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The latest high-octane installment to the Fast and Furious series sees Vin Diesel return alongside his crew to battle new menace Owen Shaw, and proves the films are not yet out of gears. Since the release of The Fast and the Furious twelve years ago, the franchise has amassed a strong fan-base. While certainly successful, […]
Continue ReadingOnce upon a time, not too long ago, mere mention the name ‘Disney’ evoked blissful memories and rapturous emotion for viewers young and old. Films like Bambi and Dumbo have forever etched their names into the lore of immortal cinema, and the company’s entire enterprise is a great example of an utterly cornered market. Granted, […]
Continue ReadingAs that Dance of the Knights blared out from my laptop last night, I had to pinch myself. Not only was The Apprentice back, but it was a double bill. The reaction to the show always surprises me year on year. The sceptics are continuously banging on about a tired format with expectable results. I […]
Continue ReadingIn his third directorial outing, Jeff Nichols takes things back to the Arkansas of his childhood and his directorial début, Shotgun Stories. The nostalgia dial that they have in Hollywood production suites – the one that makes everything dappled and golden and just a little shaky – is set to eleven as the fourteen year-old […]
Continue ReadingAs you read this, film buffs the world over quarrel fervently over something that you and I would probably never be able to discern with our layman’s eyes. Something that (at first glance) seems so monumentally unimportant that we’d be happy to take either side, content that the results garnered would be much the same. […]
Continue ReadingArrested Development is returning 26th May. If you didn’t know this, where have you been for the last ten months? If you don’t know what Arrested Development is, where have you been for the last ten years? Fans of the cult hit meta-comedy are sadly a rare bunch, even in Oxford – I am always […]
Continue ReadingReaders of the OxStu, do not be afraid. I know I come to you sheathed in a blinding light, glowing like the holy (in a sassy way) love child of Beyoncé and the Angel Gabriel, but know that I mean no harm. I am here to help you. As a kind of self-appointed Screen section […]
Continue ReadingAs we’ve all been told a thousand times before, you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. I’m So Excited, the latest film from Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar (Volver, The Skin I Live In) also suggests that you can’t judge a film by its trailer. The Spanish title, Los Amantes Pasajeros, a pun meaning both […]
Continue ReadingCallie Khouri’s Nashville-set drama focussing on the country music business has now hit mid-season, and is still going strong. Although it can be predictable, there are enough twists and surprises, especially in terms of character development, to keep you hooked. Reigning ‘queen of country’ Rayna Jaymes (Connie Britton) and tween fan-magnet Juliette Barnes (Hayden Panettiere) […]
Continue ReadingAs part of Keble Arts Festival, on Thursday Oxford’s own Hacked Off Films followed last term’s successful Ferris Bueller’s Day Off screening with an immersive tribute to Darren Aronofsky’s unsettling psychodrama, Black Swan. After its release in 2010 the film saw Natalie Portman deservedly scoop up multiple Best Actress awards for her appearance as ambitious […]
Continue ReadingLast week MTV confirmed rumours that have been flying around for almost a year by announcing that Wes Craven’s Scream franchise will be adapted into a television programme. The pilot isn’t due to land until Summer 2014, but journalists and bloggers have already turned to various animal-related clichés, suggesting that this is a case of […]
Continue ReadingSpielberg. Tarantino. Boyle. Nolan. What do some of the biggest household names in cinema have in common? They are all male. It’s a sad fact that even in 2013, women are underrepresented and often underappreciated in the entertainment industry. Distinguished actresses like Meryl Streep and Maggie Smith may have racked up multiple Best Actress Oscars […]
Continue ReadingSam Raimi once described his original The Evil Dead as The Three Stooges but with gore instead of custard pies. The 1981 version is the locus classicus of a myriad of horror tropes and clichés that have since been used and abused to death. Many horror films that have come since owe their hallmarks to […]
Continue ReadingMade in Chelsea is arguably the most divisive programme on television. More than any other show, it polarises viewers; there are those that decry the inept plotting, dreadful dialogue and woeful attempts at acting, yet fans find every ridiculous plot twist more enjoyable than the last. By all conventional measures, MiC ranks amongst the worst […]
Continue ReadingSometimes, things happen which are difficult to explain: Snuggies, Keeping Up With the Kardashians (‘so like, you just WATCH their LIVES?’) and that weird meteorite thing that hit Russia the other week which nobody’s really talking about are all good examples. Perhaps the most perplexing phenomenon of our time occurred last Friday, when FOX announced […]
Continue ReadingOn January 12th 2006, a momentous thing happened: the episode of The US Office wherein Michael Scott grills his foot (if you know, you just know) aired for the first time. This episode, which will be hereby referred to as the greatest television achievement of all time (Mad Men, I’m sorry and I love you […]
Continue ReadingAfter an achingly long wait, the unmistakeable churning of strings signifies the return of Mad Men. Matthew Weiner left us with many unanswered questions: did Don manage to keep that new leaf upturned? How will Joan fare as a partner in Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce (Harris Campbell)? Will Pete Campbell ever grow up? In this […]
Continue ReadingSoon to be released on DVD, Silver Linings Playbook tests the limits of romantic comedy with its bleak and unflinching portrayal of mental illness. Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper star as Tiffany and Pat, two unemployed twenty-somethings struggling to rebuild their lives in the drab landscape of suburban America. Pat is a manic depressive former […]
Continue ReadingAyes: 125 Noes: 167 Back when the Oxford Union decided to admit female members in 1963, no one in their right mind could have claimed that “we are all feminists now”. The first speaker, leading silk and barrister Michael Beloff, was Union president at the time. He remembers that the issue was “as controversial in […]
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