films
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Shazam: wizards, humour, and a great villain
Read more: Shazam: wizards, humour, and a great villainShazam is a story about Billy Batson (Asher Angel) who is given the powers of the wizard Shazam (Djimon Hounsou) and turns into ‘Captain Marvel’ (Zachary Levi). It is a fairly run of the mill superhero origin story that is elevated by a sense of awareness of how silly the movie is and by an…
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Movie Review: The Old Man & The Gun starring Robert Redford, Sissy Spacek, and Casey Affleck
Read more: Movie Review: The Old Man & The Gun starring Robert Redford, Sissy Spacek, and Casey AffleckMovie Review: The Old Man & The Gun starring Robert Redford, Sissy Spacek, and Casey Affleck… Starring Robert Redford, Sissy Spacek, Casey Affleck and with two excellent rounds of support from Tom Waits and Donald Glover, ’The Old Man & The Gun’ is a gentle, sedately paced film based on the life of career criminal…
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Film review: Slow West
Read more: Film review: Slow WestSlow West (2015, UK/US) 4 stars Our world is a harsh and cruel world. Certainly, it has beauty around every corner, and there’s also love and joy galore, but it’s difficult to escape the pure inhumanity. It’s that old chestnut about life being nasty, brutish, and short. It’s about trying desperately to avoid living a…
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Film review: The Ground We Won
Read more: Film review: The Ground We WonThe Ground We Won (2015, NZ) 3½ stars There’s many different New Zealands in New Zealand. There’s those two perennial favourites of the politicians – “Mum and Dad New Zealand” and “Middle New Zealand.” There’s the New Zealand that enjoys brunch of a Saturday morning, who buys craft beers, who watches the occasional rugby match,…
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Still Life: an absolute gem of a film
Read more: Still Life: an absolute gem of a filmStill Life is an absolute gem of a film, says Michael Tarry. Read our review here… Death is a natural part of life – the only certainty we have, apart from taxes. We’re all going to die. We’re all going to shuffle off our mortal coils eventually. The only questions are when, and how, and…
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Film review: Charlotte Gainsbourg and Omar Sy in SAMBA
Read more: Film review: Charlotte Gainsbourg and Omar Sy in SAMBAI’ve lived all my life in New Zealand. Some might call that good fortune; others might say it’s grim beyond measure, and ask why haven’t I emigrated to live a better life abroad? I’d reply that I haven’t had to – New Zealand’s pretty good, and I’m well paid, and my house doesn’t leak. Not…