A Quiet Passion

A biopic of Emily Dickinson. This could focus on a number of aspects of Dickinson’s life but focuses on her spirituality and solitary inner life. Because she lived her entire life more or less in her family home, the whole film is basically Cynthia Nixon wandering round a house, greeting in every room. The cast…

The Lure

A documentary about the treasure seekers scouring the Rockies for Forrest Finn’s hidden million-dollar treasure. There’s a computer programmer-turned-cowboy, a retired cop, a guy getting chemo, all tramping over the wilderness. The film kinda examines what each of them is looking for and how this treasure hunt provides them with an opportunity to find it.…

The Secret Scripture

A film about the dangers of being a woman in Ireland dressed up as a grannyfapper romance. Pretty much every horrific crime committed by the Catholic Church gets played out in this movie, in which a young Irish rose gets Count Frollo’ed. Gie it a by and watch something cheery.

The Demons

Fuck me, I thought that would never end. Just saw The Demons. Boring as fuck. I know you’re not supposed to say films are boring, in the same way that you’re not supposed to say people are ugly – they’re not ugly, they’re just not beautiful in the way you like – but fuck it!…

Free Fire

A simple tale of a gun deal gone wrong. Taking place entirely within a warehouse, the movie is action packed and darkly funny. Reminiscent of stuff like Reservoir Dogs or A Simple Plan.

I Am Not Your Negro

Fuck. Just out of I Am Not Your Negro. Absolutely fucking excellent. It’s an attempt to finish on film James Baldwin’s final unfinished manuscript sketching a history of America by tracing the deaths of Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King. What unfolds on the screen is a series of visual essays on the…

The Giant

A film about a Swedish man with autism, several disabilities, facial deformity and a recent head injury who goes on to compete in the Nordic boules championship. The start’s a bit slow but it’s good once it gets going.

Tickling Giants

A film about Bassem Youssef, who is inspired by Jon Stewart’s Daily Show to set up a satirical comedy show in the period between the military dictatorships of Mubarak and El-Sisi. The guy’s really funny and so is the film, it makes me want to see more of his stuff. While the events in Egypt…

The Levelling

A film in which a prodigal daughter returns to the family farm following the suicide of her brother. Ellie Kendrick (Meera from Game of Thrones) is excellent as the main character, going through all these shades of grief.

Trespass Against Us

A film about a man trying to break away from his father who would rather see him dead than “go gorgi”. During the Q&A discovered that everything in the film is based on a real family called the Johnsons, who are semi-outcasts in the travelling community in Gloucester for being such mad bastard rip-and-run fiends.…