Director: Leigh Whannell
Writer: Leigh Whannell
Cast: Elisabeth Moss, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Aldis Hodge, Storm Reid, Harriet Dyer, Michael Dorman

Who doesn’t love a classic horror story? And who has ever done it better than Universal back in the days of black and white film? There have been multiple attempts ever since to recreate those movies, whether just in emulating tone or aesthetics, or in fully reinventing the stories for modern cinema. Based initially off of H.G. Wells’ novel of the same name and something of a reboot of the television series from the 1930s, The Invisible Man is a classic and well-known horror story, so well-known that if it’s to be retold, it’s best to find a new angle on it, which is exactly what writer/director Whannell has gone and done. Has he hit the horror nail on its head and successfully created something new and chilling, or, much like the titular character, is there nothing to see here?

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Director: Autumn de Wilde
Writer: Eleanor Catton
Cast: Anya Taylor-Joy, Johnny Flynn, Bill Nighy, Mia Goth, Gemma Whelan, Josh O’Connor, Rupert Graves, Miranda Hart, Amber Anderson, Callum Turner

Another year, another classic novel getting yet another film adaptation. Jane Austen’s Emma has been adapted/based on for projects for the big and small screens a few times over the years, using period- and modern-day settings (Clueless, anyone?). It’s always been a popular story, but breathing new life into it can’t be the easiest of tasks. What may also make this project specifically more difficult is having a director known almost entirely for directing music videos and shorts and a writer with very little screenplay work behind her. But what do they also potentially have in their favour? The fact they’re women, essentially, and they’re telling a story orginally written by a woman about a woman. Is de Wilde’s adaptation of Emma worthy of applause, or will it leave you crying “ugh, as if!”?

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Right, now that awards season is firmly out of the way for the timebeing, it’s time for some new movies to breathe a little. That’s not to say the quality of new releases will now diminish in any way… far from it! We’re now likely to see many of the films that were screened during film festivals hit your average multiplex or indie cinema, so there’s plenty to sink your teeth into in that regard, but we’ve also got some great entertainment coming our way this month! The top choices for March may not seem like the most exciting of choices, but don’t judge them purely by their posters…

Continue reading “What’s On – March 2020” →

Director: Cathy Yan
Writer: Christina Hodson
Cast: Margot Robbie, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Rosie Perez, Ella Jay Basco, Ewan McGregor, Chris Messina, Ali Wong

Once upon a time, a girl fell in love with a guy. This love was not really reciprocated, but the girl did everything the guy asked of her. She would kill for him, causing people to think she was crazy. But who was the real crazy? Eventually he grew tired of her and he gave her the boot. Tale as old as time, right? And what became of the girl post-break up? That’s what Birds of Prey is here to tell you, as the break-out star of 2016’s Suicide Squad, the titular Harley Quinn, goes it alone (before amassing a team that dub themselves the Birds of Prey). Suicide Squad wasn’t the biggest success (though it does have a James Gunn-helmed sequel on the way, which is promising), but Harley was. Does she do better in her own movie, or was she better off sticking with the OG squad?

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Director: Armando Iannucci
Writers: Armando Iannucci, Simon Blackwell
Cast: Dev Patel, Tilda Swinton, Hugh Laurie, Peter Capaldi, Ben Whishaw, Daisy May Cooper, Paul Whitehouse, Anthony Welsh, Aimée Kelly, Morfydd Clark, Benedict Wong, Rosalind Eleazar, Gwendoline Christie, Darren Boyd, Jairaj Varsani

It’s been around fifty years since the last film adaptation of one of Dickens’ greatest novels. David Copperfield is often hailed as his greatest, most meaningful and personal work, and so it stands to reason that it has been adapted numerous times for different platforms (and surely to be many more… a musical, anyone?). It’s also generally well-known for being quite an emotional story, as David traverses the trials and tribulations that life has to offer, from his birth to middle age. Iannucci’s version, however, takes a more comedic approach, lightening it and reimagining it in ways that potentially make it more digestible, particularly for the more sensitive moviegoer. Has this proven to be a good approach from a writer/director known for his comedy work, or does it step too far away from the meaningful source novel?

Continue reading “The Personal History of David Copperfield – Review” →