• Destroyer

    January 29, 2019 - By 

    In Destroyer, Nicole Kidman is cast against type as Erin Bell, a Los Angeles homicide detective haunted by her past. It’s a startling performance from Kidman and one that could have put her in the running to feature in the best actress category at this year’s Academy Awards. We can wonder about the reasons for the omission another time. Destroyer is a middling thriller that benefits enormously from the work of its outstanding lead. When a body is discovered on the streets of LA, Erin Bell comes to believe that the murder is connected to a botched undercover operation she…

  • The Upside

    January 16, 2019 - By 

    Phillip Lacasse doesn’t want to be patronised. Played by Bryan Cranston, the disabled billionaire, rendered paralysed from the neck down by a paragliding accident, doesn’t want people making a fuss over him, speaking over him or adopting that pitying tone you would take with a shy child. He hires unemployed ex-con Dell (Kevin Hart, making the radical leap from bad comedy to bad comic drama) as his live-in life auxiliary precisely because he doesn’t tiptoe around his condition. How unfortunate, then, that he finds himself in a film that is so consistently patronising: to him, to his new buddy, and,…

  • The Killing of a Sacred Deer

    November 13, 2017 - By 

    If an up close and personal view of a real open heart surgical procedure is rather off-putting, then you aren’t going to get off to a great start with the latest movie from Greek writer/director Yorgos Lanthimos (The Lobster). But as with all his previous work, like the dementedly clever Dogtooth, The Killing of a Sacred Deer will be an acquired taste for those that like to delve into the surreal and absurd. And while it doesn’t quite have the originality and socially-aware bite of his previous films, this is still a worthy addition to his repertoire that benefits greatly…