10. I suspect if I watch Looper again, I'll enjoy it a lot more. Great, intelligent science fiction but not as good as the time travel films I grew up with despite a fantastic performance from JGL.

19. Prometheus

Another victim of my ludicrous expectations, though I think a lot of other people felt let down by this too. Still a great film though and one I'm looking forward to re-watching. It certainly had the most exciting marketing of the year.

18. The Hunger Games

I got the trilogy of books for Christmas last year and while the first film didn't live up to the promise of the first book, it was still a hell of good film for young adults (and the rest of us!) Infinitely better than Twilight, it's a shame that the second and third books didn't live up to the original either. I'm hoping the film sequels will improve on the books. This is why I loved the first book so much.

17. Chronicle

It’s a superhero spin on the tired ‘found footage’ formula.  Climaxing with a creatively shot smack down that flies, explodes and rips through a city on a meager budget, Chronicle is a very impressive directorial debut.

16. Margin Call

I reviewed this for Filmoria when it was released on DVD and loved it. I also got to interview actress Susan Blackwell who appears at the start of the film. Compelling, sad and refreshingly free from boo-hiss villainy in favour of surprising humanity.

15. 21 Jump Street

Laughed my ass off while watching this. Literally nearly fell of my chair clutching my stomach it was hurting so much during the drug taking scene. One of the best surprises of the year. Funny, silly, dumb AND occasionally smart!

14. Carnage

One of my favourite casts of the year all stuck in a room for the entire length of the film. It has middle class couples at war over brawling boys and despite being stagey is absolutely hilarious especially once the alcohol starts to flow.

13. My Brother the Devil

Another one I reviewed for Filmoria, It is filled with gripping performances and it has a script that raises a wealth of important and relevant issues that combine to make this a must-see British drama from an outstanding new voice.

12. Sightseers

This one I reviewed at Static Mass Emporium, Alice Lowe delivers a brilliant performance and her character Tina steals the film from all around her. Sightseers is an excellent serial killer comedy that has lots of laughs, vicious violence and heaps of heart, and all with a killer soundtrack. My review also won a competition and appeared here at the Picturehouse Cinema blog.

11. Lawless

I loved the period setting, all the performances from a fantastic cast and thoroughly enjoyed the prohibition and early gangster story. Guy Pearce makes a superb villain and Tom Hardy shined in his bad-ass in a cardigan role. Better than the Hillcoat/Cave collaboration The Proposition.

And here is the top 10 0f 2012! What do you think so far?

Reviews for Ruth Barnes on Amazing Radio

Three weeks ago I had my radio debut on Ruth Barnes Breakfast Show on Amazing Radio. Today my second attempt at being a radio reviewer went out just after 9a.m. It was recorded on Wednesday over the phone with the unbelievably lovely Ruth who really knows how to make you feel comfortable! She is such a great presenter, sounding so good on the radio that it can't help but make me sound a bit monotonous and boring but I do my best to sound enthusiastic and passionate!

Ruth Barnes Breakfast Show Amazing Radio

However Ruth always helps me along and is such fun to chat with that both times I come away positively beaming and feeling great about it. But then I hear myself back on the radio and cringe. It's not all bad but I've still got a long way to go! Luckily my students at college had a little listen and were generally complimentary. A couple of my family members listened in to and they said I'm good so I MUST BE! They can't be lying right?

Anyway if you missed my first stint on Ruth's Breakfast show, you can find it here under: Ruth Barnes At Breakfast 16.11.12 I appear about 2 hours and 7 minutes into the broadcast if you would like to catch it. And you can read all about it at my previous blog post about radio stardom here.

But of course that is old news and the real reason for writing today is that I appeared again on the show this morning. You can here that one right here:







I also managed to do a bit better on the promoting Filmoria side of things this time by mentioning our advent calendar and actually giving the web address! Hoorah! Ruth is always genuinely extremely kind about my appearances so I'm really hoping she'll ask me back again and again and again and again and again!

What are you waiting for; please give it a listen now and furnish me with praise and/or constructive feedback!

Sightseers (Ben Wheatley, 2012) Review

I'm super excited to announce that not only are Static Mass Emporium featuring three of my articles today, I also found out I just won a competition to have my Sightseers review posted on the Picturehouse Cinema blog. They are also sending me a poster of the film too which will go nicely on my office wall and always remind me to be cautious of people who travel with caravans.

Ben Wheatley's British serial killer comedy Sightseers is certainly one of the must-see British films of the year and you can see why in both my short review at Picturehouse Cinema's blog and also in my full review over at Static Mass Emporium. It may not be the best film that is out in cinemas this weekend, but it's still bloody silly a bit grim but also bloody funny too!

This is what editor Patrick wrote about me and my articles in the Static Mass daily digest newsletter today:

'It’s a Pete Turner day today on Static Mass as we have three articles written by the film and media lecturer who’s also currently working on a PhD.

[First] we have his review of Ben Wheatley’s Sightseers. “Following divisive hit-men horror Kill List, Ben Wheatley creates another genre straddling British film, this time producing shocks but also guffaws in equal measure. Sightseers has comically quirky killer characters and a very sick sense of humour, producing plenty of guilty laughs.”

I'd like to thank Patrick for having me at Static Mass Emporium, Picturehouse Cinemas for deeming me to be the winner of the review competition and finally the E4 Slackers Club for putting on a free movie every month for us students to go and see.

I hope Sightseers manages to find an audience within and outside of the UK and look forward to seeing what Ben Wheatley has in store for us next.

Best of British: My Brother the Devil Review

My Brother the Devil is an extremely moving and powerful British film from writer/director Sally El Hosaini, starring James Floyd and Fady Elsayed, as well as someone I don't see nearly enough of in film, La Haine's Saïd Taghmaoui.

Read my full review of My Brother the Devil at Filmoria here.

Sometimes it sucks being a film critic and having to see films that you think are rubbish.  You have to write why you don't like a film, knowing full well that others may love it.  Also you know that countless people have put in huge amount of hours and hard work in bringing the film to the screen.  That sucks.

Other times it is the greatest job in the world.  You get to say why you loved a film and share a positive review which you hope will be read by many and will encourage them to see the film.  That is the case with My Brother the Devil.  I love this film but know that it will be fighting for position in multiplexes with blockbuster behemoths like Skyfall.  That is why I am very glad to be doing my bit to spread the word on this great film.

And it gives me great pleasure that one of the stars of My Brother the Devil, James Floyd is extremely active on Twitter and has come across some of my writing about the film, tweeting:

Thx 2 @Filmoria 4 giving @MBTDFilm an Amazing review! *powerful performances nearing perfection* *endlessly complex* *purely entertaining*

He also retweeted this from me straight after I saw it: #MyBrotherTheDevil is likely to be 1 of the best British films of the year. Disturbing reactions from some ppl in the screening with me tho!

It really was disturbing how some people reacted in the screening I was in.  To say more would be to ruin one of the biggest surprises in the film.  Unfortunately there are still some disgustingly immature, prejudiced people on the planet!  And I hope more of them sit through this film.

Every month I am doing a piece at Boolean Flix to help spread the word on British films that are coming to a cinema near you.  This month I took a look at My Brother the Devil, Sightseers and Great Expectations among others.  Read my best of British film for November over at Boolean Flix.  Is this poster one of the greatest ever produced?

In other news, it looks like before the end of the day, I Love That Film might break the 12,000 hits in one month mark so thanks very much to everyone who pops by!  I Love That Film loves you!

Anyone seen My Brother the Devil?  What did you think?  If you haven't seen it, check out the trailer below.

October’s Best of British

In the first part of a new series, Pete Turner brings you details of the best new British films hitting cinemas next month…

October is always an exciting time for British cinema with the blockbuster season over, Halloween approaching and the London Film Festival bringing world cinema to the capital, as well as shining a much needed light on Britain’s talent.


Of course October 2012 also sees the return of a certain very British, very popular icon to cinema screens. You know the name. You know the number. More on him later…

But first let’s take a look at some of the other British films fighting for your hard earned pounds this month. Speaking of a certain super spy, first up is a documentary released to help commemorate the 50th anniversary of his cinematic outings. Everything or Nothing: The Untold Story of 007 charts the 50 years since Mr Bond first hit screens in Dr No in 1962. Odeon cinemas will be giving the film a limited release on October 5th and fans will no doubt be desperate to catch the nostalgic trip through one of the most successful film franchises (and longest running) ever made...

Read more on the new British films of October 2012 at Boolean Flix.

Tower Block Trailer Shoots to Kill

After The Raid, Dredd 3D and less recently Attack the Block, you'd think the tower block would be ready to be retired as a location for an action thriller.  But British director James Nunn has come up with another promising take on tower block terror, filling one with the likes of Sheridan Smith (lots of British TV) and Jack O' Connell (more British TV, a few films) and the legend that is Ralph (Camberwell Carrot) Brown.  Then a sniper is unleashed, taking potshots at this unsuspecting bunch and chaos ensues.

Tower Block closed this year's FrightFest and has a promising score of 7.3 over at IMDb from the 47 people who have rated it so far.  With Cockneys Vs Zombies getting good reviews (also written by James Moran) and Ben Wheatley's Sightseers being one of the must-see films at this year's London Film Festival, it looks like the British horror film is in rude health.

Tower Block is out tomorrow in the UK and below you can watch the suspenseful trailer:



Read my review of Tower Block here.  Will you be braving this one in the cinema? 

Fall in love, see the sights, have a laugh!

Can't get this trailer out of my head so I must share it with you all now.  It's for Ben Wheatley's new genre mash-up Sightseers, coming to UK screens on 30 November 2012.

Wheatley's last film Kill List was praised by critics but left me pretty baffled.  A strange mix of crime film and occult horror, it was certainly original if not wholly satisfying.  This, on the other hand, looks absolutely brilliant.  A delightful mash up of laugh out loud funny with disturbing killer lovers on the loose, I can't think of a film I'm more excited about now this year.

Check out the trailer below if you haven't watched this yet already and make sure that if you like this sort of thing you make a trip to the cinema to see it and support British film!



Watch out for the ginger faced man and the angry woman from 30 November and if you're not from round these parts, just hope and pray it gets an international release!