The latest take on Stephen King’s murderous alien clown is an effective jump scare machine, satisfying and exhausting in equal measure.
Liberation Day
Morten Traavik’s truly unusual doc follows Laibach, the controversial Slovenian art rock band, on tour in North Korea.
PACmen
PACmen is pitched as a pulling back of the curtain, though it’s unfortunate when all that’s behind it are a couple of crusty mops and a bucket.
Shadow World
The latest film from Johan Grimonprez is more tempered than his earlier work but nonetheless is a fascinating account of how the global military-industrial complex ensures the recursive nature of modern warfare.
Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief
Alex Gibney’s impressive and controversial documentary GOING CLEAR paints the Church of Scientology as a deeply abusive and extortionate organisation.
Bitter Lake
Docu-collagist Adam Curtis’ latest film, BITTER LAKE, takes Afghanistan as its focus, featuring an almost counterhistorical account of political machinations the ripples of which are still felt today.
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For
The second instalment in the SIN CITY series is a limp noir homage lacking any narrative complexity, filled with tedious dialogue and a massive misunderstanding with regards to its usage of violence and sex onscreen.
Transformers: Age of Extinction
After powering through the first three Transformers films in a row, staff writer James Hennessy takes on Michael Bay’s latest, once more a bloated and dull blockbuster.
Machine Heart of Darkness: Spree-Watching the Transformers Series
It takes a certain level of masochism to sit through the first three films in Michael Bay’s Transformers series with full knowledge of its flagrant disregard for the standards of even mediocrity. We’re lucky we have James Hennessy on staff, because he did just that.
Concerning Violence
It would help to approach this film with some appreciation of the structures and theatres of African conflict. There is no backstory; no context provided. You can appreciate the brutality of the Guinea-Bissau civil war without knowing much about it – stark footage of amputee mothers with amputee children are likely to resonate with anyone – but the locus of the film’s message is in the barely elucidated political context.