The Review at the End of the Universe
Those of you that follow my musings on this site may have already noticed my Top Ten Worst Films of 2016 list (boss-mandated if I was going to be allowed to continue ranting), so it only seems fair that I try and fill the world with a little bit of positivity to make up for…
It’s that time of year, and “the boss” told me it was time to put together the top ten best and worst lists for 2016, so let’s get stuck in with the stinkers. Before I start, just a quick note to say there may have been films I enjoyed less than some of the movies…
In 2017 the Edinburgh International Film Festival celebrates its seventieth year, and on a cold clear evening in November, they kicked off their run up to this notable milestone with a Gala Screening of Ewan McGregor’s directorial debut American Pastoral. Having managed to bag myself a ticket, I settled down amongst Edinburgh’s great and good…
Scotland Loves Anime is a fantastic festival, and it returned to Edinburgh and Glasgow this October with an exceptionally impressive programme. One of the undoubted jewels in the crown of this year’s programming was Makoto Shinkai’s latest offering Your Name. Best known for 5 Centimeters Per Second and The Garden of Words, Shinkai seems to have…
John Michael McDonagh is a director of some previous note. His first work in the big chair, The Guard, took triple its modest $6 million production budget, and his subsequent film, Cavalry, was a critical success, picking up several nominations for its cast and crew, even winning a Best Actor award at the British Independent Film…
It seems to be a common held belief that, of late, Tim Burton has lost his mojo somewhat, and become a bit of a parody of himself. Many would place the blame for this at the feet of such films as Charlie and the Chocolate factory, and Dark Shadows, where he has lent very heavily…
Hot on the heels of Ben Hur, Hollywood continues its headlong rush to remake every film in its back catalogue with The Magnificent Seven, itself a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai. Yet again this is a film no-one was calling out for, but with director Antoine Fuqua (Training Day, The Equalizer) at the helm,…
In truth, I went in to see Hell or High Water with a sense of some trepidation. This movie comes from the pen of Taylor Sheridan, who brought us Sicario last year, a film that promised much, and delivered not much more than sweeping vistas punctuated by not very much else. The question here is…
For those who know of, and love, Laika Entertainment’s past cinematic releases, Boxtrolls, Paranorman, and Coraline, the news that Kubo and the Two Strings was coming elicited a feeling similar to a new Pixar release. They have a very distinct style and the use of stop-motion in an age of modern CGI is seen as…
Some people will wonder why we are even looking at this remake of the 1959 classic. With all the negative press, the MTV-esque trailers, and the distinct vibe amongst movie-goers of “why did they bother making that?”, you could be excused for thinking that Kneel Before Blog would just write this one off as a…
