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Love Actually is my favourite Christmas film. When Santa’s sack of vac scheme deadlines pushes me to the edge, I like to kick back and relax to some wholesome content. This is my escapism of choice. Love Actually is not only touching and profound but offers a vision of a better Britain. Fans of ‘multikulti’ […]
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It feels like only yesterday when my eleven-year-old-self was given an old copy of Empire magazine by my father. It listed the greatest science fiction films of all time, and the dystopian section of the publication immediately caught my eye. Or perhaps it was the glaring, stylised eye of the figure in the image that […]
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Netflix’s new seasonal special, The Christmas Wedding Planner, received almost universally dire online reviews, with one viewer writing, ‘I created an IMDd account just to warn people what a waste of time awful movie this is. Absolutely horrible’. It is so bad that there has even been speculation that Netflix commissioned it purely to lure […]
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Last year, professional oddball James Franco directed and starred in The Disaster Artist, a movie documenting the making of The Room (2003). Directed, written, and produced by, as well as starring, the mysterious Tommy Wiseau, The Room is mesmerizingly awful on every level, and was panned by every critic who saw it on its original […]
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The choice to entirely change a book’s plot might be controversial, but no reader can expect filmmakers to translate literature word for word onto the silver screen, nor can the author hope to have any creative role once the rights have been sold. Changes don’t necessarily do disservice to the original literature and its meaning, […]
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Ever since Dustin Hoffman won the Oscar for Best Actor playing Rain Man, half of Best Actor Oscars have been won by men playing characters with significant disability. The 2018 Academy Awards have recently graced our screens; including Eddie Redmayne’s Oscar-winning performance last year in The Theory of Everything as motor neurone disease (MND) sufferer […]
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This one’s for the culture vultures. With a blend of creativity and culture, the combination of an art festival with a trip abroad is a recipe for a truly inspirational holiday for both a travel and art-lover. From the ‘Olympics of the art world’, to paintings in Irish pubs, here are three of the best […]
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In the 2012 World Cities Culture Report – an international survey examining the cultural offerings of twelve cities – it was revealed that Paris had the highest number of cinemas in the world at 302; almost three times that of London. This hardly comes as a surprise – France is widely considered the birthplace of […]
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Loving Vincent is the world’s first fully painted feature film. Under the direction of husband-and-wife duo Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman, 125 artists worked for six years to produce this animated biographical film about the life and mysterious death of Vincent van Gogh, primarily in the unique and instantly-recognisable painting style of the artist himself. […]
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You’d be forgiven for mistaking Martin McDonagh’s latest work for a Coen brothers film. Many of the duo’s hallmarks are present, from the film’s dark tongue-in cheek humour and sharp moments of violence to the presence of the brilliantly blunt and snarky Frances McDormand. There’s also a hint of Tarantino in his razor-sharp dialogue, but […]
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At its premiere at the 74th Venice Film Festival, Darren Aronofsky’s latest film, mother!, simultaneously received both rapturous applause and boos from the audience. The response from critics and audiences alike has echoed that initial response: split between gushing praise and, at times, violent criticism. It is not hard to see why: this allegorical tale […]
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Ah, the humble toilet. An essential mainstay of any standard household, yet often grossly underappreciated on the silver screen. For too long the proverbial privy has remained in the background in favour of its human users. So, to honour the noble loo, here are six of its most notable appearances. Psycho (1960) The toilet flushes […]
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BAFTA and Emmy-winning director Susanna White has worked with the best dramatic talent offered by British drama, from Sherlock’s Benedict Cumberbatch to Downton Abbey’s Maggie Smith. From BBC serials such as Bleak House and Jane Eyre, the HBO series Generation Kill, and feature film Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang, her filmography and career is […]
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Appropriately for the title, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 feels like something of a mixtape movie. Whilst the original very much had a driving narrative built around a magical macguffin, Vol. 2 feels a somewhat looser affair, built more around fun vignettes that although linked can feel fairly disparate. It’s a mixtape of jokes, […]
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“Rediscover a tale as old as time,” ran the tagline of the extensive marketing campaign which accompanied this remake’s release. From the start, Disney have been aware of the sanctity of their source material; few animated films are so beloved or well-remembered as The Beauty and the Beast. The original is still the only animated […]
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Denis Villeneuve tends to be a filmmaker fixated by the darkness at the heart of humanity, with his previous works featuring such cheery themes as torture, the unending cycle of cartel violence and anti-feminist massacres. It’s something of a relief then to see him move to somewhat lighter territory in Arrival, a fundamentally hopeful and […]
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Christmas is here, or at least Oxmas is, and as our term (thankfully to be honest) begins to draw to a close, it’s time to start looking forward to the exciting new films and shows hitting our screens – while not forgetting of course those seasonal classics. So, as I thank you for reading my […]
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2016, amongst all the social upset, has produced some great films! Many of these have been politically charged, shedding some light onto current turmoil by providing critical inquiry into culture and even proposing alternatives. Granted, I have not seen all the releases of 2016. In particular, I should note, I didn’t get to see Ciro […]
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Sometimes, even the most-watched movies and programmes don’t always get it right, with storylines, jokes or casting that spark debate or even cause offense among viewers. But as the audience, how we should respond to films and TV shows with problematic elements, whether it be underlying sexism, homophobia or a lack of diversity, and is […]
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