Festivals: Edinburgh Film Festival Reviews
Edinburgh 2018 Review: SAVING BRINTON Unearths Early Cinema Magic
“I like to save things, especially if it looks as if they’re too far gone,” says Michael Zars at the beginning of this documentary, and it’s soon apparent how true that statement is. Dogs, cats, plants, church steeples and ancient...
Edinburgh 2017 Review: Love and Paganism In THE DARK MILE
Louise (Rebecca Calder), decked out in a heavy fisherman’s sweater and yellow raincoat, is ready to escape from the stress of city life and the recent sting of a failed attempt at IVF for a boating break in the Scottish...
EIFF 2011 - JACK GOES BOATING Review
This is a reprint of a review first published at BlogCritics.org. Philip Seymour Hoffman has long since solidified himself as one of the very best character actors working today, moving from role to role and genre to genre and fitting in...
EIFF 2011 - STORMHOUSE Review
This is a reprint of a review first published at BlogCritics.org. Sitting (un)comfortably as one of the biggest disappointments of the EIFF 2011, Dan Turner's Stormhouse takes a potentially interesting premise and (mostly) squanders it on cheap jump scares and unnecessary bouts of...
EIFF 2011 - GHOSTED Review
This is a reprint of a review first published at BlogCritics.org. The prison drama has been done over and over and over again, with typically varied results. Some leave a lasting impression as all-time classics (The Shawshank Redemption springs to mind) while...
EIFF 2011 - PAGE EIGHT Review
This is a reprint of a review first published at BlogCritics.org. Making its world premiere at the EIFF 2011, Page Eight may be about the world where politics and security are inextricably entwined but the strengths of the film lie in the electric...
EIFF 2011 - WEEKENDER Review
This is a reprint of a review first published at BlogCritics.org. Weekender is one of those films which will play a lot better to fans of the particular subject matter, in this case it's the rave music scene of the late...
EIFF 2011 - PERFECT SENSE Review
This is a reprint of a review first published at BlogCritics.org After directing the likes of Hallam Foe and Young Adam, director David Mackenzie returns with an ambitious film about a global apocalypse, seen mostly through the eyes of a budding couple, played by Ewan...
EIFF 2011 - BLEAK NIGHT Review
This is a reprint of a review first published at BlogCritics.orgWinner of the New Current Award at the 2010 Pusan International Film Festival, Sung-hyun Yoon's Bleak Night is one of those modern Korean dramas that moves at its own deliberate pace, taking...
EIFF 2011 - JITTERS Review
[This is a reprint of a review first published at BlogCritics.org]Comparisons are being immediately drawn between Baldvin Zophoníasson's Icelandic teen drama Jitters and the Brit TV show Skins. I've never seen an episode of that show so I can't confirm the comparisons but something tells...
EIFF 2011 - TROLL HUNTER Review
[This is a reprint of a review first published at BlogCritics.org]Troll Hunter is just one in a long line of "found footage" films purporting to be unedited footage showing unbelievable events in the style of a home movie or documentary. The Blair...
EIFF 2011 - THE CALLER Review
[This is a reprint of a review first published at BlogCritics.org]The Caller is a classic example of a film with a great premise that it doesn't know what to do with once it has been introduced. Piling ridiculous plot point on...
EIFF 2011 - THE LAST CIRCUS Review
[This is a reprint of a review first published at BlogCritics.org]Bizzare. Weird. Unique. Bold. All words that could be used to describe Álex de la Iglesia's wonderfully wacky The Last Circus. An obvious cult film right from the outset (i.e. one...
EIFF 2011 - ALBATROSS Review
[This is a reprint of a review published at BlogCritics.org]Making its world premiere at the EIFF 2011, Niall MacCormick's coming-of-age comedy-drama Albatross is destined to be one of the most talked about and beloved British films of the year, not least because...
EIFF 2011 - ELITE SQUAD 2: THE ENEMY WITHIN Review
[This is a reprint of a review published at BlogCritics.org]José Padilha's 2007 film Elite Squad was a tough, gritty and frankly badass crime/action film that told of the dangerous, drug-filled slums of Rio De Janeiro and the special police force unit BOPE (aka...
EIFF 2011 - PROJECT NIM Review
[This is a reprint of a review published at BlogCritics.org]Documentary fans will undoubtedly be highly anticipating the new film from director James Marsh, who brought us the fascinating Oscar-winning documentary Man On Wire a few years back. And thankfully Marsh doesn't disappoint...
EIFF 2011 - CALVET Review
Just because (in definition) a documentary presents real life, hopefully without bias or unfair manipulation, doesn't mean it can't tell a good story. Calvet proves this with its compelling almost narrative-like true story of a man with a very troubled...
EIFF 2011 - OUR DAY WILL COME Review
[This is a reprint of a review published at BlogCritics.org]Director Romain Gavras (most known internationally for his controversial video for the M.I.A. song "Born Free") brings his gritty sensibilities to feature filmmaking with Our Day Will Come, a surprisingly entertaining, if uneven and...
EIFF 2011 - SHUT UP LITTLE MAN! AN AUDIO MISADVENTURE Review
Often the real power of a good documentary is to fascinate and have a viewer hooked even if they aren't already interested in or don't have existing knowledge of the subject matter at hand. That's exactly what happened to me...
EIFF 2011 - PHASE 7 Review
This is a reprint of a review published at BlogCritics.org.It's still early days of the EIFF 2011 but I am sad to say we already have our first dud. Nicolás Goldbart's sci-fi/action/comedy Phase 7 is a misfire on many levels, not least in...
