(Release Info London schedule; December 8th, 2018, Electric Cinema, 12:00) "The House That Jack Built" America in the 1970s. We follow the highly intelligent Jack (Matt Dillon) through five incidents and are introduced to the murders that define Jack’s development as a serial killer. We experience the story from Jack’s point of view. He views each murder as an artwork in itself, even though his dysfunction causes problems for him in the outside world. Despite the fact that the final and inevitable police intervention is drawing ever nearer, which both provokes and puts pressure on Jack, he's contrary to all logic set on taking greater and greater chances. Along the way we experience Jack’s descriptions of his.personal condition, problems and thoughts through a recurring conversation with the unknown Verge (Bruno Ganz), a grotesque mixture of sophistry and an almost childlike self-pity, and in-depth explanations of, for Jack, dangerous and difficult maneuvers. Architect turned serial killer. Jack is a serial killer who accumulates bodies in a walk-in freezer while he tries to build his dream house. Meanwhile, he dialogues with the voice of his conscience, and makes more and more clumsy mistakes in his crimes. He leads us through his thought processes behind his increasingly more depraved acts of murder which he names 'incidents'. Lady 1 (Uma Thurman), Lady 2 (Siobhan Fallon Hogan), Lady 3 (Sofie Gråbøl) and Simple (Riley Keough) are all in the rank of unfortunate women who encounter Jack on his way. As he retells his crimes to mysterious Verge as if they're all individual works of art in themselves, the audience is invited to question the nature of artistry, where it's limits lie and when is far too far? Verge challenges and explores Jack’s stream of consciousness through a recurrent dialogue. Lars von Trier returns to the director’s chair to present the world with his most daring and provocative work to date, "The House That Jack Built". It's an overflowing, twisted, very black comedy with which he returned to Cannes years after being declared persona non grata because of his controversial statements. For many years he made films about good women. This is a film about an evil man. This time the topic of discussion is violence and art, and violence as art. It's a dark and sinister story, yet presented through a philosophical and occasional humorous tale. And with pitch black humour and undeniable cinematic vision, the film delights in taking us there. All is mixed with paintings, images from his own films and those of others, animated interludes, Glenn Gould and even images, yes, of the holocaust. The greatest cathedrals have sublime artwork hidden in the darkest of corners for only God to see.

"The Old Oak" (Picturehouse Fulham Road)     The Old Oak is a special place. Not only is it the last pub standing, it is the only remaining public space where people can meet in a once thriving mining community that has now fallen on hard times after 30 years of decline. TJ Ballantyne (Dave Turner) the landlord hangs on to The Old Oak by his fingertips, and his hold is endangered even more when the pub becomes contested territory after the arrival of Syrian refugees who are placed in the village. An unlikely friendship develops when TJ encounters a young Syrian with a camera, Yara (Ebla Mari). Can they find a way for the two communities to understand each other? So unfolds a deeply moving drama about loss, fear and the difficulty of finding hope.   The ex-mining villages are unique. Sitting at the top of the village looking out over the rolling hills. A young mother had walked her child to primary school, come back home, and then hung herself.  This image and imagining her haunted us. Wandering around many of these villages it's striking to see the older members of the community who were miners, or family of miners. One remarkable older lady in her nineties was a nurse and tended the wounded (one was her neighbour’s father, who still to this day lived next to her) from the Easington mining disaster of 1951 in which 83 miners died.  Listening to vibrant people like her, and others who were involved in the miners’ strike in 1984, bore testimony to a powerful sense of community spirit, cohesion and political clarity which contrasted with the hopelessness of many in the present. It becomes apparent that the past ie a character in the film.   How did a once organised working class with militant unions end up in the world of TJ, the main character in the film. He’s a good man. Ex– miner, his father was killed in a mining accident and as a consequence of that his mother bought The Old Oak pub. She’s been dead 20 odd years and he wanted to help his mother, but his marriage has broken up, he’s living in the poverty zone and the pub is struggling, as are most of the village pubs around. It’s the only public space left in the village. Because of what’s happened to TJ, he’s lost. He had been an organiser in the village – previously he ran football teams; everyone knew TJ. But because of what’s happened to him he’s just been beaten down and he’s withdrawn into himself. Then one day, some Syrian families move into the village. And that’s where the story of TJ in this film starts.   TJ’s life did not happen by accident but by a series of political choices. It seems to us The Old Oak had roots stretching back, that might help us untangle many of the conflicts and contradictions of the present. It begs the bigger question of how hopelessness, unfairness, and lack of agency in our lives, play out in how we treat each other. This is how the character Yara comes in and helps us open up the story. She’s a refugee who came here with her family. She doesn’t know where her father is because he was taken to prison and that was the last she heard of him. And we know real people who still don’t know anything about their fathers, where they're. Yara wants to make life here easier and more friendly and to forge a friendship between the two communities. She's brave. She stands up for herself. She’s also sociable. She’s trying to see hope through the ugliness and unfairness of the world. The camera gives her hope. That’s very similar to what TJ’s role is, building bridges. You feel empathy towards Yara because she faces a lot of racism. Most of them were detainees in Syrian prisons and were tortured for doing nothing. But in the story of the film, they're not focusing on what happened in Syria.   Laura (Claire Rodgerson) is an old family friend of TJ’s. They used to be activists together, probably doing anti–austerity stuff. Then TJ has kind of lost his way but Laura has kept on fighting for the community while trying to build a family and hold down a job. When the Syrian families arrive she wants to be a positive force to bring the communities together. An irreverent force of nature, is how she was described in the script! She doesn’t take any shit but just believes that the community can be better. She’s a fighter. And she hasn’t given up like TJ. That’s we like in real life, you can’t just give up and accept the fate that’s been dealt to you by the powers that be.   The Northeast in particular is a really segregated place. There’s this idea from the Blair age of ‘problem communities'. It’s not problem communities, it’s problem systems, problem scapegoating and problem dumping. It’s a complex film, because normally in films you're dealing with one community. Here, we've two communities. We've to the local families and the local pub goers, and then within the pub group, we've people who are in favour of the refugees being here, and we've’vepeople who are against. It’s a complex tapestry of characters and people and families.   Photography is the thread that stitches the locations and the characters and all the narrative together. It’s the device that links Yara to her history, to her present, and to her exploration of a new place and a new people. It gives her the licence to look and see. And then photography is also the device of how we self–select. It reflects what we choose to see and what we choose to remember. Because what we don’t see, we then start to fill in with our imagination. So photography in the film is the prompt to what has happened, what is happening, but also what isn’t there. The film shows the pain that Syrian families must go through. It’s not easy to move your life from one country to another.   Written by Gregory Mann

(Release Info London schedule; May 29th, 2018, Curzon Soho, 18:20) "Double Lover" Crafting a deliriously cinematic web of suspense, shock, eroticism, and power dynamics, director François Ozon returns with "Double Lover". Chloé (Marine Vacth), who works as a guard at a museum in Paris, seeks to shore up her resiliency and enters psychoanalysis. In Paul Meyer (Jérémie Renier), the sensitive patient finds a caring psychiatrist who helps her overcome bouts with depression. Following the end of the treatment, both realize that they've fallen in love. A new chapter begins for Chloé when she and Paul move in together, yet Chloé soon comes to believe that Paul is keeping a secret. She impulsively visits another psychiatrist, Louis Delord (Jérémie Renier). Spiraling emotional and sexual stakes will push all three of them to extremes, forcing Chloé to take action in order to solve a mystery and save herself. It's an intense exploration of a woman venturing into dangerous romance. This movie is an adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates novel 'Live Of The Twins'. The book has a precise writing style, keen psychological observations, complex characters, and smart storylines. The book tells the story in a more realistic way. The film explores the American author’s themes of neuroses, sex, and the dark side of split personalities. The film follows Chloé’s therapy the same way a psychiatrist might listen to his patients, in a floating way. The visual effects and changing viewpoints in the first sessions almost play against the dialogue. Initially Chloé sits monologuing about her dreams, her feelings and emotions, her family; and the audience should listen carefully in these first 10 minutes. J.C. Oates’ book focuses on the young woman caught between two men. It's important to place Chloé at the center of the movie. Chloé interacts, from the opening scene, in surprising ways with older women. Each of them holds importance in her journey. These women can all be seen as mother figures. At the beginning of the film, Chloé mentions an absent mother during her session with Paul. She expresses herself very differently, depending on which man she’s with. When it’s Paul, she’s well-behaved and reserved. When it’s Louis, she reveals herself as more daring and provocative, even as she lets herself be dominated by him. Chloé’s evolution can be seen in how she chooses to dress, and how she expresses her femininity. Sometimes the rest an absence of femininity. Encyclopedic knowledge isn’t what leads her to the truth. Chloé is riddled with contradictions. She's never clear and yet she’s always transparent. She’s very alive in all circumstances. The film embodies Chloé’s truth and evoke the realism of each situation, bearing in mind the complexities of hernpersonality. There's a secret within Chloé; she seeks the key to unlock it, and we’re right there with her on her quest. The starting point for Paul and Louis is simple and binary; good guy/bad guy. It quickly becomes apparent that the trickier role of the two is actually Paul; he triggers the imagination. The Louis character can be seen as an avatar allowing Chloé to live out the desires and fantasies she forbids herself from experiencing with Paul; it’s as though her love for Paul were preventing her from satisfying a more uninhibited sexuality. In any love relationship, even a happy one, there's an element of frustration and a need for a mental space where fantasies can express themselves. Our partner can never satisfy all of our desires; we often need something more, or different. Paul comes across as a good psychotherapist whose exchanges with Chloé ring true. Louis, on the other hand, makes outrageous claims while transgressing all the rules and framework of psychoanalysis. It’s as though Louis were saying out loud everything that went unsaid with Paul, and saying it brutally; with no taboos or superego. Everything relating to the two men is conceived in mirror images, especially the décor. Paul’s consulting room is comfortable and inviting, with leather furniture, plush carpeting, and warm colors. Louis’ consulting room is glacial with marble accents, cold colors, and fake flowers. As for the mirrors themselves, Paul’s are horizontal and Louis’s are vertical. Paul and Louis have different sensibilities, but they both have something to hide, especially from Chloé. Paul and Louis add up to a complete man. Paul is attentive, an intellectual a good listener, gentle, reassuring; you can lean on him as a paternal figure. Louis is more animal, arrogant, violent, unruly, sexually ravenous. They represent two opposing male archetypes, but each of them responds in his own way to Chloé’s desires. Louis is more subtle in his relationship with Chloé. With "Double Lover" François Ozon returns to digital and Cinemascope, aiming for a sharper, more contemporary image that's at times almost surgical but always aesthetically pleasing. The film plays with symmetry, reflections, and geometry. The film creates the impression that something is being built, that a brain is developing a thought. "Double Lover" is continuously surprising, ingeniously imaginative, always ahead of the awed and astonished viewer. Like a dream it unfolds, always hovering at the brink of nightmare, resolved finally in an illumination that's as dramatic as it's unexpected. We're made to realize, in retrospect, that we've inhabited an intensely explored erotic mystery; only when the mystery is solved. This film is about our need for the imaginary in order to cope with reality. "Double Lover" provides a path back to reality; with something that exists yet is even more fantastical and monstrous than what we’ve seen up to that point, plunging us into the abyss of what nature is capable of doing to our bodies. There's a serenity at the end of the film. This ending is either positive or negative; it's brutal and unrelenting, like sexuality, the subconscious, and desire. We all share the desire to pursue a sex life outside a romantic relationship. Everyone, whether they're in a relationship or not, needs their own space of freedom; a secret garden. The film is a love story that asks questions that are essential to all couples. How do we imagine our partners? What are our expectations of them? How far are we willing to go in accepting their mysteries, or are we trying to figure out what they might be hiding inside? "Double Lover" also explores fantasies that some of us may, or may not, have a hard time accepting; and explores the degree of sexual freedom we allow ourselves to feel with someone. Maybe you can't have everything with just one person. That doesn’t mean you've to go looking elsewhere, but what do you do with your frustrations and desires when they start to take over?

Watch the official movie trailer for Journey's End starring Sam Claflin and Asa Butterfield.

(Release Info London schedule; April 17th, 2019, Cineplex Odeon Westmount Cinemas 755 Wonderland Road South, London, (519) 474-2152 Wed - Thu 4:30 7:20 10:20 pm) "Breakthrough" "Breakthrough" is based on the incredible true story of one mother’s unfaltering love in the face of impossible odds. When Joyce Smith’s (Chrissy Metz) adopted son John (Marcel Ruiz) falls through an icy Missouri lake, all hope seems lost. But as John lies lifeless, Joyce refuses to give up. Her steadfast belief inspires those around her to continue to pray for John’s recovery, even in the face of every case history and scientific prediction. The film is adapted for the screen from Joyce Smith’s own book 'The Impossible'. "Breakthrough" is an enthralling reminder that faith and love can create a mountain of hope, and sometimes even a miracle.   "Breakthrough" is based on a true story of a mother, Joyce Smith, who prayed her son back to life after he fell through a frozen lake and died and how this miracle impacted an entire community. John Smith was underneath the ice for 15 minutes, with no oxygen. When 'EMS' workers rescued him, he has no pulse. They rushed him to the emergency room and worked on him for another 45 minutes. The doctors can not bring him back to life. When Joyce comes into the emergency room and she sees her son laid out on the table, dead, instead of saying goodbye, she grabs his feet and says, ‘holy spirit please bring back my son right now'. Immediately, 'The EKG' machine begin going off. When you’re underwater for that amount of time with no oxygen, the chances of medically recovering are slim to none. And so, for John to have no brain damage, no eye damage, no lung damage, for everything to have been healed, it's medically unheard of. For these reasons it's a medical miracle. The miracle of John coming back to life is only the beginning of the story and a catalyst for a series of other miracles that followed. Even before Joyce prays for John, it's miraculous that the firefighters and first responders are able to find him in the first place. 'Lake St. Louis' is massive, like finding a needle in a haystack. Fireman Tommy Shine (Mike Colter) hears this voice, telling him where he needs to go. He thinks it’s the chief talking to him, but later finds out it isn't the chief at all. The first doctor at the local hospital, Dr. Kent Sutterer (Sam Trammell), who happened to be the father of a friend of John’s, spent 45 minutes, an unusually long time, trying to revive him. Then Dr. Garrett (Dennis Haysbert), a world renown specialist, tells John’s mother, okay, Joyce, we're going to let 'God' do the rest. John’s recovering is a miracle. But the biggest miracle is the community itself. The thing that's so powerful is because of how the community rallied around John. Joyce is a fierce mama bear. She's not afraid to speak her mind. She's her faith. Her not giving up hope and her fight for John is what really brought him through this. She’s been through a lot, but man she's strong. She's a strong woman. Joyce Smith is a force. She has faith in what she believes in and she loves her son wholeheartedly. Joyce believes that John is created for a purpose and refuses to accept what the doctors say. Her faith stayed strong and she's just like a light of love, pure love. Brian (Josh Lucas) is Joyce husband. He's a man who's more introverted, Joyce is the one who speaks up and takes the reins. Brian loves his son so much that he can't even be in the room with him when he's like this, and it's not out of lack of love. It's out of so much love that he cannot bear it. And so it's a difficult and delicate character to play because he's not this sort of forceful father. Tommy's character represents the doubters and the audience members that don't necessarily believe in miracles. Tommy is that person's point of view, so they get to experience this film through Tommy's eyes. This is a modern-day resurrection story. 'God' is operating in miracles every day, but sometimes we're so focused in our day-to-day that we don't see them. This movie, and the story of John Smith and Joyce Smith and Pastor Jason (Topher Grace) will remind people that miracles are still happening. It will remind us of the power of prayer. It’s like a ripple in a lake when you throw a rock into it. The circle keeps getting wider. Those miracles just keep moving out. The humor in this film is wonderful. You will be laughing and crying throughout the entire movie. There's a fair amount of the audience that comes to a movie like this have some apprehension about believing the story and doubt that it really happened. It’s a great portrait of this town and this community. You meet all these different people and they all connected, and by a few degrees are all related to John in some way. They all come together to offer emotional and spiritual support. It’s just a really inspiring story about positivity in a town, and just believing in something and supporting each other. The music is very important. The favorite moment of the movie is the church scene. The film opens with 'Uptown Funk' and we've 'Can’t Hold Me Down' because of actual songs from when the incident happened over 'Martin Luther King' weekend in 2015. We also have 'Oceans' which, when it comes to worship music, is one of the biggest worship songs probably in the history of worship music. We've Kirk Franklin who's a good buddy come in and do a remix for a gospel version that's performed on camera during the prayer vigil scene. Roxann Dawson isn't familiar with 'Oceans', but it's love at first listen. The film uses it as the midnight vigil that's sung outside the window on the night before John is going to go off all medication and all machines to see if he can survive. When the community gets together and really prays as one for John. We've got music that John is actually listening to, music that's on his playlist. The audience can put themselves into John's shoes. The actions he takes, his attitudes, the things that he goes through will be identifiable. The film will be a catalyst for positive transformative change in the life of everyone who sees it. We live in a time so divisive, where everybody is on different sides of the political aisle, and have different points of view on so many things. That division can keep us from reminding ourselves, we're still brothers and sisters. We're still in this together. This movie can really stimulate and be a catalyst to get people back to praying together. Audiences take away from this movie, 'Hope', 'Faith', 'Love', 'Joy', 'Community'. And that all things really are possible. They may not always work out the way you want, and may not always fall in line, but when you're down you will see who really cares about you. Sometimes things don't work out the way we want, so that we understand we're more loved than we think. Anyone who watches it will believe there really is a plan for your life. Everybody will walk out of this movie feeling there's hope for us. In a world that feels chaotic, there's hope we can find common ground. Love really is at the core of everything, if you really distill it down, and if we can come back to remembering this. Maybe this movie can help remind us in one small way. Audiences that are not necessarily faith-based come and see the movie and see a story that makes them have some questions about what's faith, and their own faith. Whether you're a believer or not you take away something from this movie, and this story more than anything makes you go there's something bigger out there. Whatever your beliefs are. It's a movie where you go home and lay in bed that night and have some interesting thoughts and questions, and maybe some challenging ones about yourself, about what you're going through in your own life. Audiences take away that love can truly move mountains. In that collective consciousness or prayer, in that quiet still time, those moments really make a difference in that you can change your life and you can change your mind. And when you do that and you believe in the power of positivity and prayer you would be amazed what could happen.

(Ninjababy, Curzon Home Cinema, Available 10 September) "Ninjababy" When Rakel (Kristin Kujath Thorn), 16, way too late, finds out she’s six months pregnant after a not-so-romantic one-night stand, her world changes. Her boyfriend Mos (Nader Khademi), who’s not the father, is kind of ok with her having a baby. But Rakel is absolutely not ready to be a mother. Since abortion is no longer an option, adoption is the only answer. That’s when 'Ninjababy' (Voice/Hermann Tâmmeraas), an animated character who insists on making Rakel’s everyday life a living hell, turns up. He climbs out from her note book, jumps into her tea cup, and keeps reminding her what a terrible person she's. Rakel has greasy hair, a laidback posture and manspread while sitting, without it becoming too much of a cliché. Rakel is unique. Someone who breaks a little with the norms, a non-conformist. Her room is dirty and messy. She becomes pregnant by accident and has to figure it out by herself in her room; paradoxically, your most fertile age. "Ninjababy" has a multiplot story in which one of the characters accidentally gets pregnant. The main focus is on the relationship between Rakel and her best friend Ingrid (Thora Christine Dietrichson). The film explores the mental aspects of carrying a child. Being pregnant, the fact that another human is growing inside you, can be emotionally overwhelming. It's an amusing movie, but you can’t overload it with gags when the main story revolves around a young girl’s unwanted pregnancy. You've find right balance between humor and the seriousness of it all. The book ends right after childbirth, but the film wants to include more. The film mixes real-world imagery with animation, and although they don’t make up a huge part of the movie’s runtime, they’re extremely important to the movie’s overall tone. It's okay to stumble and mess up, you’re going to do that many times in your life, and as long as you get back on your feet, you’ll be fine. At the same time, the film wants to address the younger generation’s fear of getting pregnant. We live in a society where getting pregnant at your most fertile age is unusual. We believe a lot of people can sympathize with feeling stuck, being in a place you don’t want to be, not truly trusting you’ll be able to handle whatever life throws at you anymore, being a shitty person. Inga H Sætre’s comic strips about 'Møkkajentene' ('Dirty Girls') came out in the early 2000s. We recognized ourself in her comical, and at times melancholy point of view. She has a reckless pen that’s both sensitive and resilient at the same time. We've always been incredibly fascinated by animation as an art form. But ever since 'Covid-19', the digital form of work has become the new norm, and unfortunately; not as fun. May the portrayal of women in 'Norwegian' film isn’t good enough. It has improved in recent years. The film wants to show that there are variations within all genders and help build a more tolerant and diverse society. The film is also about taking responsibility, growing up, and being able to push through any situation you find yourself in. A lot of pregnant women have felt the fear of becoming a mother, even those who planned for it. And in turn the feeling of care and love that develops through a pregnancy in different ways. In several instances we use the animation to describe the bodily aspect of the anxiety and uncertainty that comes with it. A lot of people can sympathize with feeling stuck, being in a place you don’t want to be, not truly trusting you’ll be able to handle whatever life throws at you anymore, being a shitty person. And people of all ages can recognize themselves in the expectations of the outside world and how that contradicts with how you feel inside. It's okay to stumble and mess up, you’re going to do that many times in your life, and as long as you get back on your feet, you’ll be fine.

Lee Chandler experiences a life changing event, and with this internal transformation we witness an external transformation, thanks to the effective costume designs of Melissa Toth. During flashbacks showing Chandler’s earlier life with a wife and children, he dresses in light and colourful clothing, such as a bright mustard t-shirt and beige shorts. These colours reflect the presence of a brighter and more comedic personality at this point, and as well as the presence of purpose in his life as a father and husband. During the present, Chandler has lost his children and subsequently his wife. This is paralleled with the loss of colour and brightness in his wardrobe. He is now seen is dark shades of blue, grey and green. This loss of colour and variation evidences his loss of joy and expression of individuality. The absence of boldness/brightness matches his absence of purpose and love/emotions in his life. Black is the colour of grief, so utilising this colour predominantly works to evidence the enduring sorrow Chandler is facing. It also emphasises the mysteriousness of this character, highlighting his loss of ability to connect to those around him in the way he used to. Furthermore, the contrast in styles and colours expresses the change in his life. Flashbacks to Chandler’s previous lifestyle show a variety of activities, such as going fishing with his nephew, or hanging out with his friends, hence a wide-ranging colourful wardrobe. Now, Chandler is mostly seen working and spending time alone and therefore restricts himself to more monotonous styles and colours. These seemingly subtle yet important developments in wardrobe assist in the shifting of moods and circumstances, as well as helping to navigate where in time the scene lies.

(Release Info U.K. schedule; April 26th, 2019, Belmont Filmhouse, Aberdeen, 49 Belmont Street, Aberdeen, AB10 1JS, 14:00 PM) "Dragged Across Concrete" A stolid, old guard policeman, Brett Ridgeman (Mel Gibson) and his volatile younger partner, Anthony Lurasetti (Vince Vaughn), find themselves suspended when a video of their strong-arming tactics going viral and become the media’s special du jour. Low on cash and with no other options, these two embittered soldiers take it upon themselves, to delve into the criminal underworld, to gain their due, but instead find far more than they wanted awaiting them in the shadows. What they uncover is more than they were expecting. In keeping with his previous output. At the start of this story, two longtime police partners, Brett Ridgeman Anthony Lurasetti are suspended for use of excessive force during the arrest of a known criminal. These two flawed, but decorated officers are ostracized for their behavior and soon find themselves reconsidering their moral codes. They're neither innocent good guys nor amoral bad guys, but human beings who do both commendable and dubious things; these two cops have no easy choices if they want to provide for their loved ones. Apart from this pair, but no less conflicted, is the third protagonist, Henry Johns (Tory Kittles). This young black man, recently released from prison, soon discovers that his mother Lana (Vivian Ng) has returned to prostitution, which she practices in the house wherein his disabled brother Jeffrey (Andrew Dunbar) lives. Disgusted with the situation, the newly freed ex-convict returns to the underworld that sent him to jail to earn some quick cash. Surrounding this trio is a large supporting cast. Included in this group is the frustrated, Melanie (Laurie Holden), a tough former cop and Ridgeman’s wife who was forced to retire from law enforcement at a young age because of a disability. There’s also Biscuit (Michael Jai White), the slightly successful wheedling criminal, who's a childhood friend of Henry Johns and his partner in a new criminal undertaking, and Denise (Tattiawna Jones), Anthony’s fiancé, an inquisitive and very observant social worker. Elsewhere is Kelly Summer (Jennifer Carpenter), a distressed young mother who must return to her job at a bank and leave her newborn baby for the first time. Lieutenant Calvert (Don Johnson) is another distinct face Ridgeman’s high-ranking former partner who offers his cohort some critical advice that may or may not be heeded. Director Craig Zahler ("Bone Tomahawk"), returns with an unflinching and gritty tale that's sure to cement his reputation as one of the leading voices in genre blending film today. It's a film about police brutality that's as unsettling as it's violent. It's rich genre fiction that has multiple viewpoints, complex characters, scenes that breathe, and moments of drama, comedy, and surprise. The film has distinct characters, narrative momentum, and moral complexity, but the sum of these elements is a far greater thing. It's a vivid fictional world. When we watch this picture we've a sense of a world and the lives beyond the events shown in the movie. These are movies that turned us into a committed movie fan and works of art that will survive and make people ask questions rather than spoon feed them answers like so many didactic movies do today. As is often the case in novels and screenplays, the protagonists are in perilous circumstances against which they struggle in different and surprising though logical ways. The look of "Dragged Across Concrete" is carefully planned in terms of lighting, color palette, and use of shadows in order to create strong atmospheres and expressive tones with these visual elements. The music is also non-intrusive and precise. Because we've faith in the script and the actors, it's not necessary to tell the audience how to feel about what's happening. The emotions comes from the content of the film, and if they don’t, the film forces it down somebody’s throat with sad music or suspenseful music. In this modern concrete landscape, a jazz orchestra illustrates the many hues of Ridgeman, Anthony, Henry Johns, Biscuit, Melanie, Kelly Summer, and the others who struggle to find their melodies. The film shows influences of hard bop composers like Charles Mingus ('Black Saint And The Sinner Lady'), John Coltrane ('Africa Brass'), and Oliver Nelson ('Blues And The Abstract Truth') as well as the great modern jazz leader Maria Schneider ('Thompson Fields') and the jazzy 'Taxi Driver' score by Bernard Hermann, though the senses of melody and harmony are quite different and resulted in a unique take on composed, orchestrated jazz. The scope and amount of plotting of this large movie required a more detailed visual style than the hand-held kind that Zahler uses in his previous pictures, but the overall approach has the same end goal; never distract the audience from the characters and the story. Although there are many highly stylized movies the film is performance-centric. The camera never gets between the actors and the audience. The film wants the audience to connect as directly with the characters as possible, elaborate crane shots and canted shots and flashy filters and long lenses work against this idea, as do using close ups as the default shot size; most things in life are not viewed in close up and people often express themselves with their hands. The environment of "Dragged Across Concrete" is bigger than those pictures and there's a larger sense of American communities and how they do and don’t co-exist.

"Corsage" Empress Elisabeth of Austria (Vicky Krieps) is idolized for her beauty and renowned for inspiring fashion trends. But in 1877, ‘Sissi’ celebrates her 40th birthday and must fight to maintain her public image by lacing her corset tighter and tighter. While Elisabeth’s role has been reduced against her wishes to purely performative, her hunger for knowledge and zest for life makes her more and more restless in Vienna. She travels to England and Bavaria, visiting former lovers and old friends, seeking the excitement and purpose of her youth. With a future of strictly ceremonial duties laid out in front of her, Elisabeth rebels against the hyperbolized image of herself and comes up with a plan to protect her legacy. We all grew up with Romy Schneider as Sissi. Depictions of Sissi are everywhere nonetheless. Sissi is certainly Viennas central tourist attraction. The trilogy still screens on television every Christmas. It depicts Empress Elisabeth as a young obedient monarch in a kitschy, folklore-style setting. This Elisabeth, on the other hand, is 40, so she’s an old woman by the standards of her day, grappling with her life and searching for some way to escape it's constraints. Why did Elisabeth have fitness equipment built for her? Why did she refuse to be painted after she was 40? This is the phase in Elisabeth’s life when, on the one hand, she begins to rebel against all the ceremony and, on the other hand, started to withdraw and isolate herself; a time when it had quite obviously become impossible for her to squeeze herself into a predetermined template. There’s that sense of always having to live up to an outsized image of yourself, as that’s the only way for you to gain recognition and love. She lives in a tight corset of self-restraint and societal censure. At first she's still keen to measure up to her own aspirations, as well as satisfying public expectations that she will conform to an idealized image. For decades she helped cement that image with her cult of beauty and iconic braided hairstyle. But Elisabeth has grown older and is tired of passing muster as an image of perfection. Riddled with despair, Elisabeth increasingly withdraws from her life. That’s exactly what the real Elisabeth is said to have done. In later life, she only appeared in public with her face hidden behind a veil, she travelled extensively, and even had a double to take her place on official occasions to avoid having to attend. This is a perpetual state of affairs in women’s lives. Being beautiful is still seen as a woman’s most important and valuable trait. What happens when we all stop pretending? Historical progress has not altered that, despite the women’s movement and emancipation. Women are still considered less valuable if they're overweight or older. An attractive female partner still boosts a man’s status. The only difference between then and now is that people used to talk openly about it; 'All you need to do is be appealing'. After a certain age, women can’t win no matter what they do; they're accused of being vain if they get some work done, but people comment on their wrinkles if they don’t. That’s a particular issue for women in the public eye, like Elisabeth, but it affects all of us because they've a kind of emblematic function. In "Corsage", Elisabeth is overwhelmed by fate. Depressive tendencies are also documented in her family. She's fascinated by poetry, by Heinrich Heine’s poems. Cocaine and heroin naturally penetrate deep into the brain and alter people’s perceptions. In addition, she constantly subjected herself to a kind of slow torture, with diets and endurance sports. Everything she tries by way of distraction appears to be in vain until ultimately the empress comes to a tragic end. What was it like being a woman in 19th -century Europe? Marriage market conventions in particular exerted enormous pressure on women. Back then, if a man married outside his class, for example, if a nobleman wed a commoner, which would have been quite unusual, the bride would promptly be given a noble title. The exact opposite applied for women. If a noblewoman married a commoner, she would need to find even more money to avoid slipping down the social ladder. Just like today, a woman was also expected to be the most beautiful, the most intelligent, the best of all. And of course, everyone lost out in that kind of competitive set-up. Above all, women’s influence steadily waned as they grew older. In those days, women essentially became invisible when they turned 40. Making herself disappear was also a desperate stab at self-empowerment on Elisabeth’s part. Written by Gregory Mann (Corsage • Showtimes London, Wed 21 Dec, Thu 22 Dec, Fri 23 Dec, Sat 24 Dec, Sun 25 Dec, Mon 26 Dec, Tue 27 Dec, Vue Cinema London - West End (Leicester Square), 500 m·Leicester Square, 3 Cranbourn Street, LONDON WC2H 7AL, United Kingdom, 19:45 Curzon Bloomsbury - 2,0 km·The Brunswick, LONDON WC1N 1AW, United Kingdom, 18:00 Vue Cinemas - 3,4 km·Islingto, 36 Parkfield Street, LONDON N1 0PS, United Kingdom, 19:45)

The film has divided critics quite a bit! Check out the Kong: Skull Island Trailer

Much hype has surrounded Spike Lee’s BLACKkKLANSMAN due to its political and racial content, drawing similarities and comparisons to the political climate faced by today’s society in the Donald Trump era of so-called divisive and extremely polarising policies. Based on the memoirs of 2014’s Black Klansman by Ron Stallworth, what does this film say, if anything, about racial inequalities from an era set 50 years before the current POTUS? THE GOOD: The Setup - What became the selling point for this comedy-drama was the hilarity of the plot where we encounter the goings-on of Ron Stallworth, the first black cop of the Colorado Springs Police Department. He quickly moves from the mundane, abusive file room, to an undercover cop who infiltrates the KKK by impersonating a ‘white guy’ over the phone. This endeavour becomes the catalyst for comedy and extreme laughter, highlighting and challenging ideas of ‘blackness’ and ‘whiteness’. The first part of the film is by far the most compelling, quickly setting up the tone, characters, and direction in an entertaining and comical manner. The story is an easy watch, never straying towards anything too complex or convoluted, instead concentrates on a strong script told by interesting, likeable protagonists. The Acting of the Protagonists - Impressive acting was abundant in this movie, including stellar, but limited performances from Alec Baldwin, Robert John Burke, Michael Buscemi, and Ryan Eggold. But it is John David Washington, playing Ron Stallworth who steals the show, whose performance was tight within moments of high-drama and comedy, to the more tender and romantic occasions. John Washington’s acting style has a strong resemblance to his father Denzel, and has clearly been influenced by his father’s mannerisms, tone, and eloquent recital of words. Although John Washington’s performance in BLACKkKLANSMAN isn’t Oscar worthy (but don’t hold me on that), it was still good enough to make us believe that he may one day follow in his father’s footsteps to achieve ‘Best Actor Award’ glory. A pleasant surprise performance came from Adam Driver who plays the more experienced undercover agent David Zimmerman. His character is equally important as Ron Stallworth and probably more interesting due to his Jewish ‘non-practising’ background. Whilst Ron initiates the infiltration over the phone, Driver continues it physically, but his ‘Jewish looks’ arouses suspicion to one of the more wacky members of the Klan who constantly goads David with questions about his background and motives. David Zimmerman reminds us that the Klan isn’t just a black-hating organisation, but one that hates everyone who doesn’t fall or fit under the category of ‘White Christian America’. Like Washington, Driver acts fairly uncontrived without being over the top or excessive, never taking any limelight away from Washington and instead, creating a fun, onscreen charismatic chemistry between them. Representation of the Minority - What seems to be a trend in films surrounding the historical inequalities of the black community (e.g. Hidden Figures, The Help), the representation of African-Americans in BLACKkKLANSMAN in a time of greater bigotry, discrimination and disparity than today, never fell to a poor state of sadness or depression, nor did they let the hate get the best of them (with the exception of one scuffle in the police station), always staying strong and optimistic with humorous interactions to fight against the debauchery of white supremacy. THE BAD: The Middle and End - As said before, BLACKkKLANSMAN takes on an interesting premise - undercover black agent infiltrates the Ku Klux Klan by impersonating a racist, xenophobic white guy over the phone. The pacing of the beginning and setup was fairly quick and helped move the film along in a way that kept the audience interested in what would happen next. However, after the infiltration occurs and Zimmerman meets the head of the faction and its members, the momentum and interest of the film takes a turn to a slower pace with nothing really happening in the story. It’s not boring per se, with romance, funny conversations with David Duke (leader of the Ku Klux Klan), and a scene involving a lie detector keeping us slightly enthused, but the change of pace compared to the beginning made the film drag slightly, and the excitement felt at the beginning disparates. Maybe one reason for the drag is that the film portrays the KKK as this violent, dangerous organisation. But it is never really felt that Zimmerman, or any members of the black liberation group were ever under threat, even though the film seemed like it was giving us hints that something major was about to happen. For example, when Stallworth drives away from the Klan after throwing a plant through their kitchen window, Felix, the most unstable member of the Klan, starts firing his gun, but Zimmerman snatches it from him and fires the gun himself only to purposely miss Stallworth. A few scenes later, Zimmerman and the Klan are on a firing range and Zimmerman hits the targets on point. Felix notices this, and it seems that Felix would work out that Zimmerman is not who he says he is. But nothing substantial ever comes of this. The biggest anti-climax though was the ending. Felix finds out through word of mouth. rather than logical deduction, during the after-dinner party of his initiation that Zimmerman is an imposter, so one would have expected havoc to take place, after all, they just initiated a Jew into their Klan and is eating at the same table as them. But like everything noted before, nothing; no drama, no action, no vengeance. Instead, the finale concentrates on Felix’s wife trying to plant a bomb in order to severely hurt and kill the members of the black liberation group. This part was OK, but rather than the occurrence being the result and natural sequential conclusion of what had gone before, it felt more like a quick ex-machina to wrap everything up, and before you know it, everyone is happy, justice is served, and everyone can go back to their day job. The Antagonists - It is most likely that the majority of the audience watching this film won’t be Donald Trump supporters, and so the biggest mistake Spike Lee makes is the characterisations of the KKK members; they are portrayed as paranoid (no matter how justifiably), feeble and stupid (really really stupid), a stereotype most middle Americans would find offensive and untrue. This is somewhat problematic, as the film does not address the issues why the support came abundant for Donald Trump. Now one could argue that these Trump supporters are paranoid, feeble and stupid, but it is more pragmatic to believe that ideologies like those is what made so many mid-Americans vote for Trump in the first place. Rather than addressing real issues and social depravations faced by white middle-America, it is quite lazy and dangerous for the film to suggest that it is stupidity that lead to the rise of the Trump presidency. What would have been more pragmatic in the film was to highlight the antagonistic character of Walter Breachway, the first member Stallworth contacts over the phone. Walter is the more level-headed, intelligent, charismatic member of the Klan, and one can see why mid-Americans would be drawn to his logical, reasonable, rational thinking, even though a blanket of racism and xenophobia underlines his dogma. Instead, the film decides to demote his status as the head of the faction and swerves towards concentrating on David Duke, a more flimsy, uncharismatic man in comparison. By concentrating on Breachway, at least the film would have offered some form of suggestion as to why supporters voted the way they did, instead of offering us this divisive reasoning, which ironically, can inadvertently bring a bigger gap to the divisions America faces today. The Message - It is clear that the message inferred in BLACKkKLANSMAN speaks about the comparisons of today’s American society under the presidency of Donald Trump, to the historical civil rights campaigns and protests of the 70s, and that after all this time nothing much has changed. It is an interesting ideology that has merits and truth, but the message in the film is so obvious and blatant that it feels slightly preachy, and seems to treat the audience with little belief that they are smart enough to work out semiotics in subtle ways. The last few images of the film were historical scenes of the KKK to the 2017 protests and rallies of Charlottesville, highlighting the tragic death of Heather Hayes, a victim who died after being run over from a vicious car attack. The shift in tone was so abrupt and juxtaposed from the light humour of the film, that the end sequences had a big, emotional impact. Were these images really necessary in any way? Not quite sure. Either way, it is fair to assume that the last few scenes had an impassioned strong-hold on the audience, and so BLACKkKLANSMAN may have had a different affect without it. The Verdict - It was ok. Not as tight or profound as Jordan Peele’s 2017 film Get Out, so not really a must see for the cinema, but no harm in watching it when the film does comes out online. The good humour and the good acting was a delight to see, but the overbearing message and the misuse of characters over-simplified recent historical events. The film neither asks the question or goes into depth as to why Donald Trump became the United States’ President, nor does it give any solution to the ‘Donald Trump problem’. Whilst the intention of the film can be applauded, it feels like the film is exploiting recent events rather than making a commentary about them. Rating: 6½/10