When The Impossible was released, there was a lot of liberal tooth-gnashing about the Eurocentricity of a movie about a cataclysmic event that affected Asian people in far, far greater numbers than the wealthy white folks on which it focuses. The argument, such as it is, is that the glossy Anglo family – stoutly played…
Read moreFair Game
Fair Game is another gasp-a-minute revelation of breathless, bare-faced lies of the Bush-era government, as it tanked us all towards war a war in Iraq. If you don’t know the story, as the Bush government scrambled to create a case for a spurious war, word started to emerge of a huge amount of weapons-grade uranium…
Read moreThe International
The International, starring Naomi Watts and the grimy, knock-kneed Clive Owen, is a really strange film that I have tried – and failed – to watch on a number of occasions. It looks really good, and there are fantastic locations – Berlin, and a roof-top chase in Istanbul stand out – and there’s a valiant…
Read moreFair Game
Naomi Watts as Valerie Plame. Hm. BTW, that’s a perky “hm”. I think it looks interesting.
Read moreYou Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger
A silver dollar moon, flanked by wild, apocalyptic, Dali-esque clouds emerged over Sarajevo Film Festival’s famous outdoor cinema yesterday; an apt counter-point to Woody Allen’s more mundane, kitchen-sink comedy “You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger” appearing on the massive screen. It’s an ensemble piece about a group of disgruntled Londoners. These are all glass-half-full…
Read moreAn entirely different moral universe: Hackney
I loved David Cronenberg’s History of Violence, which was widely critiqued as a blistering commentary on all the aggression and brutality behind America’s “have-a-nice-day-now” civility. So I wondered what I’d make of Eastern Promises, Cronenberg’s latest movie, now that he turns his attention to London. Eastern Promises is set in a place called London Fields, a patch of parkland in the borough of Hackney next to Broadway Market. And…
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