Blog | Film Reviews & Movie Trailers

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood LFF film review

Oct 27, 2019
4 min

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood LFF film review

★★★★ Directed by: #MarielleHeller Written by: #MicahFitzermanBlue, #NoahHarpster Starring: #TomHanks, #ChristineLahti, #WendyMakkena BFI London Film Festival Review by: Andrew Young A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood Movie Review At several points during A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood, the third feature from Marielle Heller, I was reminded of the great critic Roger Ebert. In 2000, upon seeing Almost Famous for the first time, he simply declared, “Oh, what a lovely fil

Knives Out London Film Festival 2019 review

Oct 18, 2019
4 min

Knives Out London Film Festival 2019 review

★★★★ Directed by: #RianJohnson Written by: Rian Johnson Starring: #AnadeArmas, #ToniCollette, #ChrisEvans, #DanielCraig, #EdiPatterson, #JamieLeeCurtis, #KatheringLangford, #MichaelShannon, #ChristopherPlummer BFI London Film Festival Review by: Andrew Young Knives Out Movie Review In just a few films, Rian Johnson has come from interesting indie #filmmaker to the kind of director who’s name is put on the poster to sell tickets. From making the ultra low-budget Brick to being

Portrait of a Lady on Fire film review BFI London Film Festival 2019

Oct 16, 2019
3 min

Portrait of a Lady on Fire film review BFI London Film Festival 2019

★★★★★ Directed by: #CélineSciamma Written by: Céline Sciamma Starring: #NoémieMerlant, #AdèleHaenel, #LuànaBajrami BFI London Film Festival Review by: Andrew Young Portrait of a Lady on Fire Movie Review Céline Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire is a stealthily spellbinding film. It takes a pair of characters and has them inch ever closer until their love takes flight. Similarly, the film pulls in its audience with reserved yet compelling #filmmaking, only for it to catch a

Just Mercy BFI LFF 2019 film festival review

Oct 8, 2019
4 min

Just Mercy BFI LFF 2019 film festival review

★★★★ Directed by: #DestinDanielCretton Written by: Destin Daniel Cretton, #AndrewLanham, #BryanStevenson Starring: #BrieLarson, #RafeSpall, #MichaelBJordan BFI London Film Festival Review by: Andrew Young Just Mercy is one of those awards-favourite dramas that can easily invite great cynicism from an audience. It is about two men overcoming adversity to fight a corrupt system and secure the right to liberty. It is based on an important true story and it features famous actors

Monos LFF 2019 film festival review

Oct 7, 2019
3 min

Monos LFF 2019 film festival review

★★★★ Directed by: #AlejandroLandes Written by: Alejandro Landes, #AlexisDosSantos Starring: #SofiaBuenaventura, #MoisesArias, #JulianneNicholson BFI London Film Festival 2019 Review by: Andrew Young When the lights go down and Alejandro Landes’ Monos begins, the first images we see are children alone in the dark playing football, blindfolded. They appear to be a pack, somewhere far from civilisation. We soon discover that they are soldiers. Why are they here? Where did they c

Big Night short film

Jan 5, 2018
4 min

Big Night short film

Directed by Sam Jones Starring George Somner, Olivia Barrowclough, Jarreau Benjamin Short Film Review by Andrew Young Following on from the festival success of the BFI-funded Lifeline, Manchester filmmaker Sam Jones, still a young and eye-catchingly prodigious talent, has returned with another compelling and visually audacious short. Big Night is an impressive look at underground drug culture through the events of one night in some dingy nightclub toilets. It showcases great

The Boy by the Sea short film

Sep 4, 2017
3 min

The Boy by the Sea short film

Directed by Vasily Chuprina Starring Ad Van Kempen and Rom Elzakkers Short Film Review by Andrew Young SPOILER ALERT German short film director Vasily Chuprina’s recent work The Boy By the Sea is short, slight and sad. At just 6 minutes long, it is a film with no frills, a film that makes its point concisely, eloquently and movingly. Written by Chuprina’s regular collaborator Andreas Illmer in Dutch and starring Dutch actors Ad Van Kempen and Rom Elzakkers, whilst being a Dut

Filmmaker Interview Phil Giordano

Jul 29, 2017
13 min

Filmmaker Interview Phil Giordano

Filmmaker Interview by Andrew Young American filmmaker Phil Giordano has been garnering awards and attention for some time now. He was recently the recipient of the Hollywood Foreign Press Award and first prize at the NYU First Run Film Festival and is immensely proud of them, especially the latter award, which had been a long-term goal of his. This all comes from his compelling and compassionate short Supot. Following a young boy in the rural Philippines as he approaches the

Forget Me Not short film

Apr 16, 2017
3 min

Forget Me Not short film

Directed by Michael Beddoes Starring Briony Redman, Richard Soames and Katharine Bennett-Fox Short Film Review by Andrew Young Garnering plenty of attention on the indie film festival circuit, Forget Me Not is a wonderful little slice of observational comedy. A light, slight riff on relationship tropes, it both pokes fun at its characters and allows some sympathy with them to develop. It asks searching questions about the way we conduct relationships, both common and uncommon

Ax short film

Feb 4, 2017
4 min

Ax short film

Directed by Michael Coulombe Starring Todd James Jackson and Marita Gomsrud Short Film Review by Andrew Young The opening titles for Michael Coulombe’s short horror/thriller suggest something rather different to what we are actually presented with. A cartoonish blood splatter and schlocky sound effects give an early impression of a low-budget gore-fest, but instead, Ax turns out to be a similarly low-budget but much less action-heavy look at a murder. It acts as a confession

Between Viewings short film

Dec 19, 2016
4 min

Between Viewings short film

Directed by Raphael Biss Starring Tom Barker and Luke Neves Short Film Review by Andrew Young Tone is a very tricky thing in cinema. It is difficult for the filmmaker to keep it consistent, but without making their film monotonous either. Make your film too light and comedic, with no dramatic weight, and you risk being accused of lacking substance; make your film too serious and devoid of levity and the film is ready to be attacked as “leaden with the weight of its own self-

The Pineville Heist indie film

Nov 24, 2016
4 min

The Pineville Heist indie film

★★ Directed by Lee Chambers Starring Presley Massara, Carl Bailey, Priscilla-Anne Forder, & Wayne V. Johnson, Indie Film Review by Andrew Young There is something about the Action genre that seems to make it ripe for cliché. The same tropes trotted out again and again and largely similar action played out time after time. It is a trap that is easy to fall into without some deeper observation of character, greater thematic weight or technical flair – visual invention or plen

Lights Out short film

Oct 18, 2016
3 min

Lights Out short film

Directed by Savannah Bloch Starring Alixzandra Dove Short Film Review by Andrew Young Lights Out teases us. It is never quite clear what category the film fits into, what its aims are or what is going on. This is no bad thing. It could be a criticism that the film doesn’t know what it wants to be but that isn’t the case here. It may well be the case that director Savannah Bloch and writer Kelly Lynn Peters knew exactly what they were doing when making this impressive short.

Supot short film

Sep 23, 2016
3 min

Supot short film

Directed by Phil Giordano Starring John Arcilla, Mercedes Cabral, Andrei Fajarito and Kinopi Malbas Short Film Review by Andrew Young In certain parts of the rural Philippines, boys are not circumcised at birth. Rather, they are circumcised when they are 10 years-old. The males in this community cannot truly become men until they have gone through this coming-of-age ritual. To go uncircumcised could see you ridiculed, disregarded and diminished in the eyes of your own family

Headz short film

Sep 11, 2016
3 min

Headz short film

Directed by Robert H. Wainwright Starring Iannis Aliferis, Sofia Varino and Marcus Massey Short Film Review by Andrew Young Robert H. Wainwright’s Headz is a thoroughly charming short whose odd missteps prevent it from becoming a complete success. Wainwright collaborates with Wright Way Films producing partner Iannis Aliferis, who here writes and stars as our protagonist, known only as Factory Man. An odd, lonely figure, he potters about an abandoned warehouse living a life t

Plena Stellarum short film

Sep 2, 2016
3 min

Plena Stellarum short film

Directed by Matthew Wade Short film review by Andrew Young After accruing both buzz and awards on the festival circuit, Matthew Wade’s Plena Stellarum comes with the bar of expectation already highly placed. It doesn’t quite hit that bar, but it doesn’t really miss it either. Rather, it shifts it to the side, twists it around and does wholly unexpected things with it. As an illustrator, animator and musician as well as a filmmaker, Wade has brought his array of talents togeth

NATiVE short film

Aug 23, 2016
3 min

NATiVE short film

Directed by Alex Rosling Starring James McKillop & Joe Barker Short film review by Andrew Young There is clear talent on display in writer-director Alex Rosling’s NATiVE, a sci-fi tinged thriller that is a well-made and well-performed effort, squeezing maximum effect from its small budget and short running time. Yet it ultimately lacks the big ideas, or perhaps the clarity and coherence in communicating them, to leave as long-lasting an impression as it could have done. The