A sheep in wolf’s clothing — by which I mean a B-movie in Euro-arthouse clothing — The Unseen shoulders its way into the dynasty of slow-burn horror films about middle class parents escaping to some distant place to cope with the grief of losing a child. Writer-director Gary Sinyor has a history of lightweight rom-coms…
Based “mostly” on a true story (in other words, fictional), Stephen Frears’ (“Florence Foster Jenkins”) Victoria and Abdul is an ode to the warmth of simple friendship and the wonders of British colonialism. Based on the book by Shrabani Basu with a screenplay by Lee Hall (“War Horse”), it is an engaging film about the…
Okay. Alright. Okay. Alright. So. “Kingsman: The Secret Service” was admittedly a surprise hit for most people. I, like many, found that it was an inventive, satirical yet loving take on the spy genre in just the right climate. Much like “Kick-Ass” before, Matthew Vaughn took an imaginative, but ultimately flaccid, concept of Mark Millar’s…
Victorian London has been an effective setting since virtually the beginning of cinema, perhaps unsurprisingly since it was during this period that moving pictures first appeared. From the first adaptation of “The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde” to Basil Rathbone’s incarnation of “Sherlock Holmes,” from Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Lodger” to Johnny Depp’s…
Eat Locals begins with a group of vampires convening in an English country farmhouse. Like Mafioso, they’re here to discuss their turf. Saucy Vanessa (Eve Myles, “Keeping Faith” TV series) has seduced a young Romany bloke named Sebastian (Billy Cook, “Trespass Against Us”) and introduced him as a potential replacement for a rogue vampire who’s…
For a British voter and cinemagoer, it is a singular experience to see a film about Winston Churchill in the aftermath of a general election. The film is especially distinctive in 2017, as the British government displays all manner of contradictions and at times inadequacies, whereas Churchill, both the film and the legend of the…
My Cousin Rachel is a smart and evocative exercise in wrongfooting. Right from the beginning — or possibly the end — Roger Michell’s adaptation of Daphne du Maurier’s novel expresses doubt and ambiguity, as narrator/protagonist Philip (Sam Claflin, “Me Before You”) asks “Was she? Wasn’t she?” By the end of the film, any answered questions…
