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(Release Info London schedule; September 21st, 2018, Genesis Cinema, 21:10) "Climax" 1996, it's just last night. Only they're no cellphones or internet. But the best of  this morning’s music is already there. In France, "Daft Punk' releases their first record, 'La Haine' had just been released in cinemas, and the journal 'Hara- Kiri' is defnitively unable to revive itself. The Massacre of 'The Adepts Of The Solar Temple' is suppressed by the occult forces of the state. The film tells a sticky and haunting story. Selva (Sofia Boutella), David (Romain Guillaume), Lou (Souhala Yacoub), Emmanuelle (Claude Gayan-Maull), Gaselle (Giselle Palmer), Taylor (Taylor Kastle), Ivana (Sharleen Temple), Lea (Lea Vlamo) and Sara (Sarah Belala), a troupe of electro dancers, gathers in an isolated building to prepare a  performance. After their last rehearsal, chaos erupts. Starting from a page-long outline  allows to capture moments of truth and to convey in images this sequence of events  collectively. If you want dancers, actors or non-professionals to express themselves physically and verbally in a chaotic fashion, improvisation is essential.  As for the dancing the dancers are free to express themselves in their own language, often very close to the unconscious, revealing their individual interior turmoil. In dance styles like voguing, waacking or krump, the participants display their physical prowess with a jaw-dropping spontaneity. With the very best dancers, this becomes particularly dazzling. The scenes are shot chronologically to generate both a state of general trust and a spirit  of competition that drove the dancers  towards ever-more psychotic  performances. Contrary to more usual depictions of dance, in which every step is predetermined, to push the protagonists to simulate possessed states like those encountered in ritual trances. Although drugs certainly figure in the story, the idea isn't to depict altered states of perception subjectively through visual effects and sound, but on the contrary, to stick to an external point of view on the characters. To talk about dance is to talk about music. In order to respect the era in which the film is set, the music, whether electrifying or melodious, dates from no later than the mid-90s. Nourished by our multiple experiences of uncontrolled crashes and an atmosphere of delight, the improvisations of the dancers dazzled us. There are sometimes certain events that are symptomatic of an era. These events explode, spontaneously or otherwise, until they reach the law enforcement agencies; some then become information on a major scale. They take on a new dimension; they're magnifed, reduced, misrepresented, digested or not by those who disseminate them and those who receive them. Lives, glorious or shameful alike, end up on paper, then quickly disappear into collective oblivion. Existence is nothing more than a feeting illusion that each of us takes to the grave. When we read biographies, everything and it's contrary is stated. It’s the same whenever any affair or a news story is revealed. And the new communications channels that have spread during the last 20 years have rendered all objectivity even more illusory. Humans, like animals, are born, live and die leaving no more trace than the smallest daisy in the middle of a feld. Joys and pain, achievements and blunders, occupy a virtual perception, a present that doesn’t exist outside their memory. In 1996, a million stories hit the headlines, stories that are forgotten today, and tomorrow even more. Some of those born or alive that year are still among us. But of the great majority of those whose hearts have stopped beating, nothing remains; a name in a cemetery, or in an old newspaper lost in the depths of a cellar. At their most intense, the pleasures of the present allow us to forget this vast emptiness. Joy, ecstasies, whether constructive or destructive, act as an antidote to the void. Love, art, dance, war, sport seem to justify our brief time on earth. And there are those who dreamed of building a powerful and peaceful Europe while a barbaric war infected  it's interior. Wars create movement, populations change, as do beliefs and ways of living. And that which is called God will always be there on the side of the most powerful gun. The comma may move, but the essence of the  sentence will always remain the same.

The fifth instalment in this now boring and close to extinct franchise is given a new fresh level of fun from Spanish director J. A. Boyana. It’s certainly done things we’ve all seen before and there wasn’t anything new to add to the Jurassic franchise but it was an enjoyable and exciting film for dino lovers. The story is set 3 years after the chaos that occurred in Jurassic World (who could have guessed that would happen), the dinosaurs left on the island are about to go extinct, again, because of a volcano thats going to erupt. Which really makes you question the guy in charge of a location for this place. If he was only going to get 3 years from an island because they didn’t realise there was a massive volcano around he should’ve been sacked. Anyway, Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) wants to save them all and with the help of Sir Benjamin Lockwood (James Cromwell), who was best buds with old John Hammond, and Eli Mills (Rate Spall) she goes back to the island with the wonderful Owen (Chris Pratt) to save all the dinosaurs including Blue, which is why Chris Pratt is going.  Anyway turns out Rafe Spall is stabbing the old guy in the back, or SPOILER suffocating him with a pillow, and is actually rescuing the dinosaurs so that he can then sell them off to multiple armies. So Claire and Owen head off with two young, friendly, one dimensional characters who are so so so dull. The volcano erupts, the bad guys get the dinosaur, the four guys head back. Before witnessing a sad dino get burned alive by the volcano, really wasn’t that sad but whatevs. Back at the old guys mansion and the dinosaurs start getting sold, we find out about this huge creepy ass dino that is super enhanced. The old guy granddaughter is actually his daughter who he cloned. Or something like that, its really not explained at all and makes no difference to the plot, really pointless and not needed. Old guy dies, dinosaurs escape and start causing havoc. End of film two.  Fallen Kingdom as a whole wasn’t a bad film, it was enjoyable in places in terms of it’s sets and action. The volcano scene was cool and the ending with the new killer dino. I’m genuinely surprised it had a 12a rating, I found it very thrilling and tense and it some scenes, bloody petrifying. If I was a 8 year old, like a lot of the audience are, that scene in the bedroom would’ve freaked me out. You know where the hand goes up to her face. That’s terrifying. The dialogue is cheesy throughout the film, especially between the two minor characters whose story arc is so obvious. The granddaughter being a clone seems so odd, and unless it plays a part in the next film I don’t really understand what the point was of it. It just seemed like a filler film for the the Jurassic World franchise, it’s quite clear the film-makers wanted the dinosaurs back to mainland as quickly as possible without much consideration for this film.  p.s How annoying was it that this hunk was such a key component in the trailer but then was in the film for like a minute at the start and beginning of the film.  3/5 It was a fun addition the Jurassic franchise but it really didn’t have any wow moments are do anything different that we’ve seen in the last 4 films. We’ll probably end up with some rampage style finale that will again, try and make us care about Chris Pratt being friendly with a velociraptor and honestly, I don’t know if I would actually care. You know what, I wouldn’t.

Avengers: Infinity War In my last Marvel film review of Black Panther, I expressed how over-saturated I was by the Marvel movies formula: a bit of plot set up then bish-bash-bosh things start hitting each other. We do get more of the same here, but I felt that there was actually a sense of threat. For once we got a good amount of the villain's back story so that almost was an origin story. This provided so much more gravitas to the situation to the Avengers and Earth are in then we ever got from Ultron in Age of Utron's (an "age" in that movie being redefined as a few days) portrayal. We get both a physical and emotional weight to the film's big bad- Thanos. Though an entirely CGI character, when he walked or hit something (or someone) you sure felt it. In previous Marvel movies I've sometimes found this to be lacking. I believe this would have been a motion capture performance from Josh Brolin, and if so he put in a stellar performance. If it wasn't motion capture, then bravo to the CGI team as we felt everything that Thanos did through his expressions. It is a testament to the directors (the Russo brothers- best known for other top rated Marvel movies Captain America's Winter Soldier and Civil War, and also for the TV series Arrested Development and Community) that we simply just didn't get the generic dead eyed power hungry villain that we get all too often (especially in DC movies). I thought the CGI work on Thanos' was excellent. You could see every muscle and hair which made him seem very, very real and to be afraid of. The heroes that we have seen team up before were split and mixed with each other to create fresh dynamics. Again to give credit to the directors, the overall balance of the sheer multitude of characters was done really well. For the heroes that got a lesser role, I think it was justified as either we haven't yet seen enough of them in the MCU to warrant a lot of screen time or we haven't had a lot of meaningful back story to their character to give enough emotional weight. This emotional weight being important as the film has relatively little time for plot explanation and understandably relies a lot on its actions set pieces, so if this weight was lacking, viewers may switch off or become numb to the whole thing. Of course we got the standard Marvel movies quick quips throughout- but i found that most of them hit home- and especially for the laughing seagull viewer that was sat behind me. Mr Seagull always particularly loved a Game of Thrones star's small role- which to be fair was fantastically done. I think the comic fan boys almost would have have gotten what they wanted from this film- especially the climax. But may have a similar little big problem with the film. This being that I don't understand the rationale for Thanos' plan. Its hard to explain without spoilers, but ultimately he has justified to himself into doing some horrific actions for the greater overall good, but unless I've misunderstood how the infinity stones work, with his power, he could do a simple good action for a greater overall good. Other than my little big problem, I think its a good film and holds together very well for such an epic coming together of so many characters. Though over 2 and a half hours, it speeds over an hardly stops for breathe. Well worth seeing, even if you've felt you've been bashed in the head too many times by the Marvel juggernaut.

A Quiet Place VERSUS Truth or Dare So let’s play a quiet game. Do you choose ‘A Quiet Place’ or ‘Truth or Dare’? Do you choose the film that earned its jumps scares, or the one that pumped up the volume whenever it wanted to make you jump? Do you choose the film that had a fairly original premise or the one with a clichéd narrative? Do you choose the film written and directed by Jim from The American Office, or the film written and directed by the guy that made the massive let down that was Kick Ass 2? A Quiet Place was a very, very good Twlight Zone-esque B-Movie that took a simple, easy to understand idea and took it as far as it could go. A family lives in a world where they can’t make noises over a whisper without creatures that sense their prey only through noise hunting them down. We are drawn into the quiet world and hold our breath when a character drops something by accident- this even in a cinema with a fairly talkative audience. Unlike the other film, A Quiet Place earned its occasional jump scare through plot alone. By this I mean that it didn’t have to turn the speakers up to eleven. In fact, it managed to achieve one jump scare by the simple shot of a babbling brook (not as scary as an A-Level exam on The Scarlet Letter though I promise you). On the other hand, Truth or Dare took a simple kids / drunken teenager game and turned it into a overly convoluted mess. The first third, to be fair, was set up quite well. Decent character building which then quickly turns onto the main plot. A group of teenagers play a game of truth or dare that soon turns deadly. But then the film lost hope in itself and gave up on its own simple rules. Starting making up its own rules to keep the plot going, and escalated far too quickly and without reason. I was expecting a bit more of over the top deaths associated with the Final Destination franchise but they were all quite bland really. Some horribly clichéd horror moments- I swear if I have to watch a character in the bathroom look down and then up at their own warped reflection in the mirror one more time I’ll have to choke myself in a bucket of Odeon’s overpriced, chewy popcorn! So if you like your horror movies, I urge you to go see A Quiet Place rather than Truth or Dare. Leave the latter for underage teenagers that snuck in so they can laugh away their terror or try touching that girl’s hand that they sit next to in maths.

Breaking In I went into this with low expectations. From the brief trailer I saw, I felt justified in assuming a formulaic family home invasion movie. Even the title ''Breaking In'' even suggests to this. But turns out I got two things wrong. For one, this is not a bog standard home invasion film, its flipped- the mother, Shaun (played by Gabrielle Union) is trying to break into her house, and second, it's certainly not bog standard. This film finally gives us a female lead that genuinely at no point does she do something stupid that inevitably leads to her dying or causing someone she loves to die needlessly. Actually, this character's intelligence and ability to handle herself physically is both a strength and a weakness of the film. It was highly refreshing to see a non-moronic person in this situation (i,e hey, lets split up from my friends and wander into the dark woods alone when I know there's a murder out there called Mr Killer Axe, or hey lets hit the bad guy down once then run away leaving him to kill me later...why not smash his head in you cretin??!! Anyway, I'm sitting in the cinema enjoying myself, watching this no bullsh*t character trying to get into the building where their family is held hostage by multiple villains, I realise what this film most closely resembles. DIE HARD. Yes, this is in fact a small scale version of the classic action movie Die Hard, with a female John McClane. She even loses her shoes at one stage! The antagonists' leader played by Billy Burke (apparently of Twilight fame), lets call him Hans, was the perfect foil to Shaun. He thinks logically and tries to anticipate and force Shaun into situations- like in a sick home invasion version of chess. Yeah so he and his cronies may be a little generic- yes they want ALL THE MONEY, but hey, this was easy to watch, no nonsense entertainment that didn't leave you screaming for villain to kill stupid ass protagonist who deserves to die. I've checked out a couple of the poor reviews of this film already and they seem harsh. Clearly they don't think that Die Hard is one of the greatest Christmas movies of all time. If you've seen Avengers already and want to go see something that won't make you want to tear your eyes out like I assume 'I feel pretty' and 'Life of the Party' are, then go see Breaking In. Yippee ki yay!

(Release Info London schedule; December 1st, 2018, Curzon Victoria, 11:00) "The Old Man & The Gun" "The Old Man And The Gun" is based on the true story of Forrest Tucker (Robert Redford), from his audacious escape from San Quentin at the age of 70 to an unprecedented string of heists that confounded authorities and enchanted the public. Wrapped up in the pursuit are detective John Hunt (Casey Affleck), who becomes captivated with Forrest’s commitment to his craft, and Jewel (Sissy Spacek), a woman who loves him in spite of his chosen profession. Forrest Tucker only ever has one occupation, but it's one he's unusually gifted at and pursued with unabashed joy. It just happened to be bank robbing. In the early 1980s, at a septuagenarian age, Tucker embarked on a final legend-making spree of heists with 'The Over-The-Hill Gang', a posse of elderly bandits who employed smooth charm over aggression to make off with millions. Tucker never stopped defying age, expectations, or rules; he makes his twilight the pinnacle of his life of crime. If the sole art form he knew is robbery, he's darned if he isn't going to try to perfect it, no matter how elusive the dream. He’s someone who does what he loves and gets away with it. The film imbues the story with the rollicking mythos of a modern Western. The feeling is that of a campfire tale about a simpler time; i.e. the 1980s, that last decade just before mobile devices and the internet changed everything. It's a time with less hurry and more room to hide, which makes the chase that erupted between Tucker and the lawman who pursued him a thing of slow-burning beauty both men relished. And as Forrest is chased, he too is chasing something; a last chance at love and at a legacy, even if it must be an outlaw one. But what makes this story unique is that it’s an allegory for an uncompromising artist’s soul. Robbing banks maybe isn’t the greatest choice of art form but it’s what Forrest did, so he put his heart into it. And like all uncompromising people, Forrest sacrificed a lot, in terms of relationships, in terms of what he missed and what he risked. Forrest believes that wanton violence is the sign of an amateur holdup man. The best holdup men, in his view, are like stage actors, able to hold a room by the sheer force of their personality. He's a gentleman, even if he's gentlemanly bank robber. It harkens back to almost a James Cagney type of movie, where there’s an innocence to it. Forrest is a wonderful, complicated character, so full of life and risk and enjoying danger. On the one hand, Forrest is a dreamer but on the other, he’s capable of taking great risks and he’s someone who you can trust has the capacity to go through with a plan, and trust is key in this world, We root for Forrest because we understand him as a man who wants to keep doing what does best, a man looking for love and success who isn’t ready to quit. It's Tucker’s desire to keep upping his game that draws the law to him one last time. The film touches on these deeper themes in a playful way. It's important for the film to have levity, to feel like a fun legend people tell their kids at night.   Even amid the eccentric annals of famed outlaws, Forrest Tucker is an original, a career bank robber who escaped prison 18 times and pulled off bank heists well into his seventies. The real Forrest Silva Tucker grew up in Depression-era Florida, brought up by his grandmother and raised on dime-store novels about stickup men who broke out from the social margins. He began his own life of crime in his early teens with a stolen bicycle and from then on, spent his entire adulthood in and out of prison; often breaking out of prisons, including his most notorious escape from San Quentin. Molding himself into his own version of the crime legends he’d read about, he would become as renowned for his calm, personable heist style as for amassing a total of 18 successful escapes from incarceration. Forrest Tucker passed away in 2004 at the age of 83, after serving just 4 years of his 13-year sentence for armed robbery in Texas when sent to prison in 2000. Two qualities seemed to bind Forrest; dedication to his chosen craft and an ability to tap into a boyish passion no matter their age. The end of the road is something Tucker always sought to avoid, one of the reasons perhaps he became one of the world’s greatest escape artists.   The real Forrest Tucker was married three times, but it was his last wife who saw him for who he was. The script riffs in a semi-fictional way on the character of Jewel, exploring why a fiercely independent widow might choose to share her life with a bank robber still dreaming of the biggest and best heist he might pull off. Jewel is content on her own. Her children are grown up and gone. Her husband has gone on to the other side and she lived on a ranch with all of her animals. She's very rooted and she's the opposite of who Forrest is. Forrest went whichever way the wind blew, he always has. But Jewel is just grounded and everything for her is about her relationships with both people and animals. In that context, deciding to let Forrest woo here's most of all a welcome leap into one of life’s unknowns for Jewel. Jewel is at a point in her life where she thinks, maybe it’s time for me to do whatever I want. In saying yes to this man, she's really saying yes to life. And she could do that, because she's already so independent and didn’t really need anybody to take care of her. Forrest Tucker knows he's lucky to discover in Jewel a woman who accepted his enormous flaw of being a wanted man, while falling for everything else about him. She knows who Forrest is and she knows this terrible thing about him but still, she supported him. She didn’t particularly like what he did, but she loved him for the kind of human being he's. She knows Forrest couldn’t stop, even if a part of him would have liked to. She knows, Forrest doesn’t rob banks for any darker purpose other than for the thrill of knowing he can figure it out. She gives him a place to go, a place to stop and rest his weary bones, if just for a moment, and she gives him a good friend. The film excavate the improbable nature of Forrest and Jewel’s connection; exploring why two people who seem so thoroughly unlikely as a couple on the surface match at a deeper level as two people each still looking to extract something more out of life. Sweet as things are, they both know it’s just a matter of time before the law caught up with Forrest again. Teddy Waller (Danny Glover) is a more prototypical criminal than Forrest, someone who didn’t quite have it all together. He has had a screw loose. He was in prison for 10 years, he had made a lot of mistakes and, you know, his socks didn’t  match. Forrest is much more together. He's composed and that’s why he's the gang leader. The thrill of the heist for Forrest Tucker is matched by the meaningfulness of the pursuit for the cop who decided he's going to nab him; John Hunt. Forrest is an undeniable force, able to get the bank tellers to swoon and cooperate. So John Hunt looks at him and wonders; is the way this guy lives his life an example I should be applying to myself? That’s a hard thing for a police officer to ask about a criminal. And it creates a really interesting interplay both inside Hunt and with Tucker. Hunt is kind of a lone wolf. He's discontented with the police department, so he went off and decided he’d figure this case out all on his own. But there's also something about the romance of a non-violent, life-long bank robber that appealled to Hunt. He has a kind of admiration for Forrest. Even as Forrest grows closer to Jewel, the Texas policeman John Hunt is closing in on him. But Hunt too is more a source of pride than distress for Forrest, who enjoyed being worthy of a grand chase and having an opponent to outsmart. For Forrest, that respect comes with realizing that Hunt is going to be the animal that chased him and he's going to be the animal that escaped. Hunt confesses that he did indeed have a qualified respect for Tucker, even as he sought to bring him to justice. It's a time when a cop could take his time chasing a robber, when the contest of the chase itself could overtake the finality of the capture, which is what happens between Forrest and John Hunt. In real life, Hunt never actually met Tucker face-to-face. But in the film, they've two intriguing encounters. In their first, Hunt is humiliated by Tucker when he finds himself standing in a bank line waiting to make a deposit when a stickup occurs right under his nose. From that moment, Hunt makes it his life’s mission to catch this guy, and that’s the start of a deeper connection between the two of them where they each are playing the other and pushing the other. This film is based on a story, journalist and author David Grann has written about Forrest for 'The New Yorker' in 2003, three years after the bank robbing legend been sent back to prison at age 80 for yet another cunning heist to cap off a literal lifetime of them. The internal joyousness of the character is his guide into telling the story as an almost anti-procedural, making both the crimes and the pursuit of the criminals secondary to the spirit of the storytelling. The film turns the story into two gleeful cat-and-mouse games; one the unfolding love story between Tucker and perhaps the only woman who would ever put up with his outrageous career choice; the other the story of the world-weary law 9 who decided to chase him. A few decades ago, both crime and law enforcement had a different feel. With no internet or smart phones and few computers, if police wanted to share information across state lines it was done by telephone or U.S. mail. Most cops still carried revolvers, not automatic weapons. The chase is where all the energy was. It’s always a little bit of a letdown in movies when the chase has to end, isn’t it? "The Old Man & The Gun" takes place on the cusp of the 80s, which allows the film to pay a homage to 70s filmmaking. At the same time, the film’s settings are an outgrowth of the film’s characters. The film is being more of a throwback emotionally rather than in it's style. The emphasis is on the people and it’s almost not important when and where this all takes place. It’s just that you suddenly might realize that hey, nobody has a cell phone or the internet and you’re in this world that’s a little different from the one we live in now. Super 16 has such a special aesthetic quality that immediately harkens back to 70s filmmaking. And it looks really old-fashioned. The film wants the image to feel old but also wants to avoid nostalgia. People use their imagination more. The film stuck to the physical side of everything being pre-1981. It's a colder, more sterile look, using greys, whites and primary colors, rather than everything being warm browns, woods and oranges. It’s about aspiring to the classic American dream. Western showdowns, comic capers and gritty tales of complicated cops and robbers, but all in service to a fresh take on living outside the lines. It’s a subtle, human take on a crime story, but it also has a very jazzy kind of feel. Less is always more and the film leaves audiences with mysteries and questions. "The Old Man & The Gun" pushes against all natural instincts and see how far outside our comfort zone we could get ourself.

"On Chesil Beach" It's summer 1962, and England is still a year away from huge social changes; 'Beatlemania', 'The Sexual Revolution' and 'The Swinging Sixties'. We first encounter Florence Ponting (Saoirse Ronan) and Edward Mayhew (Billy Howle), a young couple in their early 20s, on the day of their marriage. Now on their honeymoon, they're dining in their room at a stuffy, sedate hotel near 'Chesil Beach'. Their conversation becomes more tense and awkward, as the prospect of consummating their marriage approaches. Finally, an argument breaks out between them. Florence storms from the room and out of the hotel, Edward pursues her, and their row continues on 'Chesil Beach'. From a series of flashbacks, we learn about the differences between them, their attitudes, temperaments and their drastically different backgrounds, as well as watch them falling deeply in love. Out on the beach on their fateful wedding day, one of them makes a major decision that will utterly change both of their lives forever. "On Chesil Beach" is a powerful, insightful drama about two people, both defined by their upbringing, bound by the social mores of another era. "On Chesil Beach" is a gripping, heart-rending account of a loving relationship battered by outside forces and influences first formed in childhood, in a society with strict, inflexible rules about uniformity and respectability. Florence was born into a prosperous, conservative family in a neat, organised home presided over by her overbearing father Geoffrey (Samuel West), a successful businessman. Edward comes from a contrasting background. His father Lionel (Adrian Scarborough) is a teacher, while his art expert mother Marjorie (Anne-Marie Duff) is brain-damaged after an awful accident; their home is informal somewhat chaotic and closer to nature. Florence is a talented, ambitious violinist with a string quartet; Edward has graduated from 'UCL' with a History degree and aims to become an author. They married as virgins; two very different people, but deeply in love. Only hours after their wedding they find themselves at their dull, formal honeymoon hotel on 'The Dorset Coast' at 'Chesil Beach'. They dine in their room, and their conversation becomes stilted and nervous. The consummation of their marriage is fast approaching, and while Edward welcomes the prospect of sexual intimacy, Florence is scared by it. The tension between them boils over into a heated argument as Florence feels repelled by Edward’s advances. She dashes from the room, out of the hotel and on to 'Chesil Beach', with Edward in pursuit. On a remote part of the beach they've a blazing argument about the profound differences between them. One of them makes a startling decision that will have life-long consequences for them both. In a series of flashbacks, the film emphasises the differences between Florence and Edward, the underlying tensions and circumstances that contributed to that crucial moment on their wedding day. Other scenes illustrate what happened to these two people in subsequent decades and how their lives were shaped by that dramatic stand-off on 'Chesil Beach'. In the forefront, Florence is a violinist. She’s reserved, not much into any kind of fashion. She’s a girl who probably went to a university in a dormitory of girls with like- minded backgrounds. Her mother Violet (Emily Watson) is of a certain age, so she would never be high-end fashion; she’s kind of settled in the mid-1950s. So, the influence on Florence is from her mother; she's never a fashionable young girl, but nicely dressed and interested in music. The clothes worn by Florence and Edward also hint at the difference in their social circumstances; Edward looks not very well looked after, a little frayed about the edges. He seems to be in the same jacket all the way through, whereas she changes a lot; usually something nice from department stores. Money isn’t a problem for her family, the Pontings. Even though he's from a family without much money, Edward is bound by a sense of respectability, typical of this early-1960s period. He’s followed the constraints of wanting to be like his father, who’s a teacher. Most men of that time wore jackets and ties. Florence’s ‘going-away dress’ needed to be something special, and to make a statement in visual terms. There are still signs of hormonal adolescence in there for sure, but with Edward, a lot of that anger comes from a righteously indignant place. So, if he or someone he cares about has been wronged, that’s the point at which his anger or rage will rear its ugly head. So, there’s this real dichotomy in the story, and it feels like Edward is at loggerheads with the world in which he finds himself. If their wedding day had happened even a couple of years later, things might have gone better for Florence and Edward. They’d have been more able to talk about things. They’d have had a lot more facts to go on. With the two of them the film wants to move them forward from the 50s into the 60s. The film shows this is their height of fashion. Like the new modern man and wife together; on the beach. Ian McEwan’s 'On Chesil Beach' is among the most acclaimed British novels of this century. Published in 2007, it was short-listed for 'The Booker Prize', garnered glowing reviews and became a best-seller. But as often happens in the film world, it took a long time for the book to make the transition to the big screen. There's a simplicity of narrative and a clarity of emotion about it. It's a portrayal of a young woman at a particular time, and what that meant for her; defining her creative ambitions and her sexual being, her own self. And it’s clear how these two young people are affected by the time they live in. McEwan’s novel is a highly specific work in many respects. The year in which most of the story takes place, and in which Florence and Edward are married, is 1962, just before the dawning of a new youth culture and a sexual revolution that would sweep the western world. And the book’s main geographical location is 'Chesil Beach' itself; an extraordinary place like no other. It was just on the cusp of the 1960s, so it was a time that was crucial both for fashion and for this story. This was pre-teenage revolution. 'The Beatles' hadn’t quite happened yet. Girls still dressed very much like their mothers and boys like their fathers; that's to say, conservatively. 'Chesil Beach' (‘Chesil’ is derived from an Old English word meaning ‘shingle’) has been designated a site of special scientific interest (SSSI); it's fossil-rich and important to wildlife. It’s also very cinematic, and the most cinematic part of all turns out to be also the most inaccessible. It’s separated from the mainland by a lagoon, and it goes out on a long spit of land seven to nine miles long. The physicality, and the relationship the beach has to the land and water around its so peculiar. It’s essentially a strip of land that juts out into the water and it’s kind of isolated. There’s something about that coastline, and the beach itself feels untouched, untainted by human hands. It’s the closest you can get to something 100% natural. Looking out over that beach, it can be tempestuous, it can be serene. But even in it's serene stillness there’s something very disconcerting. That encapsulates the human condition quite well. Even in it's stillness and absence of anything, there’s something quite disconcerting about it, and about our existence. One of the great thing about this script is that it reveals two central characters that are both sympathetic, but also flawed and limited by the circumstances they've grown up in. Film is the ideal medium for showing interior life because the camera can pick up nuances of thought and subtext, and the big screen reveals them. The main visual idea is of two people trapped by the time they’re living in, and the sense that they’re living in a world not of their own making. Music is very important in the movie, as both characters’ identities are grounded in their musical taste. Early 60s Rock n’ Roll and chamber music performed at 'Wigmore Hall' in London. The film tackles the issue of social pressure being put on young people, no matter what era they grew up in, to be or to behave in a certain way. The story has a very specific sense of place and time. One side of the movie is about a particular time; the moment before the liberal values of the sixties kicked in. The other side is more universal; the challenge of true intimacy, first sexual encounters, and how one bad decision can shape your whole life. These questions are as alive for contemporary audiences as ever. This film gives you a new perspective on our parent's generation. We now live in a time of a toxic nostalgia, where many people think that the past was a better, simpler time to live in. If you look at the emotional lives of many people born in the first half of the twentieth century and the emotional repression that was the norm in the UK, how traumatised many people were by the war and the hardship they suffered; it was not so easy. We're now little more sympathetic to what that generation had to deal with, how strong they're to survive it and what they sacrificed along the way. Audiences will take away from this story a sense of how dangerous it's to react to difficult situations rashly, and how fortunate we're to live in a time when we can be more open about our feelings. Repression of any sort is harmful. Learning who we truly are makes us more integrated human beings and more able to make wise choices for ourselves and those around us.

Well, what do you do then? Well, that’s a secret. With “The Old Man & the Gun“, we probably say goodbye to a real film legend. According to some sources, Robert Redford wants to draw a line under his rich film career in a stylish way. In my opinion, he couldn’t have made a better choice because in “The Old Man & the Gun” he can demonstrate his charming side one last time. This 83-year-old actor conquered all the women’s hearts effortlessly when he was younger. And to be honest, he’s still got it. So don’t expect a gangster story full of violent bank robberies and wild chases. It’s reasonably friendly and cozy. You won’t see Forrest Tucker in the Top 10 of most notorious bank robbers of all time. It was probably not all that spectacular enough for that. So, no “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” or “Bonnie and Clyde” situations. But, you could call him the Houdini of detainees. According to Tucker himself, he broke out of prison 30 times. 18 Of them were successful. And the most notorious was the one from San Quentin State Prison in a self-built kayak. He was just enormously friendly. Apparently, from when he was young, Tucker had the irresistible urge to raid local banks. Probably that’s also the reason why his marriage didn’t last long and he disappeared into the night back then. Not to get a packet of cigarettes quickly but to satisfy that urge. Tucker always uses the same routine when robbing a bank. First, he asks for information real friendly. Or he tells the clerk he wants to carry out a bank transaction. And then asks the manager or counter clerk to empty the contents of the safe or cash registers and fill up his brown, worn, leather briefcase with it. He got away with it because they thought he was such a civilized, friendly and polite elderly man who always smiles. He’ll probably win the prize of “most charming bank robber”. No nerve-wracking action. Now you probably ask yourself: a crime movie about bank robbers without action-rich pursuits, psychopathic hostage situations, fierce gunfights and a number of victims. That doesn’t sound appealing or exciting. And yet it’s a pleasure to watch this film. And that because of the three interesting storylines where the emphasis mainly is on the relationship between the characters. A club of retired men. First, you have an old men’s club with Robert Redford, Danny Glover, and Tom Waits. A kind of tea party for old fellas who, instead of playing boule somewhere in a park during their retirement, prefer to roam the country and raid banks at random places. A friendly and easy-going little club that also prefers to reminisce over their lives at a bar somewhere. I particularly liked Tom Waits. A humorous contribution that shows that he’s not only a talented pianist. Danny Glover, I found again below par. Apparently, he’s the only one of the three where dementia had made its appearance. The older Sissy Spacek gets, the cuter she looks. Next, there’s the spontaneously growing relationship between Forrest and Jewel (Sissy “Carrie” Spacek), a widow who struggles to get by, loves her horses and spends her days at a ranch (even though her children think she should sell it). From the first moment that both meet, you just feel a certain tension. There’s that flirtatious behavior by Forrest and a shy smile from Jewel. Every time Forrest is in the presence of Jewel, you see that boyish behavior emerging for a while. And don’t you think that Sissy Spacek looks as cute as in “Carrie”. It seems to me that her nose is pointing up even more perky The robber and the detective And finally, there’s the confrontation with John Hunt (Casey Affleck). A police detective who coincidentally is present in a bank where Forrest, in an inconspicuous manner, commits a robbery. And then he really sinks his teeth into this case and is determined to catch this serial-robber and his companions. But the more he works on this case, the more his sympathy grows for this overfriendly criminal at retirement age. Robert Redford resembles Forrest. “The old man & the gun” isn’t an action-packed film. It’s rather a slow feel-good film, calmly telling the story of this unique bank robber. It doesn’t just feel like a film of a time long past. You can also see it. Maybe it comes across as old-fashioned. But it’s nicely old-fashioned. An atmosphere that fits Robert Redford perfectly. And in essence, Redford and Forrest are equal in some areas. In their whole life, they both never gave up on something they liked the most. And what they always liked to do, was done with the same dose of charm. I’ll certainly miss Redford’s charisma on the white screen. My rating 7/10 Links: IMDB

(Release Info London schedule; June 14th, 2018, Vue Cinemas, West End, 12:20) "Hereditary"   When Ellen Leigh (Rachelle Hardy), the matriarch of the Graham family, passes away, her daughter’s family begins to unravel cryptic and increasingly terrifying secrets about their ancestry. The more they discover, the more they find themselves trying to outrun the sinister fate they seem to have inherited. Making his feature debut, director Ari Aster unleashes a nightmare vision of a domestic breakdown that exhibits the craft and precision of a nascent auteur, transforming a familial tragedy into something ominous and deeply disquieting, and pushing the horror movie into chilling new terrain with it's shattering portrait of heritage gone to hell. The Grahams are a seemingly ordinary, relatable American family plunged into grief in "Hereditary's" gripping opening minutes. Grappling with the loss of Ellen Leigh, Annie's mother and a cryptic matriarchal figure for the entire family, the Grahams process the death in disparate ways. When Annie attends a bereavement support group, we learn more about her late mother's life and heritage and Annie's feelings of alienation inside her own family. Annie is someone who has a lot of issues with her mother, but can't quite seem to get to the bottom of them. There are intimidations as to what Ellen was up to when she was alive, but Annie can't fully piece them together. There's probably a large part of her that doesn't want to know what her mother was doing. It's something she knows in her gut, but she has to deny it. If she looked straight at it, she'd be destroyed. A stay-at-home artist who's preparing for an imminent gallery show, Annie processes her angst by making art out of her life, miniature dollhouses depicting the Graham family's real-world trials and tribulations. She's creating these miniatures of real places and situations in her life, perfect little replicas that give her the feeling of having some control over her life and memories. Annie's husband Steve (Gabriel Byrne) spends long hours seeing clients in his psychotherapy practice; teenage son Peter (Alex Wolff) is adrift in high school, and sneaking joints with his stoner friends. Younger daughter Charlie (Milly Shapiro), is remedial courses, bides her time brooding in the family tree house and quietly fabricating disturbing totems made from animal parts and household trinkets. Peter doesn't have a lot of direction in life. He has no serious interests and hasn't really formed a solid identity, but it becomes the bleak joke of the film that, by the end, he'll have been given a real sense of purpose. Charlie is tightly wound, extremely quiet and is crippled by social phobias. But there's more that's darkly off-kilter about her. As more is revealed, tbe Grahams come to feel like pawns beeing moved around by forces existing in the story's periphery. After introducing the Grahams, "Hereditary" teasingly shifts direction into the realm of a ghost story as Annie strikes up a friendship with Joan (Ann Dowd), a suburban housewife who's grieving the loss of her own recently deceased kin. She persuades Annie to join her in a séance, hinting at paranormal dimensions for the story's second half. With his debut feature director Ari Alster builds on a series of short films centering on domestic rituals and trauma, telling the terrifying story of an American family battling malevolent forces that seek to colonize it's bloodline. The film is a prolonged succession of misfortune that comes to resemble a curce, marks the arrival of a born auteur. This shattering debut transforms the domestic trauma into a work of operatic horror calling to mind classics of the 1960s and '70s. Leading with an elegantly fluid tracking shot that seamlessly fuses two distinct story worlds. The film becomes a sinister vision of a family living under a terrifying curse. This is the story about people who've no agency. The Grahams are like figurines in a maligned dollhouse being manipulated by outside forces. The Grahams house is much a character in the movie as the house's human inhabitants. This movie falls into tbe haunted house genre. The film avoids those clichés like the plaque. No creaking floors or weathered walls or Gothic architecture. The main rooms and hallways of the house and Charlie's private tree house takes on a greater role in the film's diabolical climax. Taking the cue from seemingly unlikely sources such as "Ordinary People", "The Ice Storm", and "In The Bedroom", searing dramas in which multigenerational families grapple with death, mental illness and emotional violence, Alster pushes "Hereditary" into the realm of supernatural horror. He fuses the substance of tbese emotional dramas with creative inspiration from iconic slow-burn shockers of the '60s and '70s, including "Rosemary's Baby", "Don't Look Now", and "The Innocents". The film shapes the story of a family that's literally cursed, suffering through a series of gruesome events revealed over time to be part of a grander Machiavellian scheme. The film's title takes on increasing chilling resonance as the story progresses, taking it's subject of lineage and bloodlines into the realm of supernatural horror and beyond. This is a movie about inheritance. The notion of having no choice in who your family is or what's in your blood. It's about the horror of being born into a situation over which you've no control. There's nothing more upsetting than the idea of being absolutely powerless. The film deals with sacred family ritual and traditions turned toxic, finding dark comedy and hysteria in uncomfortable yet recognizable subjects. The film puts a lot of those feelings through a horror movie filter, where the canvas demands a high level catharsis. And if you're making a film about life being unfair, the horror genre is a very unique playground for that. It's this sort of perverse space where life's injustices are more or less celebrated and even gloried in. In it's rigorous examination of free will and it's damning insistance that everything is ordained and inevitable, "Hereditary" takes a fantastic stance toward breeding and generation. The fact that the Grahams have no agency is a crucial point in this movie, and the feeling at the end is one of hopelessness and futility. It's a simultaneously intimate and large-scale horror film that absolutely refuses to let the viewer off the hook. The film stays with people for a long time, and provokes them to contend with something deeper and more primal, a feeling of something inescapable. "Hereditary" goes to places few audiences will anticipate. Carefully embroidered nightmares about the horrors of family life.

(Release Info London schedule; May 15th, 2019, Odeon Haymarket, 11/18 Panton Street, London, SW1Y 4DP, 12:20 pm) https://film.list.co.uk/cinema/43019-odeon-haymarket-london-sw1y/coming-soon/#times "John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum" Super-Assassin John Wick (Keanu Reeves) is on the run after killing a member of the international assassin’s guild. In this third installment of the adrenaline-fueled action franchise, super-assassin John Wick returns with a $14 million price tag on his head and an army of bounty-hunting killers on his trail; he's the target of hit men and women everywhere. After killing a member of the shadowy international assassin’s guild, 'The High Table', John Wick is excommunicado, but the world’s most ruthless hit men and women await his every turn. In the beginning John Wick wants to pay his respects to the best of atmospheric action cinema, by stripping a modern noir down to it's most unvarnished kinetic and emotional thrills. Without putting any limits on himself, the films imagines the most non-stop, concussive ride he could through a universe as perilous as it's darkly vibrant. In this chapter, John Wick goes to war with the world. This gives us a chance to go to new places, go deeper into his personal journey and expand the journeys of other characters. For this chapter, the film wants each of the action sequences to bring a new and different flavor, each gives you a bit more insight and clues into the different elements of who John Wick is and the path he's on. The emotional stakes mount with the physical challenges as Wick is forced to call in debts and rely on the deadly gifts from which he wants to escape. He's still looking for absolution, but meanwhile, nearly everyone is trying to kill him, so he must revert back to someone he doesn't want to be in order to survive. As the film’s ever-expanding canvas takes audiences deeper into John Wick’s origins, the story demands an even more technically evolved Wick. There are so many different kinds of action sequences, not only more styles of martial arts and more gunplay, but also motorcycles, horses and dogs. As John Wick is pushed to take last-ditch measures to dodge the global price on his head, he reveals more and more of just how thick and dark a web 'The High Table' is capable of spinning. In this film, you’ll see much more of this mythological, hyper-real world full of secret hotels, hidden underworlds and men and women possessed of crazy skills. The film gives you a sense of John Wick’s vulnerability without him ever feeling the least bit weak or contrived. The film also brings an earnestness to John Wick so, at the same time, you believe he takes it all very seriously. This time, you see more of John Wick’s world than ever. 'The John Wick' character is a compelling mix of lethal resolve and dryly humorous charm, fierce athleticism and suave grace. He's quietly a lethal man, a man who simply wants to live in peace with his dog following the loss of his beloved wife Helen. In "Parabellum", things have changed, though John Wick’s hope to even take a breath, let alone find peace, has never seemed more improbable. The character who once doggedly pursued revenge is now the prey, surviving solely on Helen’s memory. In this chapter the character is battling himself as much as the entire world. There’s a battle he’s becoming more conscious of in "Parabellum", a battle between two sides of himself. John is the guy who just wants to be left alone, who seeks a quiet life in which to remember his wife. In order to do that he has to engage the side of himself that's John Wick, the side that knows how to fight to the death. John Wick is the only one who can help John survive. As John Wick begins calling in favors to try to stay alive, knowing every assassin in every city is looking for him, he journeys to Morocco. In the searing deserts of 'The Sahara', John knows he will find a woman from his past, a fellow assassin who owes him, and isn’t too happy to see him. This is Sofia (Halle Berry). Sofia brings some real heart and soul to the story as someone from John Wick’s past who knows the costs of doing what he does. Sofia, like John Wick, is a loner in this dark world of assassins, retaining an aura of mystery to all that come across her. There's more to learn about her. What we know in this chapter is that she's trained by the same person who trained John Wick and their styles of fighting are very much the same. They clearly have some history together and we know that John saved Sofia's daughter Jenna (Dana Schick) at some point and that Sofia gave up all contact with her daughter in order to keep her safe. That's part of what sets Sofia apart in this mysterious universe. She has this very real and tangible person that she loves very much and that she's fighting for. It’s the balance between Sofia and John Wick that brings a fresh energy to "Parabellum". Sofia brings a really cool, sexy vibe to this world that typically has a more muscular and masculine feel. "John Wick: Parabellum" brings to light more about 'The High Table', which not only sells hits around the world, it also serves as a kind of underground justice system. Like a modern twist on 'King Arthur’s Round Table', the brutal enforcers of the world’s crime kingdoms are held in check by a staunch code of honor and a powerful elite who mete out penance. The Director' (Anjelica Huston) runs a school for assassins. 'The Director' is in charge of a very special kind of theatrical institute where children are trained either to be great artists or to have very special physical skills. She's a woman who straddles the worlds of devoted artistic perfection and crime. She’s someone who's having once been an assassin for 'The High Table' herself, but she long ago climbed the staircase of the assassin world, and now she runs the training. She's surrounded by beautiful young ballerinas who are going to be wonderful spies as well as martial arts geniuses who are junior assassins. 'The King' is also back in "Parabellum". 'The Bowery King (Laurence Fishburne) is the underworld leader who uses New York’s gritty 'Bowery' district as a cover. This unusual character is an instant draw. In this film, you learn more about the symbiosis between 'The Bowery', 'The Continental' and 'The High Table'. No matter how dire the circumstances, he’s always so polite yet so righteous in his rage and anger. 'The Bowery King' is just as much a criminal as anybody in this world, but he follows the code. With the rules broken and John Wick on the run, 'The High Table' has been shaken and must take measures to regain control. However, not everyone has chosen clear sides. That's especially true of Winston (Ian McShane), the sly manager of New York’s 'Continental Hotel', where he has long kept chaos away from this essential neutral zone for assassins. Only now, Winston is contemplating to do what few would ever dare; go to war with 'The High Table'. It's time to show some of Winston’s internal struggle in running 'The Continental'. What does he want? What's his end game? Winston and John Wick have a strange loyalty to each other in a world where real bonds that go outside the rules rarely exist. In many ways, Winston is the only kind of family John Wick has left. You get to learn more about Winston and you get to learn more about the inner workings of 'The Continental'. At the same time, one message remains the same; don’t screw with John Wick. Charon (Lance Reddick) also rejoins as 'The Continental’s' multi-talented concierge and Winston’s resourceful right-hand man. He's a lot like 'Batman’s Alfred'; that unsung guy behind the scenes who keeps everything running smoothly. In this film, Charon takes on his largest role yet, as his services become essential to 'The Continental’s' war against 'The High Table'. You definitely see a lot more of Charon in this chapter. His responsibilities are taken to a whole new level. 'The Adjudicator' (Kate Dillon), is an authoritative power that enforces the rules of 'The High Table' with a pitiless efficiency. She's a character who stands apart from all our assassins and judges everybody in this unethical world, while enforcing their fealty to 'The High Table'. She's almost like an insurance investigator who in a very sober, cold and matter-of-fact way, investigates what rules were broken, who broke them and what the punishment should be. She has come to adjudge Winston for breaking the rules of 'The Continental'. We learn that everyone has to pay for any wrong doing in the eyes of 'The High Table' one way or another. If the rules are broken in this world it will be dealt with, and the person who's judge and jury is 'The Adjudicator'. 'The Adjudicator' turns to Zero (Mark Dacascos), a top 'The High Table’s' most lethal list, to mete out the death sentence on John Wick. Zero might be dead-set on taking John Wick’s life for the huge bounty, but he can’t help but idolize the invincible assassin. Zero loves everything about John Wick, his style, his grace, his class, his efficiency and how brutal he's while still being a gentleman. He's the biggest fanboy of John Wick there's, and he wants to be on a par with him. He's also a 'Shinobi', a 'Ninja' warrior, so he has students he cares for like his own children. Zero is, to put it mildly, a little psychotic. He has a broken rhythm, where he’ll be smooth then suddenly frantic. While in Morocco, John Wick risks it all to seek out the sage advice of one of the most revered, if rarely seen, members of The High Table', a man known simply as 'The Elder' (Saïd Taghmaoui). 'The Elder' is a guide for assassins. Berrada (Jerome Flynn) is an Italian member of 'The High Table'. He looks after the foundry where they make the gold markers. He’s a bit like Bronn in some ways because he’s a survivor and he’s got a real sense of humor to his brutal darkness. 'The Tick Tock Man' (Jason Mantzoukas) keeps track of time, which John Wick is running out of, for 'The Bowery King'. Five years ago, 'The Premiere Chapter' of John Wick set a new bar for action films. In this hardboiled world of killers- for-hire, audiences worldwide experienced the rush of dazzlingly pure battle sequences, of which moved like a frenzied ballet, pushing practical filmmaking to it's limits. John Wick had become a flesh and blood icon, embraced by audiences hungry to see and know more about him and his stylishly seductive world. From the propulsive start of "John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum", the clock ticks relentlessly against the formerly retired super-assassin. The action picks up directly from 'Chapter 2' as John Wick finds himself on the brink of being declared excommunicado; stripped of the protective services of 'The High Table', the secretive global association of crime organizations that enforces the assassins’ code. With a $14 million bounty on his head, even John Wick has never faced so many simultaneous threats hellbent on ending his existence. Enemies are everywhere, but that will only drive Wick to the ends of the earth as he continues to seek a personal reckoning. Now, 'Chapter 3' expands 'The Wick Universe', revealing more about the hidden operations of 'The High Table' and introducing intriguing new characters. How can you continue to stay true to what the franchise created with John Wick, while constantly upping the bar? In usual form, "Parabellum" is rife with nods to cinematic legends, from a wink at Russian film master Andrei Tarkovsky to visual echoes of 'Lawrence Of Arabia'. To him, there's still nothing more fun than the sheer human pyrotechnics of one man struggling to outlast every possible form of attack. Why do people love kung-fu movies, spaghetti Westerns, a Steve McQueen car chase, Charles Bronson swinging his ax and "Die Hard: 80s action? It's that grounded excitement you get from stunts that feel real but that you’ve never seen before. When John Wick makes his passage to Morocco, a country that has long lit the imaginations of filmmakers and moviegoers, the film reveals a new kind of version of the famed 'Continental Hotel'. It's an homage to that most classic Humphrey Bogart noir of all, Michael Curtiz’s "Casablanca". Morocco is also a way to see how the John Wick vibe might translate to a sun-soaked locale. It's the contrast of going from rainy, gray, textured concrete of New York to Morocco, with it's heat, sand, color and rolling dunes. It’s a pretty intense change of pace. In many ways, this realm of glimmering, splintering glass represents all the contrasts that make "John Wick" so beguiling; the way the series plays with both the brutal and the beautiful, the straight forward and the magical, the most demanding designs yet the purest visual storytelling. In an era of seductively unreal digital effects, part of the John Wick ethos has been to entirely buck the trend. In John Wick’s world, the thrills are primal and always based around practical, if high-wire, stunts. In this world, jump-cuts never interrupt a fight. Rather than zoom in to create illusions, the camera instead always pans out, the better to show the audience every precarious detail. Whereas much of the fighting in the first two chapters was one-on-one, in "Parabellum" there's a fresh focus on large-scale group action which really put the spotlight on choreography. Given the bounty on his head, Wick also faces a far greater breadth of enemies, pitting himself against more distinct styles of martial arts, from kung fu and wushu to 'Indonesian' silat. Each is shot differently, in different environments, featuring different skill sets. "Parabellum" goes beyond martial arts spectacles to stunts that range from a high-speed horse chase through New York City to climbing sand dunes in 'The Sahara'. From the outset, John Wick forged it's own aesthetic; a dark neo-noir realm lit with neon hues and the fierce determination and sly humor of it's characters. Everything in this world is pushed and hyper-real and sexy and dramatic. This film is even more colorful, has stronger contrast and showcases even wilder action. The design of the films, the language, the deadpan comedy and the irony of it all feels very contemporary yet also a lot of fun.

I don’t think the messages are a government broadcast. It’s almost like they’re reacting to what we do. Initially, I would immediately add “Await further instructions” to the list of “useless movies that only ensure that you don’t start running into the walls out of boredom”. But on the other hand, this low-budget indie-SF was fascinating and amusing enough in my opinion. Not because of the story, because that was completely absurd and contained a denouement that didn’t make any sense at all. But because of the wonderful acting and the way this dysfunctional family reacted during Christmas, the most joyful festive period of the year. A period in which families usually come together to have fun and also to carry on a family tradition. It’s the period of the year when people bury an old family feud and sit down at the table to catch up while enjoying a drink and some food. There are countless films that show that this isn’t always the case. Like in “Krampus” and “Better watch out“. Even the McCallisters in “Home Alone” experienced this period as a time full of misery. Maybe not so macabre, but exciting enough. And in “Await further instructions” there isn’t a cozy Christmas mood as well. And certainly not when the Milgram’s house is wrapped as a Christmas present. Interesting relationships. And not only the last mentioned fact ensures it’s not too cozy at the Milgram house. The mutual relationships also ensure that the tension remains high. Apparently, it’s years ago Nick (Sam Gittins) showed up at his parent’s place. And when he decides to pay them a visit, he turns up with his Indian girlfriend Annji (Neerja Naik) at his side. I suppose Nick knows all too well how some members of his family will react and he already feels there will be problems the moment he parks in front of his parental home. First of all, there’s the emotionless, authoritarian sounding father Tony (Grant Masters) who can hardly accept that he hasn’t heard anything from his son for years. The authoritarian tone is cynically dismissed by grandfather Alfred (David Bradley) who can’t resist telling Tony he’s way too tolerant. And worse. Alfred is a purebred racist who makes derogatory remarks about foreigners constantly. Claustrophobic paranoia. Furthermore, you’ll meet the good-hearted mother Beth (Abigail Cruttenden). She’s a typical housemother who, despite the tense atmosphere and knowing that Christmas dinner will be a disaster, remains exceptionally optimistic and tries to calm things down while singing Christmas carols. Something that’s totally unthinkable when sister Kate (Holly Weston) waltzes in with her friend Scott (Kris Saddler). Not that Kate is a pronounced racist, but her naive, ill-considered comments are still hurtful. Witnessing these interactions in itself made the film interesting. And when they realize the next day that the house is wrapped with steel tubes and the television spontaneously starts spewing messages, it’s the beginning of even more squabbling. As the film progresses, everyone is on the verge of becoming paranoid. The whole claustrophobic situation creates distrust and suspicious thoughts among the family members. It’s all hysteria As in most low-budget movie, the entire film takes place in one and the same location. That isn’t necessarily a disadvantage. “Await further instructions” shows in a solid way how hysteria and helplessness take control of people when they find themselves in a hopeless situation. Conspiracy theories and disaster scenarios ensure that family members are diametrically opposed. Is it an environmental disaster? A chemical war? Or are there extraterrestrials who have conquered the world? Or are they all victims of a television program with hidden cameras? Does the film end up with a symbolic image of the Big Brother principle? Or does it show how television has crept into our daily lives and we blindly follow the instructions that appear on it? Messages that cause the family members to turn against each other and shamelessly hurt each. Not everybody will like it. On a psychological level, you can call this film a success. The SF section, which unfolds towards the end, I found less successful. That part felt rather absurd and grotesque. It seemed to me that the main part looked like a psychological family drama and the denouement was made up at the very last moment. As if it was meant to be satirical. And I wouldn’t call it a horror. All in all, I didn’t think this surreal spectacle was so bad. Especially because of the excellent acting and the sometimes magisterial footage. But I’m afraid this film won’t be appreciated by the vast majority of cinemagoers. My rating 5/10 Links: IMDB More reviews here

“For Want of a Nail​​” follows Marty, who attempts to live out a 'perfect day'. As the story unfolds it becomes apparent that his range of intricate routines have been compounded by a succession of deaths in the family. Now, with only his twin sister left, Marty has found himself seeking to finally, once and for all, dispel the urges and paranoia that drive the compulsions which are seriously affecting his life – and, in his mind, stop his sister from dying.