Senna (2011) Documentary charting the rise and tragic demise of Ayrton Senna, Brazilian Formula 1 racing superstar and "the best driver who ever lived". Rating: MMMM Director: Asif Kapadia Starring: Ayrton Senna,...
Whip It (2010) Coming of age sports movie Whip It is the directorial debut of actress turned producer Drew Barrymore. Rating: MMMM Director: Drew Barrymore Starring: Ellen Page, Kristen Wiig, Marcia Gay Harden,...
Invictus (2010) Rating: MMMMM Clint Eastwood’s latest film, Invictus tells the story of the true events that followed the 1994 election of Nelson Mandela as President of South Africa, and Mandela’s subsequent...
Avatar (2009) Rating: MM Review of James Cameron's uber-blockbuster and long anticipated space adventure epic, Avatar. Director: James Cameron Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Giovanni Ribisi, Zoe Saldana,...
Me & Orson Welles (2009) Rating: MMMM Review of Richard Linklater's 1930s set period piece about the great Orson Welles' theatrical triumph - his version of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. Director: Richard Linklater Starring:...
Rating: MMM
On the sofa with the 2008 glossy adaptation of Noel Coward’s 1920s set comedy of errors, Easy Virtue.
Director: Stephan Elliot
Starring: Jessica Biel, Colin Firth, Kristin Scott Thomas, Ben Barnes
Running time: 92 mins
Rating: MMMM
Review of Julie & Julia, the meeting of two true stories about love, cooking and the love of cooking.
Director: Nora Ephron
Starring: Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, Stanley Tucci, Chris Messina
Running time: 123 mins
Rating: MMMM
Review of extra-terrestrial sci-fi thriller District 9 produced by Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings) and directed by Neil Blomkamp
Director: Neil Blomkamp
Starring: Sharlto Copley, Vanessa Haywood, Jason Cope, Louis Minnaar, David James
Running time: 112 mins
Rating: MMM+
Review of Spanish auteur Pedro Almodóvar’s latest film, Broken Embraces (Los Abrazos Rotos), starring his current screen muse Penélope Cruz.
Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Starring: Penélope Cruz, Lluis Homar, Blanca Portillo, Tamar Noves, José Luis Gómez
Running time: 127 mins
Rating: MMMM
Review of Adventureland, which follows young James Brennan one summer in the mid 1980s as he takes up a crappy summer job at the local down-and-out theme park.
Director: Greg Mottola
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Bill Hader, Ryan Reynolds
Running time: 107 mins
Rating: MMMM
Review of sunny, seasonal romantic-comedy, (500) Days of Summer, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt (‘3rd Rock From The Sun’) and Zooey Deschanel.
Director: Marc Webb
Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Zooey Deschanel, Clark Gregg
Running time: 95 mins
Rating: MMMM
Review of Coco Avant Chanel, biopic of French fashion designer and style icon,
Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel, starring Audrey Tautou and Alessandro Nivola. French with English subtitles.
Director: Anne Fontaine
Starring: Audrey Tautou, Alessandro Nivola, Benoit Poelvoorde, Marie Gillain
Running time: 105 mins
Rating: MMMM
Review of Michael Mann’s ‘biopic’ of the notorious American criminal, John Dillinger.
Director: Michael Mann
Starring: Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, Marion Cotillard, David Wenham, Stephen Dorff
Running time: 140 mins
Rating: MMMM
Review of the new Disney-Pixar film Up, not released in cinemas until October this year but screened at Glastonbury Festival in the Pilton Palais cinema tent.
Director: Pete Docter, Bob Peterson
Starring: (voices) Edward Asner, Christopher Plummer, Jordan Nagai
Running time: 96mins
Rating: MMMM
Review of Coraline first published in a May 2009 issue of Spark*, the newspaper of Reading University Students’ Union.
Director: Henry Selick
Starring (voices): Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, Ian McShane
Running time: 100 mins