Tag Archives: film review

Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa (2013): “I am siege face.”

Would you want to be stuck in a hostage situation with the most awkward radio DJ this side of the Norwich City Council? In Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa (2013, dir. Declan Lowney), Steve Coogan stars as the charming king of chat radio, who finds himself in yet another strange situation, except this time it doesn’t […]

Synecdoche New York (2008): Quick-shot review!

A riddle wrapped in an enigma wrapped in a conundrum. Synecdoche New York (2008) is a masterpiece straight out of the mind of Charlie Kaufman, the genius behind Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004). This is a film where the lines between reality and illusion are increasingly blurred, especially when it comes to reflecting […]

300: Rise of an Empire (2014): “Only the gods can defeat the Greeks.”

The highly anticipated sequel to 300 (2007), 300: Rise of an Empire (2014, dir. Noam Murro) is an action-packed historical war film loosely based on the events of the Battles of Artemisium and Salamis, in the year 480 BCE. It follows the Greek general Themistocles (Sullivan Stapleton), as the Greeks seek to defend their democracy […]

Palo Alto (2013): “I wish I didn’t care about anything.”

Ah, the follies of youth – remember the kinds of high school parties where you think you’re super cool until you light the wrong end of a cigarette in front of a group of people? Good times. Palo Alto (2013) is directed by Gia Coppola (Francis Ford Coppola’s granddaughter, and Sofia Coppola’s niece), and is […]

August 2014 Favourites

What a month. August was filled with some remarkable ups and downs, but a lot of really great films. My posting here at the old Film Grimoire has been kind of all over the place due to crazy work and a crazy flu, but nevertheless, here are some weird and wonderful things that I enjoyed […]

The 1984-A-Thon: The Times of Harvey Milk

Directed by Rob Epstein, and winner of the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 1984, The Times of Harvey Milk (1984) tells the story of a man who has become a symbol and an inspiration in the fight for the human rights of marginalised groups, after his untimely death at the hands of a […]

Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989): Quick-shot review!

What a film. Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989, dir. Shinya Tsukamoto) is a Japanese film about… well… I’m not entirely sure. Handing it over to the capable hands of IMDb for the synopsis: A strange man known only as the “metal fetishist”, who seems to have an insane compulsion to stick scrap metal into his […]

Genre Grandeur: 300 (2007)

Another month goes by, and it’s time for the excellent Genre Grandeur over at MovieRob! The theme for August was war films, and I chose a film about a different kind of war; that is, the Battle of Thermopylae that occurred during the Persian Wars in Ancient Greece. There have been lots of amazing reviews […]

“Is it worth paying for a ticket?”: Boyhood (2014)

Director Richard Linklater’s magnum opus that has been twelve years in the making, Boyhood (2014) tells the story of young Mason (Ellar Coltrane), from age five to age eighteen. Boyhood follows Mason as he grows up, notably using the same actor for the entire film; we literally watch him grow as the film progresses. Boyhood […]

Three Short Films: Circles (2014); Roma (2014); Skin (2014).

I’m back on my short film game y’all! Here are three shorts I watched recently via Dazed Digital. I’ve really been loving the short films section on Dazed because there’s always something interesting and new to watch and learn about. Today I watched one short film about a boy with a lot of thoughts, another […]