alex rowland Archive

Warrior Review

What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object? And what if these two sides of the coin are long suffering brothers, victims of a familial fallout? Ok, despite this clear central contrivance director Gavin O’Connor has created in Warrior a penetrating and blistering emotional drama, full of visceral flair and exhilarating entertainment that delves [...]
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The Skin I Live In Review

A women’s body stretches hauntingly, seductively, across a chair. Elegant but twisted, graceful yet disturbing. These are the images that open legendary Spanish auteur Pedro Almodóvar’s latest work The Skin I Live In. A sublime and deeply compelling film; and one in which Almodóvar has created his most enjoyable and accessible work to date. Crafting in his [...]
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Empire Big Screen 2011 Round-Up: Live Last Weekend!

Last weekend – sadly only Saturday and Sunday, as on Friday I was on my hands and knees scrubbing ovens and fridges – I ventured down to the Empire Big Screen (which some major critics are calling Comic-Con On Thames) hosted at the 02 arena in London. As a sidenote I’d like to inform readers [...]
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Project Nim Review

In many ways it seems as though 2011 is the rise of our slightly less developed furry all over nearest relative – monkeys, apes, chimpanzees – very literally in the upcoming The Rise of the Planet of the Apes and, although less revolutionary, here also in Project Nim. Director James Marsh uses a traditional documentary style of [...]
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Limitless DVD Review

How to get what you want without ever trying too hard? It’s the question on everyone’s mind in these times of quick fix solutions, instant deliveries and compare ze meerkats. And one washed out writer Eddie Morra (an excellent Bradley Cooper), often ironically pronounced moron, finds an answer in this brazenly cool sci-fi thriller that [...]
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Decoding Submarine: Ayoade’s Debut In Review

“This is the moment where you leave him and come with me.” Oliver Tate’s (Craig Roberts) naive and idealistic (mis)understanding of life is personified in this hilariously awkward address to high school flame Jordana Bevan (Yasmin Paige); and it’s a sentence that encapsulates Submarine. An offbeat, quirky, trials of adolescence movie that channels narrative, thematic and [...]
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