House of Darkness film review by UK film critic Hope Madden. Starring Kate Bosworth, Justin Long directed by Neil LaBute. HOME | FILMS | REVIEWS House of Darkness Film Review average rating is 2 out of 5 Critic: Hope Madden | Posted on: Sep 8, 2022 Directed by: Neil LaBute Written by: Neil LaBute Starring: Kate Bosworth, Justin Long Who hurt Neil LaBute? Would it surprise you to find that the latest from the writer/director behind In the Company of Men and Your Friends and Neighbors (as well as the less impressive Wicker Man reboot and others) is a meditation on sexual dynamics, power and agency? That it’s brimming with psychosexual wordplay? That it’s bitter and a bit misguided? How many times can we disassemble the mating ritual to judge and shame those involved? Sometimes LaBute does it well—so well that it’s tough not to look forward to whatever he releases. House of Darkness sees the filmmaker again exploring his favorite topic, this time within a horror context. Justin Long riffs on his nice guy persona, his character Hap actually referring to himself at one point as “one of the good ones.” (Had Hap seen Promising Young Women , he might have had sense enough not to make such a claim.) Hap’s been lured into the stately gothic manor of the lovely Mina, played with controlled ferocity by Kate Bosworth. Bosworth seems to relish the directness of her character. Mina’s disinterest in accommodating Hap’s insecurities is glorious—a reminder of how casually brutal LaBute’s work can be. Perhaps because he started his career as a playwright, each of LaBute’s films rise or fall on dialog. House of Darkness is a chamber piece – it could easily be a stage play (though it’s likely a Covid production). Limited performers pepper scenes with double entendres in an awkward dance of “will we or won’t we” sexual politics. The difference this time around is the genre trapping, a first for the filmmaker. The look is lush and effective, particularly the more fantastical sequences. Long — a genre veteran — delivers a bit of nuance, his Hap never entirely sympathetic but definitely hard to hate. The story builds effectively enough. It’s just that nothing is ever in question. The genre tropes are more threadbare from use than LaBute’s banter-driven power game. Worse, the point rings hollow, like a disingenuous, cash-grab reversal of In the Company of Men . Buy UKFR Banner Space About the Film Critic Hope Madden Theatrical Release < All Reviews Next Film Review >

Truth film review by UK film critic Jason Knight. Starring Eleanor Grainger, James Craister, Alan Davison directed by Gabriel Brown. HOME | FILMS | REVIEWS Truth Film Review average rating is 5 out of 5 Critic: Jason Knight | Posted on: Jul 1, 2023 Directed by: Gabriel Brown Written by: Sam Richardson Starring: Eleanor Grainger, James Craister, Alan Davison A man exacts vicious revenge on his cheating wife. Amy (Grainger) wakes up in a garage, with her hands tied. Her partner Henry (Craister) has brought her here and he is furious. Henry accuses her of having had an affair with a guy named John and now he wants to get even. Amy pleads with him to let her go, however, it is soon proven that things have past the point of no return. This short is an adultery/revenge thriller that is filled with tension and dread from start to finish. The screenplay places the viewer in Amy's shoes, who is trapped in a desperate situation. At the mercy of Henry, she constantly begs him to stop and that she is remorseful for her actions. However, her captor is beyond the point of forgiveness and has turned into a bloodthirsty monster. He threatens her with a knife, repeatedly and angrily blames her for having destroyed their lives and demonstrates just how far he has gone. The atmosphere gets worse and worse and it is evident that things are going to end terribly. Then, the plot twist arrives, one that belongs in the same category as The Usual Suspects , one that makes the audience question everything they witnessed previously. It might be hard to know which character to side with, as both Amy and Henry have done terrible things. Amy has betrayed her husband and Henry has kidnapped her and threatens her life. Although Amy is the one who primarily comes across as the victim, as she is the one who is tied up and tearfully begging for her life, Henry is also a victim, a victim to her selfish cheating. Both Grainger and Craister deliver very strong performances. The film gains from a beautiful cinematography thanks to Caleb Chambers and Brown creates some well-executed long takes. The sinister and dramatic music by Lucy Green is a great addition and crucial when it comes to developing a menacing and dreadful atmosphere. This short grabs the viewer's attention right from the beginning and never loses its grip. The dramatic protagonists, intriguing plot, dreadful atmosphere and unpredictable ending make this quite a memorable experience. Buy UKFR Banner Space About the Film Critic Jason Knight Short Film < All Reviews Next Film Review >

Extraterrestrial Message film review by UK film critic William Hemingway. Starring D-ID directed by Jean-Baptiste Martinoli. HOME | FILMS | REVIEWS Extraterrestrial Message Film Review average rating is 2 out of 5 Critic: William Hemingway | Posted on: Sep 9, 2022 Directed by: Jean-Baptiste Martinoli Written by: Jean-Baptiste Martinoli Starring: D-ID If you're into that sort of thing you may have noticed a recent explosion in the availability of AI art generators that you can use to make some pretty funky pictures with minimal prompting and absolutely no effort on your part. You can download these apps onto your phone and immediately start creating visual imagery that would blow the socks off anything you could probably do in real life – and it only takes a few seconds to create each one. If your finger's really on the pulse then you can also ride the new wave of art acquisition and register the AI representations of your twisted brain juice as NFT's then sell them over the internets for squillions at a time – probably. Some of the most popular AI art generators are The Night Machine, Dream by WOMBO and Dall-E, but the one which seems to stand out at the moment, and the one which is on display here in the short film Extraterrestrial Message is MidJourney. Partnering up with AI camera software from Cre8tive AI as well as music genreator Soundraw AI, production company Digitonaut along with director Jean-Baptiste Martinoli have fused these computer creations together to bring us a message from a galaxy far, far away – not that one; it's a different one. Captain Daria is a future human on the starship something or other which has a weird name that wasn't made clear. She's received an Extraterrestrial Message from an alien whose name sounds an awful lot like Oreo, but probably isn't. He comes from the planet Multiformi, which sounds suspiciously Latin for a world that's so distant from Earth that we could never reach it, and it resides in the blah-de-blah galaxy which again has a name that can't be made clear. He wants to show us some holiday snaps from his homeworld and is eager for us to see the incredible beauty and impressive technology that exists there. It kinda just feels like he's boasting, to be honest. What follows is a quick fly-through of the best bits of Multiformi as Oreo and his sidekick narrate just what gets their alien juices going. There's some expansive explorer/adventurer music blaring all the time as the images play, and everything is all gushingly beautiful, but in terms of story or anything else, that's your lot I'm afraid. This short is only three minutes long and because of its absence of any sort of plot, it's not really a film at all but more of a showreel for what the technology can do. It's all very nice and a real eye-opener for anyone who's not come across this sort of AI before, but just showing a series of nice images does not a film make. In the age of Avatar (2009) it's nice to see that the common man can now also have the opportunity to create their own Poundland virtual worlds, but by all accounts it looks like come Christmas time ole Jim-boy Cameron is going to blow all this stuff back out of the water and we're all going to need to start again. Buy UKFR Banner Space About the Film Critic William Hemingway Digital / DVD Release, Short Film < All Reviews Next Film Review >

Small Time film review by UK film critic Christie Robb. Starring Audrey Grace Marshall directed by Niav Conty. HOME | FILMS | REVIEWS Small Time Film Review average rating is 4 out of 5 Critic: Christie Robb | Posted on: Nov 10, 2021 Directed by: Niav Conty Written by: Niav Conty Starring: Audrey Grace Marshall Writer/director Naiv Conty certainly does not look back on childhood with a rose colored tint. Her film Small Time follows elementary school student Emma as she pinballs around from unfit home to unfit home. It’s an emotionally honest portrait of neglect that keeps us uncomfortably aware of the tightrope Emma is unaware that she is walking. She’s constantly suspended above disaster—one overlooked gas stove, one loaded handgun, one move from a leering perv away from lasting trauma. But Emma’s still sustaining damage all the time, just in tinier, more banal, ways. Hard-core drug and alcohol abuse by the adults around her is a normal part of her life. She’s loaded up with religious baggage. She’s expected to parent the grown-ups in her life. In the whole movie, no one is there to give her a cuddle or reassurance that looks like it is going to truly have a positive effect. But most of the adults do seem to be doing their best. It’s just that their best isn’t that great. You know you are in for a heavy film when, only 13 minutes in, your pint-sized heroine has attended her primary caregiver’s funeral and tried repeatedly to “wake up” her mom from an OD. Still, Emma is a scrappy, upbeat, smart little thing, her interior light dimmed surprisingly little by the shit she has to deal with. Audrey Grace Marshall plays her very straightforwardly. There’s nothing saccharine about her, nothing overwrought. She takes things as they come. The movie plays a little bit with the timeline and shows events somewhat out of order. This didn’t become clear to me until relatively far into the film. It was filmed over a three-and-a-half-year period to give Marshall time to grow and mature between the three major periods depicted. These chronological jumps are not clearly signaled by musical or obvious visual cues so it can be a bit disorienting. But the lack of exposition does center us in Emma’s experience as she flashes back to previous experiences and tries to make the best of the terrible hand she’s been dealt. Small Time isn’t an easy film to watch, but it’s a good one. Buy UKFR Banner Space About the Film Critic Christie Robb Digital / DVD Release, Indie Feature Film < All Reviews Next Film Review >

Frankenstein film review by UK film critic Jack Salvadori. Starring Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, Mia Goth directed by Guillermo del Toro. HOME | FILMS | REVIEWS Frankenstein Film Review average rating is 2 out of 5 Critic: Jack Salvadori | Posted on: Aug 30, 2025 Directed by: Guillermo del Toro Written by: Guillermo del Toro Starring: Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, Mia Goth Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein is the cinematic equivalent of watching a child let loose in a toy shop: you can’t deny the glee, but you can question whether he actually needed all the toys. This is clearly his passion project, his gothic playground, his shrine to Mary Shelley. And while it’s undeniable that he adores the aesthetics (he probably stuffed his living room with most the props), perhaps one shouldn’t play so lovingly with one’s heroes. Sometimes devotion smothers invention. The film is slavishly faithful to the book, at least at first, quoting Shelley verbatim like a student too nervous to paraphrase. But in its eagerness to cram the entire novel into two and a half dense hours, the film never gets the chance to breathe. The protagonists, played by Oscar Isaac as the mad scientist and Jacob Elordi as his revitalised creature, speak in solemn Victorian maxims that clang on screen like museum plaques. And that leads to a vast, creaking cliché, strangely devoid of original touch. We have the classic, as well as countless remakes… did we really need yet another version that has nothing to add? Worse still, del Toro snips out one of the novel’s most vital beats: the creature’s murder of a child. Not for pacing, not for brevity, but seemingly out of reluctance to stain his beloved monster. While the trick worked with arguably all his previous works, the dedication to sympathise with the monster is, quite frankly, redundant in Frankenstein. Without that act of brutality, the creature loses his contradictions, his tragic duality. He becomes a simplistic hollow statue of sorrow, robbed of the layers Shelley carved into him. So what we’re left with is just stuffed flesh: a lifeless, decomposed work, dead at birth. A Frankenstein film so interested in the aesthetics of thunderstorms and steampunk mechanics that, ironically, forgets to spark itself alive. Buy UKFR Banner Space About the Film Critic Jack Salvadori Theatrical Release < All Reviews Next Film Review >

Fishtank film review by UK film critic James Learoyd. Starring Tiffany Chu, Isaac Jay directed by Wendi Tang. HOME | FILMS | REVIEWS Fishtank Film Review average rating is 5 out of 5 Critic: James Learoyd | Posted on: Aug 2, 2024 Directed by: Wendi Tang Written by: Wendi Tang Starring: Tiffany Chu, Isaac Jay There’s a unique poetry to Wendi Tang’s near-perfect new drama Fishtank which is slightly difficult to define. It’s a film as hypnotic as it is absurd; sincere as it is painful, and deeply introspective from beginning to end. Centred around the character of Jules (played excellently by Tiffany Chu), this 17-minute short is a strikingly perceptive examination of a woman’s life following alcohol addiction, and the bizarre, metaphorically imbued occurrence that’s taken over her life since being sober. What might that occurrence be, you ask? Well, poor Jules has been vomiting up goldfish for some time now and thought best to take care of her new-found friends by keeping them in the titular fishtank, of course. It’s an unusual conceit for sure; one bound to put some viewers off – particularly those who aren’t willing to follow a plot whose logic is bound by that of the mind as opposed to the real world. But for those who are willing to submit themselves to the journey will discover that the movie’s dealings in the absurdist provide an affecting, poignant mode of discussion. Allow us to get the obvious out the way. In terms of audio and visuals, this piece is exemplary. A lot of my love for Fishtank starts with its gorgeous look - the cinematography really never puts a foot wrong. It has a wonderfully soft, vibrant, grainy, film feel about it; operating subtly, but veering into the expressionistic when called for. This must be one of the most beautiful looking shorts I've seen in a long time, and for that it deserves a great deal of recognition. The film's technical and stylistic sensibilities - extending, of course, to the superb sound design - are astoundingly refined and well-considered throughout. And yet, having praised all this, it is the picture's exploration of its theme as well as the audacious, surreal nature of the narrative which keeps us glued to the screen. This is not a conventional film, and it doesn't care to be; but through that artistic bravery comes some truthful messaging. There are many evocative little details and ideas which elevate the concept from being gimmicky to profound. For instance, you may find that in some ways it's about the experience of having someone else try to fix a person’s trauma for them; the damage that can be caused by playing the hero and disrupting the healing process. Then again, you could also view it as a story about the numb response to big events following the period of substance abuse -- as the protagonist at one point states, "Not everything happens for a reason". Towards the end, a dramatic tonal shift occurs which I can imagine may not go over so well with some audiences; however, when viewing it through the lens of a recovering alcoholic's emotional world and psychological responses, one may find that the movie's sudden darkness rings true. And the important thing is that you have no choice but to admire these big swings, for it certainly feels like a completely original and uncompromised vision. I hope the team who produced the short continue to collaborate together, perhaps even in a range of genres since the craft and ability is so clearly there. Keep an eye out for Fishtank because it’s a rare gem and one of the most powerful short-form works I’ve seen in some time. Buy UKFR Banner Space About the Film Critic James Learoyd Short Film < All Reviews Next Film Review >

The Whisper 2: Natural Connection film review by UK film critic James Learoyd. Starring Simona Rose, Phil Herman, Alicia Hinson directed by Miroslav Petkov. HOME | FILMS | REVIEWS The Whisper 2: Natural Connection Film Review average rating is 3 out of 5 Critic: James Learoyd | Posted on: Dec 30, 2025 Directed by: Miroslav Petkov Written by: Miroslav Petkov, Teddy Nikolova Starring: Simona Rose, Phil Herman, Alicia Hinson The Whisper 2: Natural Connection would appear to the uninitiated as just a run-of-the-mill horror short. It consists of a standard formula – a dark mystery gradually unravels before the protagonist’s eyes as supernatural elements begin to seep into the horror. It has a haunted, wandering vibe; very little dialogue or plot. It then concludes with a ‘shock’ ending of sorts. Pretty normal film, right? – Wrong! This is, in fact, one of apparently three movies made by the same people depicting the same thing. This critic has seen the first short film in this ‘series’ (you’ll notice it’s called The Whisper 2), and according to notes provided by the filmmakers, there is a later feature entitled Whispers . I, for one, find this quite fascinating – particularly when we consider how little story either short contains. We can then surmise that, as opposed to wishing to explore characters or themes deeper, this must be a formal experiment of sorts; a blank genre-based canvas upon which the director can practice camera and editing techniques. And through replication or aesthetic repetition, some form of creative discovery must surely arise – not just for the creatives behind the piece, but potentially for the audience as well... Before deconstructing this further, let us first analyse the piece in isolation. In cinematic terms, the first thing one maybe notices is that – whilst the camera quality and lens-work leaves something to be desired with its low-budget digital feel – the direction itself, and the visual ideas at play, are incredibly effective. There’s some real suspense being forged through camera movement as well as the crafting of perspective, which go hand-in-hand. Quite intelligently, the director knows that to maintain a subjective sensibility, the camera must remain in motion whenever the protagonist is traversing her environment. In the opening sequence, as she observes with terror every ‘missing’ sign in her vicinity, we get a series of immersive shot-reverse-shots. She wanders and the camera wanders with her; we transition to the signs, and instead of a static closeup, the shot adopts a floaty, glancing characteristic. Through this, we remain in the mind of the subject and visually become the character. There’s a bunch of fun visual ideas, much like the one described, sprinkled in throughout. But can more be garnered from these formal flourishes when placing the film in contrast with the original version? – are there further nuances to be found? Having just now rewatched the previous version, I have a couple important observations. While what ‘happens’ is virtually the same, the manner in which the story is told is surprisingly distinctive. The main visual difference is how the original uses a lot of static wide shots, locked down on a tripod. You could argue that this makes the first appear more conventionally professional-looking, but I’d also argue that it makes it less immersive compared to this one. However, there’s a slight suggestion in the first film that some shots are from the perspective of the ghosts, which is unnerving. The latest, on the other hand, completely commits to the ultra-subjective single moving perspective. What a fascinating experiment! Buy UKFR Banner Space About the Film Critic James Learoyd Short Film < All Reviews Next Film Review >

Someone Dies! film review by UK film critic Jason Knight. Starring Joseph Graham, Amy Anderson, John Wessling, Adam Edwards directed by Justin Petty. HOME | FILMS | REVIEWS Someone Dies! Film Review average rating is 4 out of 5 Critic: Jason Knight | Posted on: Jun 20, 2024 Directed by: Justin Petty Written by: Justin Petty Starring: Joseph Graham, Amy Anderson, John Wessling, Adam Edwards Extraordinary things are taking place inside a Houston apartment. In Houston, Texas, Detective Jim Jenkins (Graham) has a problem: he has received a note informing him that his daughter has been kidnapped. In order to get her back, he must go to an unknown apartment and plant a listening device under the kitchen sink. So he goes there, where he ends up meeting Glenn (Wessling), the occupier and Jane (Anderson), who is there for her own affairs. What follows is a great deal of misunderstandings, a lot of drama, a terrible event and time traveling. This feature blends dark comedy with the crime and sci-fi genre. Almost the entire narrative takes place inside the apartment, with Jim, Jane and Glenn interacting with each other and trying to deal with the situation, which becomes more and more dramatic and bizarre. Initially, things between the three protagonists are quite unstable and poor Jim is even assaulted and held captive by the other two. The arrival of Ivan (Edwards), the eccentric landlord, leads to further complications and true to the film's title, someone does end up losing their life. The three main elements that build the narrative are, first of all, Jim's mission to find his daughter, second, the rapport that develops between him and Jane and Glenn and finally, the time traveling investigations, which involve the cupboard underneath the kitchen sink. The performances of the three leads are one of the aspects that make this feature enjoyable. Graham deserves a lot of credit for his over-the-top performance as a naive guy, who constantly wears a headset and is not on good terms with the mother of his child. Wessling plays a man who is rather childish and not too bright while Anderson portrays the only character who is sensible and does not behave in eccentric ways. Another thing that this feature has going for it is Petty's funny and interesting screenplay. The plot certainly attracts attention and there is plenty of dark humour and also some toiler humour. An example of the humour would be the part that involves a dead body being ignored by the three protagonists. Cinematographer Michael Langhausen creates a look for the film that gives it a sort of grindhouse feeling. Petty also worked on the editing and is quite creative with the split screen and wipe techniques and also with the fast cutting sections that involve close-ups. Interestingly, there is a point where the feature suddenly turns into a music video. This part feels awkward, yet one should still acknowledge the creativity and the fact that the song is amusing. This feature is basically a dark comedy about a kidnapping that turns into a story about time traveling. Top enjoyment can be found in the dark humour (for viewers who are in to that) and in the entertaining performances. Buy UKFR Banner Space About the Film Critic Jason Knight Indie Feature Film < All Reviews Next Film Review >

Night of the Tommyknockers film review by UK film critic Jason Knight. Starring Richard Grieco, Jessica Morris, Angela Cole, Robert LaSardo, Tom Sizemore, Michael Beran directed by Michael Su. HOME | FILMS | REVIEWS Night of the Tommyknockers Film Review average rating is 3 out of 5 Critic: Jason Knight | Posted on: Nov 17, 2022 Directed by: Michael Su Written by: Rolfe Kanefsky Starring: Richard Grieco, Jessica Morris, Angela Cole, Robert LaSardo, Tom Sizemore, Michael Beran Regarding the title, it should be mentioned that this feature is not related to Stephen King's book The Tommyknockers . This is a comedy horror Western survival film. The plot takes place during the late 19th century. A band of outlaws robs a bank and finds out about a town called Deer Creek, where there is a mine nearby that has gold. The gang go there, with the law in pursuit. Once there, they find the place deserted and realise that something is terribly wrong. Horrible creatures known as 'Tommmyknockers', who live inside the mines, have overtaken the area and are devouring people. Having found themselves in a life-threatening situation, the robbers must collaborate with the remaining survivors if they are to make it through this alive. This is an enjoyable movie with plenty of action and humour that combines the Western genre with horror comedy. The narrative begins as horror, with miners being killed by the monsters, then switches to Western for a while, with a bank robbery and a shootout, before going back to horror, with the deadly entities attacking the town. There are quite a few characters, however there is not a main character, with the focus going from one person to the other. Some characters who stand out are Dirk (Grieco), the leader of the gang, Betsy (Cole), the only woman in the gang, Marshal Steed (Sizemore) and Lucky (LaSardo), a member of the gang. There are plenty of fights between people and the monsters, with guns or melee weapons being used in order to fight them. There is a lot of gore and some gruesome scenes, where victims are torn apart by the creatures. As one character after the other is killed, one wonders who (if anyone) will be the survivor. The mise-en-scene is rather interesting and contains elements that are often seen in Westerns and horror. Regarding Westerns, the clothing looks great and so do the firearms and buildings. For horror, the Tommyknockers look horrible and terrifying and they are arguably the highlight of the film. They have sharp teeth and their appearance generally resembles that of zombies. A lot of praise goes to the creativity that was applied to the monsters and to the makeup involving wounds. The acting is not realistic, however that does not damage the movie a lot, as this is also a comedy and although few characters come across as likeable, the performances are entertaining nevertheless. The feature gains from tense music, interesting lighting techniques and special mention goes to the cool opening credits, that consist of a creative montage, accompanied by a great score. To summarise, this is a Cowboys versus Monsters movie and an enjoyable one too. The story is intriguing, the fight scenes are entertaining and the creatures look great. Buy UKFR Banner Space About the Film Critic Jason Knight Indie Feature Film < All Reviews Next Film Review >

Film news - West Side Story In Cinemas December 2021. Find out more at UK Film Review. West Side Story In Cinemas December 2021 Chris Olson Wednesday, July 28, 2021 at 11:02:44 AM GMT+1 West Side Story - in Cinemas 2021 From acclaimed director Steven Spielberg, the 2021 remake of West Side Story will be coming to cinemas in December 2021. 20th Century Studios recently released this special look at the film, teasing audiences with what's to come. Fans of West Side Story will obviously be eager to see what this 2021 version does with the 1957 musical, which is all to do with forbidden love and gang rivalry. Fans of Spielberg will also be excited to see how he approaches the film, especially given the filmmaker's remarkable catalogue which does not include full-on musicals. Stay tuned for more information about the West Side Story cinema release, especially in the UK where cinemas being able to stay open is still hit and miss with the current COVID pandemic. If all goes to plan, film fans will have a lot to sing about if doors can stay open. The King's Man UK Home Release Date Announced The Latest King’s Man Film Will be Available on Digital February 9 and 4K Ultra HD™, Blu-ray™ and DVD on February 21. Read Now BFI Future Film Festival announces 2022 Awards Jury and full programme Find out who the jury is for the 2022 BFI Future Film Festival. Read Now The Wonderful: Stories From The Space Station UK Release Date The Wonderful: Stories from the Space Station is a Dog Star Films production in association with Fisheye Films. Directed by Clare Lewins (I Am Ali, Kareem: Minority of One, The Lost Tapes of Memphis.). Read Now Redemption of a Rogue UK Cinema Release Date Read Now Cryptozoo Coming to Mubi This October Having made a splash at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, filmmaker Dash Shaw's upcoming fantasy animation Cryptozoo is a highly anticipated film coming to Mubi later this year. Read Now Another Round UK DVD And Blu-Ray Release Date Announced Following its acclaimed cinema release, STUDIOCANAL are excited to announce the release of Thomas Vinterberg’s intoxicating Oscar winner, ANOTHER ROUND, starring Mads Mikkelsen, on early EST 24th September 2021 and DVD, Blu-ray and Digital on 27th September 2021. Read Now Marvel Studios Announces Black Widow DVD and Blu-Ray UK Release Date Marvel Studios Announces Black Widow To Land Early On Digital (August 10th) and 4K, Blu-Ray and DVD September 13th. Read Now My Little Sister Gets October UK Release Date My Little Sister is due for a cinema release in the UK, on Friday 8th October 2021. Read Now Grimmfest Reveals Line-Up for 2021 Film Festival After a year of “home invasions” in the form of virtual screenings and online events, this October sees Grimmfest returning to the cinema at last. Read Now Helen Mirren Narrates Powerful Documentary Escape From Extinction Kaleidoscope Entertainment presents Escape From Extinction, a powerful feature documentary narrated by Academy Award winner Dame Helen Mirren, coming to selected cinemas from 17th September celebrating ‘Great Big Green Week’ (18-26 September). Read Now Supernova UK DVD and Blu-Ray Release Date Following critical acclaim and standout performances, STUDIOCANAL are excited to announce the release of the heartbreaking British love story SUPERNOVA, arriving on EST 24th September 2021 and DVD and Blu-ray on 27th September 2021. Read Now The Djinn UK Release Date The story follows a mute twelve-year-old, Dylan Jacobs, as he discovers a mysterious book of spells inside his new apartment. Read Now Come Play UK Digital Release Date Jacob Chase’s directorial debut feature COME PLAY tells the story of Oliver, a solitary autistic boy who comes across a creepy children’s story on his new tablet. Read Now 15m Giant Starfish in Leicester Square Ahead of UK Release of The Suicide Squad British actor Peter Capaldi (BBC’s Doctor Who, World War Z) ‒ who stars in THE SUICIDE SQUAD alongside Margot Robbie, Idris Elba and John Cena as genius scientist ‘Thinker’, was bravely photographed with the imposing creature Starro in London’s Leicester Square earlier today in celebration of the film’s UK release this coming Friday. Read Now West Side Story In Cinemas December 2021 From acclaimed director Steven Spielberg, the 2021 remake of West Side Story will be coming to cinemas in December 2021. Read Now The Last Job UK Digital and DVD Release Date Screen icon Richard Dreyfuss takes on The Last Job in a brand new, all-action thriller, that stars Modern Family’s Mira Sorvino as his daughter. This rip-roaring gangster movie hits the UK on DVD and digital this August from 101 Films. Read Now Rise of the Footsoldier Origins UK Cinema Release The eagerly-awaited RISE OF THE FOOTSOLDIER: ORIGINS, starring legendary leading man Vinnie Jones, is showing exclusively in cinemas from September 3, courtesy of Signature Entertainment. Read Now Random Acts of Violence UK DVD and Blu-ray Release Date Jay Baruchel writes, directs and stars in his horror debut Random Acts of Violence, which makes its UK Blu-ray debut from Acorn Media International in conjunction with Shudder, following its success on the streaming service. Read Now Spirited Away 20th Anniversary Special Edition SPIRITED AWAY COLLECTOR’S BOXSET WITH DVD & BLU-RAY DOUBLEPLAY AVAILABLE 27 SEPTEMBER 2021 Read Now A New World Order Premieres in UK 23 August Black Mirror meets A Quiet Place in gripping sci-fi thriller A New World Order from director Daniel Raboldt in his feature debut, which gets its UK premiere on DVD and digital 23 August 2021 from Reel 2 Reel Films. Read Now

Pause (Music Video) film review by UK film critic James Learoyd. Starring 'Outpost 3' directed by Dan Skelt. HOME | FILMS | REVIEWS Pause (Music Video) Film Review average rating is 4 out of 5 Critic: James Learoyd | Posted on: Apr 14, 2025 Directed by: Dan Skelt Written by: 'Outpost 3' Starring: 'Outpost 3' (Pause is a new song by the band Outpost 3, and the subject of this review is its music video animated by Dan Skelt and Will Lamb) This is an interestingly constructed, stylistically audacious piece which, particularly considering its only three-minute runtime, is well worth your time as a viewer. What transpires in the video is effectively a surrealistic chase-sequence, taking place in a graphic world defined by dramatic reds and stark silhouettes. The eye of a raven, as motif, overlooks the exciting chase like an omniscient yet ambivalent entity – bookending the succinct narrative. Meanwhile, occasionally intercut and also silhouetted are the bandmembers performing – seemingly within their own liminal, animated world defined purely by colour and shape. The look and feeling crafted by the animators is of a high-quality. Its potent impact on an audience can be attributed to its bold nature; jagged outlines and saturated tones overwhelm the eye in the best way. While the visuals are digital and often quite simple texturally, there also comes a pleasing handmade sensibility in its arrangement. For instance, the aesthetic is two-dimensional and makes little attempt to stretch beyond this. It’s very much a strength because the filmmakers have turned a limitation, in terms of workforce and financing, into an integral artistic characteristic. When it comes to the movement of the figures in the story – while one can tell that this is no expansive production – the motion does give you a genuine sense of physicality and propulsion. This is a fantastic effort on the part of the animators. Now we must move onto the song itself, which is really the primary purpose of a music video. In very simplistic terms, the hard-rock sound of the track evokes a positive musical chaos. As subjective as it is, I’d say that it’s a good song with definitively strong sound production supporting it. The crazed, euphoric collage of overlapping sound – the intense, fast-paced percussion, the virtuosic electric guitar, and of course the terrific 80s-sounding vocals – all make the record a hit in my eyes. Looking at the whole product, there’s certainly an underground temperament which plays in the band’s favour. The viewer witnesses a personal work of art; not just personal in terms of the lyrics or message, but in terms of the effort behind the craft. Let’s surmise that a music video, besides being a delivery system for the song in question, should ideally provide some sort of evocative or pleasing accompaniment to what the spectator is hearing. Additionally, a great music video may opt to place the technical aspects of the images in contrast with what we are hearing, leading us to focus on how the two operate in tandem. In Pause , the vividness and aggressiveness of the picture matches the tone and tempo of the song being performed. And to state the obvious, the visuals are just as ‘loud’ as the music. This signals a clear sense of cohesion within the piece; a great music video with a real understanding of drama and style. Buy UKFR Banner Space About the Film Critic James Learoyd Animation < All Reviews Next Film Review >

Soft film review by UK film critic Joe Beck. Starring Harry Walters, David Carrozzo, Julia Leyland directed by Benedict Webb. HOME | FILMS | REVIEWS Soft Film Review average rating is 4 out of 5 Critic: Joe Beck | Posted on: Mar 2, 2023 Directed by: Benedict Webb Written by: Benedict Webb Starring: Harry Walters, David Carrozzo, Julia Leyland Ah, daddy issues. Where would cinema be without them. Those complex father-child relations have greatly influenced the medium, from practically anything from Spielberg’s oeuvre to Daniel Day Lewis’ ‘I ABANDONED MY CHILD’ and the most famous line of all - ‘I am your father’ in Toy Story 2. ‘Soft’ doesn’t see such a dynamic played out on an intergalactic scale (in reality it rarely ever is), and is instead a much more subtle, sombre meditation, often impressive, but never immersive. Interestingly, and perhaps wisely, we only see the father-son relationship in ‘Soft’ through the adolescent lens of Jaden (Harry Walters), a shy teenager with a world-weary face harbouring many pent-up emotions. We assume that his father walked away when he was one, with the film light on details and exposition, also wisely, Benedict Webb’s direction, and the subtleties of Walter’s face to convey unspoken emotions. Equally, this lack of clarity regarding the true extent of Jaden’s father’s absence gives room for different interpretations on the events of the film, making the film feel more personal to the viewer, able to base his absence, and the resultant long-pronounced feelings of detachment on individual circumstances and events. It’s a tactfully light script, one which feels better for the lack of drawn-out emotional outbursts, and which allows Webb to demonstrate his directorial flair. Webb firmly establishes Jaden’s lack of confidence through the words not spoken, and the sharp close-ups of the sullen, withdrawn look on his face. Coupled with his meekness, which steadily subsides as the film progresses, and reluctance to contradict those around him, we are given a view of how his father’s absence, and his refusal to accept another father figure to act as a role model, has created a shell of a young man, shy when he should be filled with the unabashed confidence of youth. The flair of Webb’s direction is similarly effective in asserting Jaden’s isolation, often placed as a small presence in the comparatively large expanse of his room. As the camera zooms carefully in on the troubled markings of his face we see a teenager in desperate need of a hug, unable to move on from the absence of his father despite his mother’s (Julia Leyland) insistence that he try. The issue is that the film never quite manages to bridge the admittedly narrow gap between Jaden’s isolation and lack of confidence, and the issues of masculinity and identity it wishes to broach. In fact, masculinity and identity are rather oddly better approached in the albeit brief depiction of Jaden’s step-father (David Carrozzo), struggling to establish the nature of his relationship with Jaden with the knowledge that he will likely never quite be the father Jaden is missing. Similarly, regarding identity, as Jaden brashly states ‘what would you know about being a man’, and we realise that he is in fact the embodiment of what a man should be. He has the best interests of those he loves at heart, and that should be the depiction of masculinity which we should all aim to fulfil. Nevertheless, ‘Soft’ is a good film, an impressive presentation of isolation and a teenager’s loss of confidence through Benedict Webb’s firm direction and a nuanced performance from its star Harry Walters. But it’s the script, in its subtlety that caters for everything that comes with it, with its soft nature, if you will, reflective of the absent space left by Jaden’s father, and giving greater room for the direction and performance to probe deeper. Buy UKFR Banner Space About the Film Critic Joe Beck Short Film < All Reviews Next Film Review >