Rebel Without a Pause Button

Woody Allen's Cafe Society is really nothing we haven't seen before: the tale of a hapless romantic Bobby (Jesse Eisenberg) who moves to Hollywood in search of work and ends up falling in love with the charming Vonnie (Kristen Stewart)  has been told countless times before . The setting of late 30's America, rich furs and jazz music aplenty, is far from original too. Clearly, Allen's latest is far from ambitious and retreads familiar ground for the director but the film just manages to prove its worth with two likeable protagonists and gorgeous cinematography. If anyone were to play Allen in a biopic of his life, it could only be Eisenberg. As Bobby, he adopts the fretful gait and frenetic, half-stuttering voice that is instantly recognisable from any number of Allen's past roles.  The impression is far from perfect and lacks some of the charm of Allen but it doesn't feel too much of a departure from Eisenberg's usual, awkward style...

Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg's food-based animated flick is a parody of all things Disney and Pixar and takes no time in establishing its target audience, with swears dominating the script from start to finish.  If you've seen the trailer, you've seen the movie. Or at least the only good joke. The whole point of Sausage Party is simply to get cutesy things to say nasty things, dressing up a sweary shock comedy as a cheery kids film.    Of course, such foul language would be fine if the comedy were actually funny. But disappointingly, there isn't really that much comedy. Well, comedy that actually works anyway. The frequent food-based puns are amusing for the first few minutes until you realise that they make up 90% of the film. The surprise in seeing hot dog buns and baby carrots cursing at each other wears off quickly, showing how one great trailer can't be stretched into a full length film when little else is added. Even the clever Saving Private Ryan ref...

We Are Your Friends looks to cover new ground in exploring the electronic music scene and the DJs at the heart of it. The film attracted a very mixed reception upon its release last year, with some denouncing its simplistic portrayal of the US's current rave scene while others praised Zac Efron in his portrayal of aspiring DJ Cole Carter. However, the film subsequently bombed at the box office, taking a pitiful $11 million in total. Was this simply due to the ambitious and unique subject matter that audiences weren't used to or the film simply being a failure?  Few films have explored the modern American electronic music scene and the increasingly ludicrous world of DJing so We Are Your Friends had plenty of potential and original ideas to explore. However, what we get instead is a tired, cliched coming of age story as Cole and his friends dream of escaping the San Fernando Valley and moving to L.A. Cue an abundance of party scenes, horribly forced ba...

CONTAINS ONLY MINIMAL PLOT DETAILS AND NO SPOILERS  2008's Cloverfield was an effective, if somewhat gimmicky, found footage disaster flick that came out of nowhere to surprise audiences with its apocalyptic 9/11 metaphors and impressive effects. 8 years on and we have 10 Cloverfield Lane, a "spiritual sequel" that was revealed with cleverly minimal advertising and few plot details. Converted from a previous project known as "The Cellar" and subjected to extensive re-writes from Whiplash's Damien Chazelle, this is not the successor to the JJ Abrams' produced original that some may have expected. Instead, 10 Cloverfield Lane is a unique and claustrophobic psychological thriller that makes brave steps away from the genre boundaries. The story centers around Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) who, while fleeing from her fiance, is hit by a car. She awakes in a basement where Harold (John Goodman) tells her he rescued her from a nationwide attack by...

A list of the most unique and intelligent film-makers working today wouldn't be complete without Charlie Kaufman. The American screenwriter and director has become a well-established figure for standout films such as Synecdoche New York (which I place among the very best films of all time), Adaptation and Being John Malkovich. Add to the list Anomalisa, a stop-motion project that may just be Kaufman's quirkiest project yet. Teaming up with Duke Johnson (who directed the excellent stop-motion christmas Community episode), the crowd-funded film was an intriguing idea that took over 3 years to finish. And if Synecdoche New York was Kaufman's sprawling, expansive masterpiece then Anomalisa is quite the opposite: Compact and simplistic in concept but with a hell of a lot to say. Customer service expert Michael Stone (voiced by David Thewlis) arrives in Cincinnati to deliver a book talk and checks into a hotel. It is clear that Michael is a troub...

In some ways I regret seeing the Witch. A tinge of paranoia and a slight sickness have haunted me since seeing it, such is the power of Robert Egger's directorial debut. This 1600-set folk tale was a greatly anticipated and much hyped project, attracting a huge buzz at the Sundance Film Festival. And it delivers on every hope and expectation to an incredible degree. The central family of the film, led by father William (Ralph Ineson), are introduced being expelled from their settlement for implied misdemeanours and religious overzealousness. As the family set out through the harsh and beautifully shot landscape (high praise to Jarin Blaschke for the stunning cinematography), it is instantly made clear that the Witch is not for the faint of heart. A missing family member has disturbingly grisly consequences and it is soon obvious that the settlers are far from alone.  Much of the Witch's deep rooted tension is down to I...

To the surprise of many, the docu-drama Spotlight swooped in and plucked the Oscar for best picture out of the Revenant's hands at last night's ceremony. Being the first best picture winner since The Greatest Show on Earth in 1953 to win only one other Oscar, how did Spotlight win? 1. It is a David and Goliath story Spotlight follows the story of a lowly team of Boston Globe journalists attempting to investigate the powerful Catholic Church, pitting the tiny Spotlight team against the might of the deeply Church. In fact, this is a common theme among a number of this year's contenders: The Big Short fights the bankers, Mad Max revolves around the struggle of the "wives" against their oppressors, Bridge of Spies fights for justice against the Russian and American intelligence agencies while The Martian deals with Nasa bureaucracy. It is clear that the struggle against the many is a favourite theme within the academy. 2. It has an impressive ensemble ...