Directed by Cris John David Manero Starring Eduard Trumata, Claire Castillon, David Shem Calida, Short Film Review by Evie Brudenall Teenage years are often the most confusing, turbulent, distressing and wonderful of a person’s life and writer/director Cris John David Manero’s short film Vorfreude attempts to snapshot all of these emotions in a story presents many questions. Claire, David and Ed are three teenagers, all with deep insecurities and the desire for validation from their peers – and even from themselves. As they wrestle with these intense and complicated emotions, their lives intertwine on their journeys to self acceptance. Firstly, Claire wonders through voice-over (all character thoughts are expressed exclusively by voice-over narration) what it would be like to love a life where she wasn’t reliant upon crutches. Shot in a vignette style, we see Claire running freely and cycling through the park as he inner most dreams are realised on screen. Her classmates cruelly mock her condition and she is rendered an outcast. Meanwhile, David has found himself on the undesirable end of unrequited love and Ed is experiencing a quarter life crisis; he didn’t achieve Valedictorian status, thus falling short of the high expectations he had of himself. His perceived failure leads Ed down a dark and suicidal path and he attempts to take his own life. However, Ed’s attempt is seemingly unsuccessful and he finds himself washed up on the shore, although he seems no closer to clarity as he resolves to cause harm to Claire, who secured the honour of Valedictorian over him, so she cannot deliver her speech at the ceremony – if he can’t have the title, no one can. Before he can enact his plan, Claire is hit by a passing motorcycle and Ed has a change of heart, making the decision to save her. Eventually, he meets David who has been battered and bruised by his father after he discovered his son’s sexuality. It’s at this point that the three separate narrative strands finally coalesce and our three characters who drive the story cross paths. However, their union seems clumsily pulled together, as do other elements of Vorfreude. During several scenes, there are heavy implications of the supernatural which is never explicitly confirmed and the poetic dialogue only exacerbates the ambiguity in addition to the abrupt music fades and fades to black that acts as distinctions between the three characters’ storylines. Ultimately, Vorfreude’s ambitious three-hander is supported by interesting ideas and adequate performances but suffers at the hands of its inability to convey an understandable narrative and deliver a logical conclusion. #ShortFilmReviews #ShortFilms #EvieBrudenall #CrisJohnDavidManero #ComingOfAge #EduardTrumata #ClaireCastillon #DavidShemCalida

Directed by Harry Plowden Starring Joe Pass, Olivia Hodson and Kalina Kolchevska Short Film Review by Daniel Reason Social anxiety is, unfortunately, something that affects many. Due to that anxiety, the most mundane of tasks can seem like a difficult one because of the potential for interaction with others. When one has little confidence in oneself, what they consider to be “bad” about themselves can have a massive impact on how they communicate with new people. Harry Plowden aims to demonstrate how even the most usual of things can trigger a reaction in his short film, Self Conscious. What makes Self Conscious so strange is that its biggest strength is also its main weakness. As it focuses purely on this one event, it doesn’t offer much more than that, which prevents any real need to re-watch it. Of course, Harry Plowden’s aim wasn’t to create a detailed character study or structured narrative, but to spread awareness of what can have an affect on people with anxiety – and he achieves this incredibly well. Smartly, when we follow this young man (played by Joe Pass), it is slow, creating a build-up, which in turn makes us aware of his thoughts, even before walking pass others. The sound is drowned out, the laughter is in the background as his deep breathing gets louder – it does an excellent job at getting us in his head. The animation that occurs further displays the reaction within his mind, as it twitches and sparks. It acts like an examination of his appearance by exaggerating certain features, like sores/spots on his face. Despite its simplicity, Self Conscious achieves its aim well. It gives a clear understanding of what it can be like for those who have problems with social anxiety or have very low confidence in themselves. It is, therefore, quite useful, as it teaches others to think about the people around us – we do not know what state of mind they are in, and we must respect one another – a strong message that Plowden has fit into around 35 seconds. #ShortFilmReviews #ShortFilms #DanielReason #HarryPlowden #JoePass #OliviaHodson #KalinaKolchevska

Directed by Dylan Nanayakkara Short Film Review by Amaliah S. Marmon-Halm Gentle, yet upbeat jazz. The rally cry of the Gran Transnational Fire Brigade from 1889 is displayed on a black screen. Each exclamation point in the extract seems to allude to the sense of urgency that the film, Belevedere (aka The Timely Demise of the Bourgeois: A Visual Poem) is trying put across. A man describes the beauty of a faraway island. All these aspects set the scene for what could be an incredibly meaningful piece of film. Contrasting black and white scenes and a gentle piano track guide the viewer through a journey of comparisons. Shots of nature and technology, animals, people worshiping – whether it be a deity or technology, mass cities and tranquil landscapes. There seems to be a want to focus on the relationships between what we hold of highest importance. Waste and decay, to people having fun, drinking, dancing, the high life and downtrodden and entwined together. Production-wise, it seems to be a little on the basic side. Some shots seeming to lack focus and shake to the point that it tends to distract from the beauty of the content. Considering this is a visual poem, you would expect there to be more care and attention in the cinematography, to avoid any mistakes which could cause distractions for the viewer. The piano piece that plays throughout the film is ‘Una Mattina’ by Ludovico Einaudi, and is one of the few aspects that cannot be faulted. It is a beautifully tranquil piece and does well to elevate Belvedere as a film, especially during the slightly more distressing scenes of poverty and destruction. The film simply ends with a message – ‘for those affected by the mass flooding of 2016, residing in the Ambatalle district still clawing to recover their lives’. A simple statement with such a heavy meaning. Disasters occur all the time and it is always important to remember the hardships that people face. At its core, this a film with wonderful, thought-provoking content but unfortunately it suffers from what a film, especially a short film, should never be – it was just a tad boring. Not enough occurred to grip or emotionally tie the audience, apart from a short message at the end. As this was heavily relying on visuals to tell the story, it feels like the idea, the intent is there but the execution needs to be reworked. As with everything, there is room for improvement. #ShortFilmReviews #ShortFilms #AmaliahSMarmonHalm #DylanNanayakkara #abstract #DisasterFilm

Directed by Sophie Black Written by Tommy Draper Cinematography by Christopher Newman Music by Ian Algie and Simon Andrews Starring Janet Devlin, Therese Collins, and Oliver Park Short Film Review by Euan Franklin Short fantasies are integral to our culture, primarily in literature with ancient myths and fairytales. Thousands of years later, short fantasy films are looked at with intense trepidation. They’re usually fan-films (the “cinematic” equivalent of fan-fiction), where an unimaginative filmmaker steals a character and/or world from a popular franchise and makes their own shoddy production. It’s hard to recreate Middle-earth or Hogwarts without money or talent. Happily, director Sophie Black has both – creating something short, sweet, and original with her new film Songbird. Jennifer (Janet Devlin) is a shy and talented musician who performs in bars. After one set, she is approached an agent (Oliver Park) who wants to sign her. But when she leaves the bar, she is cornered by an evil witch known only as The Collector (Therese Collins), who steals Jennifer’s voice – turning her into a mute. Jennifer has to find a way to take her voice back. Not only is this short a fantasy, it has a “musical” label attached. My unfounded pre-judgements wondered whether Black was ambitious or stupid to make a “fantasy musical” within 15 minutes. The short only has two songs, probably not enough to consitute a musical. But they’re good enough to feature in one. The lyrics are beautiful, and Devlin’s singing voice (featured on The X-Factor in 2011) possesses a lovely Northern Irish twang. The background score, composed by Ian Algie and Simon Andrews, follows the character’s indie style through the film with a quality and consistency rarely heard in low-budget shorts. There are moments that feel too circumstancial, providing easy answers for Jennifer in the quest to find her voice. This reduces the potential for more conflict, but does fit with the dream-like element of the fantasy unfolding before us – elevated by the impressively-crafted CGI and Christopher Newman’s bright and glossy cinematography. We are happy to go wherever Jennifer takes us. There are a few lines in Tommy Draper’s script that feel ripped out of an A-Level Media Studies project – clichéd and out-of-place – and we’re not given enough insight into Jennifer as a character. We only know that she’s a talented singer, she has a mother, and she’s shy. I respect the effort to keep the film under 15 minutes, but even little moments of character-exploration would’ve made Jennifer’s journey more engaging. There are also times when we can see the lack of budget personified in the witch’s character. The make-up is well-administered, appearing like a gargoyle-coloured creature, but the lighting doesn’t make it look genuine – like Collins has been to an expensive face-painting stall. However, it’s not worse than the falseness of the witch’s long nails – stuck-on and made of plastic. The detail is good, and it’s nice how Black cuts to her hand as Jennifer is performing, but the cheapness is overwhelming. But Songbird is a nice, enjoyable fairytale with an engaging central performance from Devlin, who creates genuine humanity within a world of fantasy. Black has avoided the fan-film hole, and made a film small enough to suit the budget and absorbing enough to catch our imaginations. Let’s hope she glosses our cinema-screens in the future. #EuanFranklin #Songbird #SophieBlack #TommyDraper #JanetDevlin #ThereseCollins #OliverPark #Fantasy #Musical #Fairytale

Written and Directed by Guillermo Peña Sánchez Starring Eleanore Knox, Jamila Hall, Donna Randall, Mara Jean Quinn, Oscar Bishop, Estelle Healy Short Film Review by Chris Olson As the title suggests, Guillermo Peña Sánchez's short film Cheat Happens is a tongue-in-cheek take on promiscuity in the modern world. Tackling such issues as: is it cheating if the bloke wears a condom? And, as long as everyone is happy, does it really matter how many lady gardens get watered? Eleanore Knox plays the lead role of Ashley, a catholic schoolgirl who is seeking absolution, or at least some semblance of reassurance, having recently cheated on her choirboy boyfriend (Oscar Bishop). First trying the pious clarity of Sister Muriel (Estelle Healy), a rather open-minded devotee of the church whose vibrating crucifix does raise cause for concern, and then her morally-dubious friend Stephanie (Jamila Hall) for advice, Ashley becomes increasingly anxious about her indiscretion. Furthermore, she finds few words of wisdom from her mother (Donna Randall), who only muddies the waters of Ashley's parentage and regales her with anecdotes of historic orgies. Adult in the loosest sense of the word, Cheat Happens is also tawdry but in an entertaining way. The vulgar humour and cheap laughs are enough to keep the audience smirking for the ten minute run time, but I doubt much more than that. The short film was visually vibrant and contained some nicely framed scenes. The sequence in the Sister's office was particularly well shot and provided an engaging entryway into the movie. The use of flashback was also impressive, at one point one or two of the orgy members hold up cardboard ice cream cones which was a remarkable way of reflecting the shallow tone of the themes being explored whilst providing a striking visual spectacle. Knox was an efficient lead, lending a decent degree of depth and gravitas to an otherwise sugary story. Her exploration into her own character's morality, and how this evolved over the course of the short film, felt genuine and convincing. The other performers were comparatively less convincing, but did provide copious amounts of innuendo and pseudo wisdom. By examining a topic such as faithfulness, writer and director Guillermo Peña Sánchez opts for a direct yet trivial approach. His theme gets explored with a comic aloofness that, whilst at times very funny, does have a habit of undermining any intelligent or compelling social commentary to be made. The result is a kitsch comedy with plenty of salacious dialogue and cheeky characters, that, much like the idea explored in the film, will quickly evaporate any sense of involvement or culpability as long as you don't think on it too much. #ShortFilmReviews #ShortFilms #ChrisOlson #Comedy #GuillermoPeñaSánchez #EleanoreKnox #JamilaHall #DonnaRandall #MaraJeanQuinn #OscarBishop #EstelleHealy

★★★ Directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi Starring Hana Sugisaki/Ruby Barnhill, Ryûnosuke Kamiki/Louis Ashbourne Serkis, Fumiyo Kohinata/Jim Broadbent, Yûki Amami/Kate Winslet Film Review by Matt Weiner There’s something about the helpless awkwardness of growing up that guarantees the enduring appeal of magic. Mary and the Witch’s Flower taps into that spirit with appealing grace. And it’s a promising first feature from Studio Ponoc, home to a Studio Ghibli diaspora that formed after the venerable Japanese animation studio announced a production break back in 2014. When a walk in the woods leads to a chance encounter with special flowers, Mary (voiced by Ruby Barnhill in the English language version) gains temporary magical powers. Her broomstick whisks her away to the magical college Endor, which looks about like if Hogwarts put down stakes in Spirited Away. Mistaken for a witch and propped up by the magical flowers (apparently the PEDs of the wizarding world), Mary is deemed a prodigy by the excited school faculty. She soon learns she’s not the only one interested in those flowers, and outsider or not it will be up to her to save magic for everyone. Director Hiromasa Yonebayashi, Ghibli veteran and Oscar nominee for When Marnie Was There, keeps the visual charm turned up throughout the film—a good thing, given that his script (co-written by Riko Sakaguchi and based on a children’s novel by Mary Stewart) lacks the heft of a typical Ghibli film. For adult viewers, Yonebayashi’s light touch can be a bit too light. Mary, with her wild hair and strong will, is a charming stand-in for kids, but her hero’s journey will be instantly familiar. Endor professors Madam Mumblechook and Doctor Dee (Kate Winslet and Jim Broadbent) exude sinister charm, but the rest of the sparse supporting roles don’t have much to add beyond perfunctory plot points. These are minor complaints though. And the animation, especially the magical set pieces that test Mary’s mettle, makes up the difference. The film offers up a fully-formed magical world with smart visual economy over exposition (cough Fantastic Beasts cough). Mary’s determination is contagious, and even if her saving the day is inevitable it’s impossible not to feel moved by the choices she makes to get there. For all the magic that infuses Endor, Doctor Dee was on the right track when he told Mary that electricity is just another form of magic. If Mary and the Witch’s Flower doesn’t always have the preternatural spirit that animates the best of Studio Ghibli, it’s a delightful visual successor even when it’s working a little harder to keep the spark alive. #HiromasaYonebayashi #HanaSugisaki #RubyBarnhill #RyûnosukeKamiki #LouisAshbourneSerkis #FumiyoKohinata #JimBroadbent #YûkiAmami #KateWinslet #MattWeiner #animation #anime #familyfilms #movies #film #entertainment #moviereviews #StudioPonoc #StudioGhibli #RikoSakaguchi #MaryStewart

★★★ Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra Starring Liam Neeson, Vera Farmiga, Patriick Wilson, Jonathan Banks, Sam Neill, and Elizabeth McGovern Film Review by Niall Maggs The Commuter stars Liam Neeson as an ex-cop who is caught up in a criminal conspiracy when he is taking the train home. Joanna (Vera Farmiga) offers him a deal which could be the difference between life and death. Neeson in the lead role of a film is always a good thing, and in The Commuter there is no break in the pattern. He utilizes his charisma and style to create a cool, badass character. He can always portray the tough guy, and in this film he does it very well. He’s also believably tough, which is important. The audience feel more of a connection to the character if he’s realistic and believable, which is why Neeson really works as the lead role in The Commuter. However he’s not overpowering either, so you genuinely feel like he might die any second, therefore you’re more concerned for the character and anxious to see what happens next. Vera Farmiga is also very good as the lead female. Her character comes across as soft, but you can tell she’s very intimidating and smart. She makes a perfect villain because of this, as you know she can switch from a lovely, warm person, to a complete psycho in a matter of seconds. The confrontations between her and Michael (Neeson) are very tense because of how intimidating and menacing she can become. However, Farmiga has very little screen time, and The Commuter would’ve benefited immensely from having her more. A lot of people were expecting Non-Stop 2 because of the teaming of Neeson and Collet-Serra again, however it’s not as similar as you would think. It works quite well as a standalone action film, and one that doesn’t need a sequel… But because it’s 2017, and everything that comes out is a sequel or remake, I’m sure in a couple of years there will be The Commuter 2: Under Siege on a Boat… Again! The direction is just about decent. The storytelling is very clichéd and samey; you can pin point exactly what is going to happen in the next five minutes, however the pacing was surprisingly perfect. It’s slow but thrilling and doesn’t get boring, even though Neeson is on a train for a hundred minutes. The interactions between him and the other commuters are very gripping, it’s almost as if you’re trying to work out who the mystery passenger is, along with Neeson. Films like these are great; you get to be a detective and narrow the suspects down. It doesn’t treat the audience like they’re idiots, and knows they can think for themselves to try and guess who it is. But don’t get mixed up, The Commuter is not a detective film, but rather a tense action-thriller with detective tropes and elements alongside it. The use of this suspense and tension works really well due to the number of nail-biting scenes there are towards the end. However the structure is very predictable and obvious, and the third act is a cliché fest full of lazy direction decisions, but that’s not saying the film isn’t enjoyable, because it definitely is! There is also an element of humour, which is brilliantly done. It’s not overused or forced, in fact it’s quite hilarious at times. The jokes are all funny, and none really miss the mark because the film isn’t completely filled to the brim with them. There is the perfect combination of thrills and laughs, to take the audience on an absolute train ride! (pun intended) The tone and tight, claustrophobic feel also works very well, however there are a couple of scenes where he ventures outside of the train which don’t quite click, and they just feel out of place. They seem very forced, but thankfully it’s not a complete disaster when it does happen. The action was pretty good and thrilling. However the cinematography was shockingly bad, constant shaky cam through these scenes. It becomes unclear what’s going on, but this is only during the action sequences, and not during the dialogue scenes. There is also a lack of development for the side characters and it only focuses on Neeson’s character. We learn hardly anything about the other passengers even though the protagonist spends most of the film talking to them! In the end, The Commuter is a cliché cluster-mess which does nothing new for the genre. Most of the characters aren’t interesting, and the climax is predictable (even though it’s satisfying and exciting) However the tension is definitely there, Neeson and Farmiga are brilliant, and the action is exciting. The pacing is also solid, and The Commuter is a more-than-solid action thriller. #FilmReviews #TheatricalReleases #NiallMaggs #JaumeColletSerra #AnthonyGonzalez #LiamNeeson #VeraFarmiga #PatrickWilson #JonathanBanks #SamNeill #ElizabethMcGovern

★★★★ Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson Starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Lesley Manville, Vicky Krieps Film Review by Hope Madden Reynolds Woodcock (Daniel Day-Lewis) sews little treasures into the gowns he makes for the most upper of crusts in 1950s London: little notes, wishes, secrets. It is a connection between the creator and the creation, existing regardless of the audience. In many ways, Woodcock could be a stand-in for writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson, a filmmaker whose work is genius (few would argue) even if there are things about each creation we may not entirely grasp. Phantom Thread may be his most exquisite and least accessible film. Every frame, every elegant sweep of the camera, every jaunty note from Johnny Greenwood’s score says classic glamour. And at the center of this controlled, rhythmic beauty is Daniel Day-Lewis. Hard to go wrong there. Day-Lewis entirely inhabits this character, as you, of course, expect. His Woodcock oscillates between childlike charm and parental dismissiveness, and it’s a beguiling creation: narcissistic but tender, spoiled and selfish but dignified, the epicenter of his universe and yet frighteningly dependent. The conflict here is subtle. While your eyes will not leave Woodcock and his glorious gowns, the remarkable Lesley Manville refuses to escape your notice. Manville plays Woodcock’s sister Cyril, the business brains to balance Reynolds’s creative genius, yin to his yang, Alpha to his Omega. Manville is chilly perfection, her every gesture and expression a conundrum of thoughts and emotions. She keeps this man, this art, this world working. There is one scene in particular—Reynolds loses his temper when his breakfast solitude is broken and she reminds him with clarity and authority exactly who is in charge here. Which brings us, slowly and quietly, to Phantom Thread's actual conflict. Woodcock tires of the muse/model/girlfriend living with him, leaves Cyril to remove the problem and heads into the country for a rest. There he meets his next muse, the lovely German waitress Alma (Vicky Krieps). What follows is an interesting, deeply human, beautifully acted and quite surprising battle for Alpha. And of course, it’s a great deal more than that. Namely, it is a meditation on creation and recreation, on the tricky nature of inspiration, on an artist’s obsession, on the surprising intimacy between creator and creation. #movies #film #entertainment #moviereviews #HopeMadden #DanielDayLewis #PaulThomasAnderson #LesleyManville #VickyKrieps #Oscarcontenders #FilmReviews #TheatricalReleases

★★★ Directed by Dmitrii Kalashnikov Documentary Film Review by Hope Madden This movie is nuts. Russian documentarian Dmitrii Kalashnikov has gathered dashcam footage and assembled it into something fresh, wild and intriguing with The Road Movie. Dashcams are apparently ubiquitous across Russia and Kalashnikov pulls together a smattering of amazing clips to create an image that’s both universal and deeply Russian. If you worry that you’ll basically be viewing a barrage of YouTube clips, don’t. This is a thoughtfully made, smartly paced movie—evidence of a filmmaker with style and authority. Kalashnikov creates a fascinating rhythm, expertly flanking longer pieces with thematic montages. In the lengthier bits we’re privy to the conversation in the car, or maybe the sound of the radio. Both serve to heighten the bat-shit effect of what’s happening onscreen. And while the unbelievably appropriate talk-radio conversation being subtitles onscreen while road rage ensues in front of the windshield is inspired, it’s the often deadpan reactions of drivers that elevate the viewing. Montages offer bursts of linked images, usually set to a jaunty Russian polka or some other weirdly whimsical piece. Sets of clips focused on natural disasters or animals or pedestrians punctuate the longer drives, allowing Kalashnikov to quicken the pace periodically and maintain an energetic cadence. The film also has heart. This is not Faces of Death. There is carnage for sure, but don’t expect a grim bloodbath. Kalashnikov is more interested in the amazing, the weird, the insane—comets crashing, bears running in traffic, a guy with an ax. For all its lunacy, The Road Movie is not a novelty or a trifle. It’s a rock-solid documentary, well-paced and informative. And it is nuts. #DmitriiKalashnikov #HopeMadden #movies #film #documentary #TheRoadMovie #Russianfilms #moviereviews #DocumentaryFilmReviews

Directed and written by Kirstie Austin Starring Eric Lettman, Susan Jude, Bridgette Haviland, Andy Vehon, April Walterscheid Short Film Review by Rachel Pullen Kirstie Austin throws us head first into the world of a neglected child in her new short film Invisible Me, seen through the eyes of the baby, we follow him through the deterioration of his home life and parents. The short starts with a baby alone in his cot, being tended to by his mother in a well kept home, but it’s not long until the surroundings start to change, furniture is sold off, cleaning falls by the wayside, and it’s clear that drug addiction has taken its hold on the parents of this baby. Austin uses narration from the child to guide the audience through the journey, giving us more of an insight into the frame of mind of someone suffering at the hands of neglectful parents, an important move as it creates a sense of character to the child who we never actually see, as Invisible Me is all shot in POV. Invisible Me is a very professional looking short film, but that’s not a surprise. Austin has an already well-established career as a director, writer and producer on a wide range of short films. This experience shines through on this piece of work; camera angles are well thought out to create a sense of reality to the child’s movements, lighting and location make an immediate impact, all coming together to create a sense of hopelessness and despair. One of the most impressive things about Invisible me is the impact it creates with the audience in such a short period of time, something that I have found a lot of filmmakers struggle with when creating a short piece. Invisible Me is atmospheric, gripping and compelling, dragging us through the hell that this child experiences, we are there, invested in the outcome of the welfare of the leading character, feeling the isolation and desperation, in turn creating a sense of empathy which compels our interest as a viewer. Austin has created something that is very hard to achieve, a short film under 15 minutes that creates an emotional impact on its viewer, and that is something that should not be overlooked when examining her film career. #ShortFilmReviews #ShortFilms #RachelPullen #KirstieAustin #EricLettman #SusanJude #BridgetteHaviland #AndyVehon #AprilWalterscheid #Drama

Directed by Stanislav Buevich Starring Joanna Ignaczewska and Matt Roberts Short Film Review by Annie Vincent Largely, our day to day lives are lived in very small ways: we wake up, go about our day and return to sleep again. Patterns and routines emerge and things bump along ‘as usual’ for a while. Even if our days are much more varied and exciting, there is a certain sense of quiet about each person’s life the majority of the time. Then sometimes, something happens which will shift all of that. It will shift the way you live and it shifts your thinking to, and The 4th Dimension, a (very) short film from Stanislav Buevich, aims to explore that. The 4th Dimension captures a conversation between a couple about the fourth dimension: time. It appears to be a fairly mundane, scientific sort of discussion until the female character philosophises over the concept of time and how it applies to life, before revealing some big news. The cinematography in the film is very good. Soft, pink lighting and the white glow through an open window bring an intimacy to the whole film. The close camera work and (slightly sickly) caressing between the couple, played by Ignaczewska and Roberts, presents the clearly loving relationship between the characters. The film was nominated for a Best Cinematography award at the London BFI Film Festival which is well deserved for the film’s consideration of lighting and angles and it is held well throughout the 6.22 minute run-time. However, the script is a little offbeat and whilst its easy to recall a time when something has happened to make us all a little philosophical, the discussion of what the fourth dimension might be and how it might apply to our world is pretty high brow and, towards the end, a little difficult to follow. As a springboard into the news that the female protagonist delivers at the end, it is incredibly peculiar and even now, whilst typing this, I’m unsure how or why the news she wished to share would make this character consider the fourth dimension in this way. The news she shares is life-shifting and exciting and would definitely alter your world view, but reaching out towards scientific theory is unlikely to be a direction many would go in with their thoughts. The technical aspects of this film are good and are convincing, along with the relationship portrayed by the actors, but the motivation behind this highly scientific discussion and indeed the script itself, isn’t completely evident and seems incongruous to the very romantic and realistic relationship we see on screen: audiences may come away wondering what this film was really about. #ShortFilmReviews #ShortFilms #AnnieVincent #StanislavaBuevich #JoannaIgnaczewska #MattRoberts

★★★ Directed by Christian Gudegast Starring Gerard Butler, Pablo Schrieber, O'Shea Jackson, Jr. Film Review by George Wolf They're back, baby! In Den of Thieves, the star and one of the five writers from London Has Fallen are reunited, and it feels...so much better than you are thinking right now. This time, writer Christian Gudegast also takes the director's chair for his debut feature, an ambitious mix of Heat and The Town and maybe a few other heist flicks I'll bring up later. Gerard Butler is Big Nick, an L.A. County sheriff who's a very bad lieutenant. Some cops just got killed in an armored car job, and Nick is pretty sure it's the work of Merriman (Pablo Schreiber). He's right, but the big score is still to come: a master plan to rob the L.A. branch of the Federal Reserve. Amid some surprisingly engaging dialog, Gudegast effectively contrasts the good bad guys and the bad bad guys, slowly laying the groundwork for a final confrontation while getaway driver Donnie (O'Shea Jackson, Jr.) openly works both sides. At 140 minutes, Den of Thieves is at least half an hour too long, bloated with some futile attempts at character development, and a bit tone deaf on police brutality and some other current events. But there is well-plotted tension, some inventive turns among gaps in logic and an Ocean's/Logan Lucky inspired wrap-up that will bring a chuckle. If you enjoyed this Den of Thieves film review, why not let us know? Search @UKFilmReview on Facebook and share the love. #GeorgeWolf #GerardButler #DenofThieves #actionmovies #horrormovies #familyfilms #shortmoviereviews #O39SheaJackson #ChristianGudegast #FilmReviews #TheaticalReleases