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Film review: The Great Gatsby |
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Written by Ivan Radford
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Thursday, 16 May 2013 16:37 |
Director: Baz Luhrmann
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joel Edgerton, Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan
Certificate: 12A
Trailer
Say something enough times and it begins to lose all meaning. The Great Gatsby, adapted from the classic American novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is essentially two and a half hours of people saying the word “Gatsby” over and over again. By the end, it’s a hollow experience.
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Film review: Fast & Furious 6 |
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Written by Ivan Radford
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Wednesday, 15 May 2013 09:09 |
Director: Justin Lin Cast: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez, Luke Evans Certificate: 15 Trailer If you had to bet on one film from 2001 being turned into a franchise, The Fast and the Furious was never going to be top of the list. But here we are 12 years later and Fast & Furious 6 is pumping its engine full of codswallop and showing no signs of stopping. This is a series where characters say things like “You’ve got serious balls” / “I’ve been told” with a straight face. Where they live by a code that gives them two options in life: ride or die. Not eat. Not sleep. Not wash their hands. Ride - or die. So to call Fast & Furious 6 a bad movie almost seems irrelevant. Bad doesn’t even come into it. It’s ride or die. That’s it.
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Film review: A Hijacking |
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Written by Ivan Radford
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Thursday, 09 May 2013 07:00 |
 Director: Tobias Lindholm
Cast: Pilou Asbæk, Søren Malling, Dar Salim, Abdihakin Asgar
Certificate: 15
Trailer
“Hey, do you want to watch a hijacking?” isn’t a phrase people tend to say when they’re looking for a fun evening’s entertainment. It’s quite understandable. Because that’s exactly what Tobias Lindholm’s film feels like: watching a hijacking. It’s gripping, horrible, shocking, sad. It’s great. You know, if you like watching hijackings.
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Film review: Star Trek Into Darkness |
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Written by Ivan Radford
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Monday, 06 May 2013 14:05 |
 Director: J.J. Abrams
Cast: Chris Pine, Benedict Cumberbatch, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban
Certificate: 12A
When J.J. Abrams seized the helm of the USS Enterprise in 2009 and kicked it into reboot gear, he wowed everyone by producing a film that had one warp coil in tradition and the other in a 21st Century blockbuster; an agile machine that jumped over itself to blaze a new direction for the franchise. Star Trek Into Darkness takes that mandate and boldly goes… where we’ve already been before.
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Film review: Chimpanzee |
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Written by Ivan Radford
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Friday, 03 May 2013 10:51 |

Directors: Alastair Fothergill, Mark Linfield
Cast: Oscar, Tim Allen
Certificate: U
Trailer
Meet Oscar. Oscar’s a chimpanzee. He spends his day keeping up with the group and trying to crack open nuts with a rock. It’s tough work. But he’s a happy chimp. Awww.
Meet Disney. They may be a corporate identity but they love nothing more than attributing human emotions to non-human creatures and objects. It’s tough work. But they’re a happy company. Awww.
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Film review: Dragon |
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Written by Ivan Radford
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Thursday, 02 May 2013 06:19 |
 Director: Peter Ho-Sun Chan
Cast: Donnie Yen, Takeshi Kaneshiro
Certificate: 15
As the old saying goes, never trust a man who works in a paper mill. Especially if they're played by Donnie Yen. It's definitely true in the case of Liu Jin-xi, a mild-mannered husband who finds his workplace under attack from a group of bandits – and unwittingly kills them all with his own clumsy two hands.
Enter detective Xu Bai-ju (Kaneshiro), who believes there’s more to Liu than meets the A4 size chart. All acupuncture and glasses, he digs around the crime scene like a hipster psychic, prompting wild flashbacks, reverse slo-mo and all kinds of visual trickery. It’s like watching A History of Violence reimagined as an episode of CSI: Hong Kong.
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Film review: I"m So Excited |
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Written by Ivan Radford
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Wednesday, 01 May 2013 09:09 |
Director: Pedro Almodóvar Cast: Javier Cámara, Raúl Arévalo, Carlos Areces, Lola Dueñas, Cecilia Roth Certificate: 15 Trailer
“Then she contacted the beyond through Alex and Benito’s crotches.” If you don’t hear those words in a cinema, it might as well not be a Pedro Almodóvar movie. On that basis, I’m So Excited definitely fits the bill. After years of progressively more mature masterpieces, this airbound comedy sees Pedro revert right back to his juvenile years – a heyday of raunchy chaos and unabashed silliness. Oh yes, it’s un film de Almodóvar all right. The bad news? It’s not a very good one.
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Sundance London Review: Upstream Colour |
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Written by Ivan Radford
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Monday, 29 April 2013 07:03 |

Director: Shane Carruth
Cast: Amy Seimetz, Shane Carruth
Shane Carruth blew brains when he popped up out of nowhere with Primer in 2004. Now, he’s looking to do the same with Upstream Colour, a tender low-fi sci-fi that squirms with ideas before exploding into full-on Tree of Life rhapsody. Is that the sign of a masterpiece? Or just an unnecessary third act that’s complex for complexity’s sake?
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Sundance London Review: The Summit |
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Written by Ivan Radford
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Sunday, 28 April 2013 18:22 |
 Director: Nick Ryan Cast: Lochlainn O'Mearain, Cas Van De Gevel, Wilco van Rooijen Showtimes
For every four people who reach the summit of K2, one dies. It’s a sobering, shocking fact revealed early on in this arresting documentary. But it’s nothing compared to 2008, when a disaster killed 11 climbers on the world’s most-feared mountain. What happened up there? The survivors still don’t know. The Summit attempts to find out.
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Sundance London Review: Mud |
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Written by Ivan Radford
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Sunday, 28 April 2013 07:28 |
Director: Jeff Nichols Cast: Michael Shannon, Matthew McConaughey, Tye Sheridan, Jacob Lofland Showtimes
When young Ellis (Sheridan) and Neckbone (Lofland) discover a boat up a tree on a remote island, they stumble across a boy’s greatest American dream of all: not ownership of property, but adventure. The only problem? Both belong to another man, Mud (McConaughey). They do a deal with the grubby stranger; they bring him food, he gives them the boat. And, more importantly, an exciting journey.
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