Unsane (Cinema Review)

15 – 98mins – 2018

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THE GIFT OF FEAR

Magic Mike maestro Steven Soderbergh bounces back after what was, for me, an unengaging misfire (2017’s heist dramedy Logan Lucky) with a bold and unconventional low-key experiment: psychological thriller Unsane was filmed entirely on iPhones! While the film isn’t shot as though diegetically through a mobile phone (fear not, shaky cam haterz!), Soderbergh ratchets up the paranoia and tension with many tight angles and close ups. Combine this with murky, natural lighting and a lack of cinematic sheen and Unsane certainly succeeds in evoking a dark, unsettling tone.

My Cousin Rachel (Cinema Review)

12A – 106mins – 2017

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YOU BEFORE ME

Orphaned as a child and raised by his older cousin, Philip Ashley (Sam Me Before You Claflin) remains in written communication with his guardian when sickness calls for Ambrose (also Claflin) to sojourn to warmer climes in the winter. Ambrose informs Philip that while in Italy he has met and swiftly fallen in love with Rachel (Rachel Youth Weisz), a cousin to them both, whom he marries. But worrying insinuations and a despairing tone to Ambrose’s letters perturbs Philip, who journeys out to Florence expecting to find his frail caregiver at the behest of a beastly gold-digger.

The Brand New Testament (DVD Review)

15 – 110mins – 2015 – French with English Subtitles

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GETTING EVEN WITH DAD

“God exists. He lives in Brussels.”

Accompanied by an eclectic soundtrack which aptly oscillates between grandiose ecclesiastic classical suites and absurdist circus music, this Golden Globe-nominated French language satire is as brilliantly brave and barmy as it is scathingly blasphemous.

The 9th Life of Louis Drax (DVD Review)

15 – 108mins – 2016

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LOUIS IN BLUNDERLAND

Typically associated with the horror genre having created such prominent hits as Switchblade Romance, The Hills Have Eyes and Piranha remakes, Mirrors and Horns over the past 14 years, French director Alexandre Aja – still only 38 years old! – branched out from his comfort zone with this surreal adaptation of Liz Jensen’s bizarre 2005 psychological mystery novel.

INSIDE NO. 9, 3.5 – “Diddle Diddle Dumpling” (TV Review)

BBC Two – Tuesday 14^th March 2017 – 10pm

Created and written by: Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton

Directed by: Guillem Morales

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#THELOSTSHOE

“A pair of shoes deserve to be together… have to be… they belong.”

Jogging around the cul-de-sac one Spring morning, husband and father David (Shearsmith) comes across a single black leather shoe, a seemingly random find which turns his and his family’s world upside down. Over the course of the next year, David becomes first distracted then consumed by the mystery of his “odd” procurement: who did it belong to, why was it lost in such a precise location and how can he return it to its other half?

INSIDE NO. 9, 3.4 – “Empty Orchestra” (TV Review)

BBC Two – Tuesday 7^th March 2017 – 10pm

Created and written by: Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton

Directed by: Guillem Morales

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KOLLEGUE KARAOKE KHAOS

Billed as a dark comedy and at its best when subverting our expectations, there is never a guarantee that each individual instalment of anthology series Inside No. 9 will be out-and-out horror. So far in this third run we’ve had festive snuff victims (“The Devil of Christmas”), throat-slashing con artists (“The Bill”) and an ingeniously intricate double death revenge scheme (“The Riddle of the Sphinx”). In comparison, this week’s colleague backbiting in a cramped karaoke pod feels somewhat… tame. This is the closest to a straight-laced drama the series has ever veered.

Inside No. 9, 3.3 – “The Riddle of the Sphinx”

BBC Two – 28^th February 2017 – 10pm

Created and written by: Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith

Directed by: Guillem Morales

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GIVE US A CLUE

“Inform. Educate. Entertain”

Testament to the diversity Inside No. 9’s isolated anthology set-up allows, following last week’s (initially) light-hearted repartee and restaurant kerfuffle, “The Riddle of the Sphinx” presents itself from the off as a more antiquated and traditionally gothic beast, set within the rain-lashed study of Cambridge professor and Varsity crossword-compiler Dr. Nigel Squires (Pemberton), who receives an unexpected visitor in the form of Greggs employee Nina (Alexandra Roach).

Inside No. 9, 3.2 – “The Bill” (TV Review)

BBC Two – 22^nd February 2017 – 10pm

Created and written by: Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith

Directed by: Guillem Morales

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DIDDLING THE DIDLUM

It doesn’t feel like five minutes since I was sitting in the glow of the fairy lights, sipping on eggnog while watching festive special “The Devil of Christmas,” a Krampus-flavoured twist on rose-tinted TV nostalgia and dodgy DVD commentaries. It was a story I admired in concept more than I enjoyed its execution. Skip forward almost two months and Psychoville alumni Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith are back with a further five episodes of their hit comedy-horror anthology series set inside widely disparate locations with just the door number in common.

A Monster Calls (Cinema Review)

12A – 108mins – 2017

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A CONOR CAROL

For a twelve-year-old, Conor O’Malley (Lewis MacDougall) has a lot on his plate: his estranged father (Toby Kebbell) lives in America with his new family; his mother (Felicity Rogue One Jones) is terminally ill, leaving Conor to look after her almost as much as she looks after him; his aloofly strict grandmother (Sigourney Finding Dory Weaver) is threatening to take him away to live in her archaic abode. If all of that wasn’t enough, Conor also has to deal with regular beatings from school bully Harry (James Melville).