In the mode of a comforting heated blanket, Steven Spielberg brings his typical skill and strength of direction to the field in The Post, his straightforward telling of The Washington Post's Pentagon Papers coverage from Nixon-era America. Fronted by the intimidating duo of Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks, this is all-American filmmaking. It is 1971 and … Continue reading The Post
This week Ursula K. Le Guin passed away - an author of power, simplicity and mystery. My favourite passage from her Earthsea Quartet is this, and maybe illustrates some of her mastery. “As Lookfar approached the islands, Arren saw the dragons soaring and circling on the morning wind, and his heart leapt up with them … Continue reading Ursula K. Le Guin
It has sadly been a while since Pixar's noughties winning streak of instant classic releases - their last five or six years have produced a mixed résumé, and even some of the recent hits have been exaggerated by popular acclaim. Coco is another of these relative successes; it puts most family films to shame with a visually … Continue reading Coco
Nintendo's freshly announced Labo, a cardboard construction-set-cum-videogame, looks like the purest playset, real or concept, to have emerged from a mainstream game developer in recent years. It is a return to the age of wonder, a product that, even in the world of bemusing consumer technology, makes little to no sense to the layperson. Labo … Continue reading Nintendo Labo – the magic of play
The United States is a country of worrying extremes in so many ways, and in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Martin McDonagh (In Bruges, Seven Psychopaths) confronts these shortcomings in typically forthright fashion. He brings his abrasive and snappish tone to middle America, shining a light on the iniquities of this broken society. The imperious Frances McDormand … Continue reading Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
What a pleasant quirk of the release calendar that, so soon after Christopher Nolan's crashing, titanic Dunkirk, we should be offered a more contemplative riposte from Joe Wright. With that film having taken care of the combatant and civilian experience of the Dunkirk evacuation, Darkest Hour now offers that of another chief participant, Winston Churchill. Gary Oldman takes … Continue reading Darkest Hour
Steamworld Dig was a jewel of a game, initially hidden on the 3DS, before spreading to every platform under the sun, accompanied by a magma flow of praise. Now, some four years later, a sequel arrives, perfectly and immediately suited to the Nintendo Switch. This time we play as Dorothy, a supporting character from the first … Continue reading Steamworld Dig 2
An Aaron Sorkin script provides a particular breed of viewing pleasure - one caveated by its unreality. His characters' recognisably sharp repartee is delightful, moving at a clip so rapid as to acknowledge their very scriptedness. Humans do not converse like this, so wittily and snappily; proponents might argue that Sorkin's worlds are hyper-realities, a … Continue reading Molly’s Game
Nintendo's year has been a wildly successful one - their mobile presence, though increasingly derided, has been significant; they have won back the adulation of the press and the wallets of the many with their latest console, the impeccable Switch; and their roster of exclusive releases was jaw-droppingly impressive. The masterful Legend of Zelda: Breath … Continue reading Super Mario Odyssey – 2017’s Game of the Year
It is a relative rarity to see one film that depends so much on another, yet is neither sequel nor prequel, nor even a documentary or reboot (hard or soft). The Disaster Artist is James Franco's ode to the titanically awful The Room, and that movie's maverick central figure, Tommy Wiseau. This new film charts the journey of … Continue reading The Disaster Artist
