Playtime

Playtime (1967), Jacques Tati’s most ambitious work, brought his career down in ruins. Three years in the making on a vast six-acre set specially constructed on the outskirts of Paris, it was conceived as a satire on the sterility of modern life. The production ran wildly over-budget and it flopped disastrously.

But for all the overweening ambition there’s an…

The Remaining

Commencement in American Wedding territory with the nuptials of Gap model-alikes Brian Dechart and Alexa PenaVega, this Christian sci-fi quickly turns into a cut-fee Cloverfield. One minute, it’s all angsty like triangles; the next, hail and fire are falling from the sky and a CG Rapture is upon us.

Co-writer/director Casey La Scala exec-produced Donnie Darko, so…

The Case Against 8

In 2008, California passed Proposition 8, a law banning same-sex marriage. The case against it is evident, but HBO’s doc makes emotive, sharp work out of the courtroom ruckus. The bolt from the blue ace in its pack is the union of right-wing attorney Ted Olson with the super-articulate David Boies – previously opponents in the Bush-vs-gore clash.

While their…

The Possibilities Are Endless

Like is made of sturdier stuff than sentiment in Edward Lovelace and James Hall’s moving but never manipulative docu-portrait of Scottish indie-pop hero Edwyn Collins. When Collins suffered two strokes in 2005, he started a harrowing trek to recover his motor skills and memory.

The directors convey his existential dread via abstract images and Collins’ voiceover, contrasted…

Sacro GRA

A bolt from the blue winner of Venice’s Golden Lion, Gianfranco Rosi’s doc traces the orbital route of Rome’s ring road, the Grande Raccordo Anulare. La Dolce Vita this isn’t, as Rosi seeks out the forgotten folk who the commuters leave behind: an eccentric bunch that includes prostitutes, paramedics and parasitic weevils.

Without voiceover, Rosi’s intentions are frustratingly unknowable –…

The November Man

Based on a 1987 novel by Bill Granger, The November Man’s gloomy-sounding title belies its pedestrian CIA-spook-under-duress banalities. Pierce Brosnan, a long way from his Bond days, huffs and puffs his way through a boilerplate thriller that finds his ex-CIA hitman, Peter Devereaux, retired to a coffee shop in Switzerland.

His idyllic life is decimated when he’s…

Set Fire To The Stars

Reckon My Week With Marilyn but with Dylan Thomas and shot in luscious black and white and you’ve got some measure of Andy Goddard’s debut feature. Elijah Wood leads the cast as wallflower academic John M. Brinnin, who’s enthralled by the juvenile, offhand behaviour of iconic poet Thomas (the brilliant Celyn Jones) as the pair go on a reading tour across America.

The Skeleton Twins

The Skeleton Twins has its honest share of heart-warming moments and more than its quota of laughs, but don’t expect a belly-busting comedy from SNL alumni Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader. This is a movie that starts with its male protagonist slitting his wrists in a bathtub and its female lead contemplating a jar of pills, and darkness hangs over the action…

Say When

When she’s not squeezing into corsets or chunky cardigans, as she does in this month’s The Imitation Game, Keira Knightley’s carving a niche for herself over the pond in low-budget crowd-pleasers like Seeking A Friend For The End Of The World and this year’s composition industry romance Start Again. Keira’s latest indie effort sees her team up with director Lynn Shelton (Humpday)…

Super Mario Bros.

A film so reviled that it nearly spelled Game Over for the careers of all caught up finally comes to Blu-ray, giving us all the chance to watch the infamously terrible game adaptation in high definition. Er… Yay?

Swapping the blue skies of the games for a dark tale with confused fantasy/sci-fi elements, the movie marks a tragic…