A production company arrives in Bolivia to film a movie about the arrival of Columbus in the New World. Caribbean Taino, Andean Quechua – the cost-cutting producer doesn’t seem to care, they’re all the same thing as far as he’s concerned, and they’ll work for $2 a day. The director, Gael Garcia Bernal, is focused…
Read moreThe Cold Light of Day
A couple of years back, we spent a fantastic couple of weeks in Madrid. For that reason, I thoroughly enjoyed the photogenic roll out of familiar, beloved Madrileno locations in The Cold Light of Day……Unfortunately that was the ONLY reason. Not even Henry Cavill – Henry Freakin Cavill – can save this perplexing, frustrating and…
Read moreGreen Zone
Green Zone takes place in the immediate aftermath of the fall of Saddam and the search for Weapons of Mass Destruction in Baghdad. Of course, it turns out that WMDs – on which, you’ll recall, the case for war was made – are notable only by their absence. But rather than continuing just to ask…
Read moreVantage Point
In Vantage Point, there’s an assassination attempt on the life of the President of the United States whilst he’s attending a big anti-terrorism summit in Salamanca, Spain. This chaotic exposition of bullet and bomb unfolds piece-by-piece, via six separate points-of-view, culminating in a car chase that features some of the best stunt driving action you’ll see in a…
Read moreEl Orfanato
Seven year old Simón sees dead people. Or to be more precise, he sees the ghosts of the former residents of a creepy Spanish orphanage in Juan Antonio Bayona’s accomplished debut, El Orfanato. But when Simón vanishes one sunny afternoon, it’s not clear whether his disappearance is accidental, or whether – as his pannicked mother Laura begins…
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