Film Review: Southpaw

Posted on 4th August 2015 by 5WC in Film

It’s been very nearly a month since I saw Amy, the last film I’ve watched. I think I’d literally reached a point where I felt saturated by the concentration they demand and the subsequent pressure to write these reviews. However, over the past week or so I’ve started to feel a natural draw back towards them. I’ve started to feel like I want to lose myself into their worlds, to debate their stories and feel their emotions once again.

I knew nothing about Southpaw until I saw the trailer before the screening of Mr Holmes and yet, that brief tease was enough to worm the film into my life and make me want to see it. The trailer did it job and I’ve been patiently waiting for it to arrive. It’s pull was strong enough to get me back into the cinema even though the general reviews I’ve heard, including an interview with lead actor Jake Gyllenhaal, did little to suggest the film was actually any good. Read more

Film Review: Enemy

Posted on 5th January 2015 by 5WC in Film

I find it really interesting that one fact can be taken by two different people and used to make entirely reflected points. Seven days after Mark Kermode had said that On-Demand film services and cross platform releases were a good thing as they allowed the widest possible audience the chance to view a film that would otherwise pass them by simultaneously; James King, ironically sitting in for Kermode, declared that anything released onto the small screen through On-Demand at the same time as the big screen was a sign of potential downfall in quality.

And one such example is Jake Gyllenhaal’s latest offering – Enemy. Currently getting a very limited big screen run, it is also available through Curzon’s Home Cinema service, and with Gyllenhaal’s stock on the rise after his performance in Nightcrawler, I thought I’d give it a go. Read more

Film Review: Nightcrawler

Posted on 1st November 2014 by 5WC in Film

There has been a lot of hype recently about Nightcrawler and specifically about the performance of Jake Gyllenhaal. His depiction is apparently so striking and impressive that there has been serious mentions of award success, as well as, the much over used “career defining breakthrough” phraseology.

I, as with a lot of movies recently, have been a little bit torn as to whether I really wanted to see Nighcrawler. The reviews and praise of Gyllenhaal drew me towards it, but when I finally saw the trailer while waiting for Gone Girl to start, I wasn’t instantly sold. I’d heard it to be a gritty, dark, twisted tale about the arguably immoral world of American crime journalism. And yet, the trailer seems to portray a very different tone. There is glitz, and while not glamour, it certainly appeared to be a much glossier and faster paced film than I expected to see. Read more