It may be most notable for featuring one of James Gandolfini’s last screen performances but this warm, charming film is also one of the most gently rewarding experiences I’ve had in a cinema this year. It’s a perfectly judged romantic comedy from Nicole Holofcener (Lovely And Amazing, Please Give) that I could have happily continued to watch had it been an hour or two longer.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus (TV’s Seinfeld, Veep) plays Eva, a forty something, divorced masseuse who meets also-divorced Albert at a party. Their initial meeting is awkward but the two of them are sufficiently interested in each other to go on a first date. The date is a success, the relationship develops and all is going swimmingly until Eva learns that Albert just so happens to be the ex-husband of one of her clients, Marianne (Catherine Keener). Unaware of their burgeoning relationship, Marianne spends much of her massage sessions bad-mouthing her ex-husband. Read more
Set in the world of radical eco-activists, Kelly Reichardt’s latest offering teams up a terrific trio of Jesse Eisenberg, Dakota Fanning and Peter Sarsgaard in what proves to be another impressive addition to a constantly growing collection of strong films from the director.
Plotting to blow up a local dam as an act of political and ethical defiance in the face of growing ecological fears, Josh (Eisenberg), Dena (Fanning) and Harmon (Sarsgaard) are confronted with an unexpected hitch in the plan that brings into question the motivations behind their actions as well as threatening their own personal freedom. Read more
Having played a supporting role in big screen comedies, including Step Brothers, We’re The Millers and Wanderlust, with Afternoon Delight the immensely talented Kathryn Hahn finally gets the chance to show what she can do in a lead role, and she doesn’t disappoint.
Hahn plays Rachel, a housewife and mother who, finding many aspects of her life with her husband Jeff (Josh Radnor) have gone stale, decides to visit a strip club with a group of friends. After a dalliance with lapdancer McKenna (Juno Temple), she engineers a subsequent meeting with her and ends up inviting her to live in the family’s spare room. She wastes little time in inviting McKenna to social engagements and asking her to babysit, whilst trying to lead her away from her life as a stripper and sex worker. Read more
This year’s Palme d’Or winner arrived in London with director Abdellatif Kechiche and young star Adèle Exarchopolous in tow having attracted numerous headlines since its festival bow. Despite wowing the Cannes jury, the film’s graphic sex scenes have split critics and audiences alike, while grumblings surfaced in interviews from both lead actresses about the difficulty of working with Kechiche, to such an extent that they’d never work with him again. Proclaiming that he wanted to cancel the release, Kechiche has evidently been perturbed by this wave of negative press, but the final result is a truly astounding tour-de-force of cinema which deserves as wide an audience as possible.
Loosely based on the 2010 French graphic novel by Julie Maroh, the film covers the period of Adèle’s (Adèle Exarchopoulos) life from her final years at high school into her twenties when she’s pursuing a career as a teacher. After a brief, failed romance with Thomas (Jérémie Laheurte), her life changes when she walks past blue-haired art student Emma (Léa Seydoux), whom she cannot stop thinking about. After visiting a gay bar with a friend, Adèle meets her properly for the first time, and they begin an intense, passionate affair. Clocking in at just under three hours, the film chronicles the ups and downs of their romance, whilst also serving as an in-depth character study, truly immersing the viewer into both women’s lives. Read more
Lucky McKee may sound more like a character from Balamory than a purveyor of cinematic horror but after his brutal last film The Woman shocked audiences with its tale of a feral woman captured and tortured by a successful country lawyer, he joined the likes of Ti West (The Innkeepers) and Adam Wingard (You’re Next) at the forefront of a new horror movement.
McKee’s follow-up may surprise some as although it’s not without horror moments, it is a far more playful and comedic affair, providing a spin on the traditional high school comedy. All the usual tropes are in place, the bitchy cheerleaders, the alpha-male jock, the socially awkward nerds and there’s plenty of slow-motion walking down school corridors. The film opens like a cross between Spring Breakers and Bring It On but McKee and co-director Chris Sivertson introduce supernatural elements with mixed results. Read more
DCM's resident Film Specialist, Tom Linay, reports back to Huffington Post readers from the BFI London Film Festival with a review of Nebraska.
Playing as the Journey Gala at the 57th Annual BFI London Film Festival, in association with American Express, Nebraska is the latest slice of Americana from the brilliant Alexander Payne (The Descendants, Sideways and Election). It may not be vintage Payne but it features a couple of brilliant performances, particularly one from Bruce Dern that deservedly won him the Best Actor prize in Cannes in May. Read more
This year, Digital Cinema Media (DCM) is the proud sponsor of The Hospital Club’s hClub100 Film Category, recognising the most innovative and influential people in the world of British Film.
DCM CEO, Simon Rees, part of the original judging process, helped recognise truly inspirational names in the film and advertising industries for 2013. Read more
Last Sunday, the Poole family celebrated their 20th year of ownership of the Pavilion Cinema Galashiels.
The family run independent cinema, which boasts four fully digital screens and two 3D systems, is located on the face of Market Street and serves the population of Galashiels as well as the wider Scottish Borders community. Read more
Prisoners refused to relinquish its iron grip on the top spot this weekend past, holding on to number one for the third week in a row. The all-star thriller took £969k, bringing its cume to a fantastic £5m.
Hot on the heels of Prisoners was Sunshine on Leith, which on its second week of release, took £732k and now has a cume of £2.2m . The film, featuring music from pop-folk sensation, The Proclaimers, follows the stories of Davy and Ally, who have to re-learn how to live life in Edinburgh after coming home from serving in Afghanistan. Both struggle to learn to live a life outside the army and to deal with the everyday struggles of family, jobs and relationships. Read more
As unlikely as it may seem, that the man behind the nerdy incompetence of Moss (Richard Ayoade) from the hit TV sit-com, The IT Crowd, should now want to adapt a classic Dostoyevsky text, believe it, as The Double is set to be one of the most distinctive cult hits of the last few years.
Whereas Ayoade’s on-screen persona as loveable goofball Moss might seem very convincing, in reality he is an avid cineaste. His debut film, Submarine, proved a great success, and he is amongst the most talented and ambitious of current British filmmakers. Read more
If there were a recipe for the ideal film to kick-start an international festival brimming with films spanning a wide-range of genres and national origins it would be as follows: Find a taut and relentlessly pulsating thriller directed by a home-grown filmmaker, throw in one of cinema’s most widely adored actors - as well as a startling showing from a debutant performer - and bring to the boil. The result is Captain Phillips, the enthralling new film from British director Paul Greengrass and the people’s favourite; Tom Hanks.
Following on stylistically from Greengrass’s previous films (The Bourne Supremacy, The Bourne Ultimatum, Green Zone), Captain Phillips is another dramatic telling of a real life event from the director. In the same vain as Bloody Sunday and United 93, Greengrass brings a considerate approach to a true story with high emotional stakes and raw emotions. Based on the 2009 hijacking of a US cargo ship by Somali pirates, Captain Richard Phillips endeavours to protect his crew whilst safely negotiating an extremely hostile situation. Read more
At only 24 years of age and with three previous feature films to his name, the fourth instalment to director/writer/actor Xavier Dolan’s burgeoning career is perhaps his most assured and mature to date.
With an already dedicated following thanks to the success of I Killed My Mother, Heartbeats and Laurence Anyways, Dolan’s work and status as a director has secured a cult level of appreciation for his (youthful) exuberant manner as a filmmaker. Tom At The Farm, however, immediately feels more fine-tuned and less visually indulgent. Working from a play by Michel Marc Bouchard, the backup of already existing source material has given Dolan a more purposeful approach to his directing. Read more
