Snowden movie review: the system’s self-correction
A gripping précis of what Edward Snowden learned at the CIA and NSA, why he went public, and why it matters. Entertaining yet also deeply unsettling.
reviews
Carrie Pilby movie review: how to be an intellectual romantic
A fairly familiar romantic dramedy distinguishes itself because its awkward, immature nerd is a young woman, poignantly portrayed by the wonderful Bel Powley.
Smurfs: The Lost Village movie review: how do you solve a problem like Smurfette?
An adventure crammed with junky slapstick and garish animation that seems to believe it is feminist, but only doubles down on Smurfily regressive notions of gender.
Bokeh movie review: blurry, lonely lives at the end of the world
A pretty blur of an apocalypse happens to pretty, blurry people in this dull SF drama. This end of the world brought to you by the Reykjavik Tourist Board.
The Void movie review: retro monsters, alien mystery
It’s Lovecraft by way of The Thing and Alien in this satisfyingly schlocky 80s throwback, complete with practical FX. A genuinely eerie experience.
Ghost in the Shell movie review: more like ghost in the meh-chine
Trite characters, very well-worn clichés of SF cinema, and a mystery that is completely transparent. All about production design, and even that is familiar.
CHiPs movie review: they promised chip would happen, and it did
Toilet humor, cars exploding for no reason, random naked boobies, and gay panic… although, weirdly, also lots of awkward, unerotic nearly naked Dax Shepard.
Dig Two Graves movie review: and bury this deep
Muddy and muddled 70s-style backwoods gothic Americana only comes to life when it rises to the accidentally silly. Little more than an incoherent showreel.
Another Mother’s Son movie review: punching Nazis, mom style
Not alt-history but a true story from a Nazi-occupied English-speaking place, a hugely relevant reminder that resistance to injustice is an absolute imperative.
T2 Trainspotting movie review: GenX running out of steam but chugging on
The sparse, cold satisfaction that could be wrung from Trainspotting’s punk insolence has been replaced by an exhausted cynicism. Which is exactly right.
