Miles Ahead (15A) For those of us who’ve watched Don Cheadle in films over the years – not all of which could be described as consciousness-raising – it comes as some surprise to see him eating the heart and soul out of a part. He does that here with his electrifying portrayal of jazz legend…
The Man Who Knew Infinity (12A) It’s 1914 and World War I is raging. But inside the walls of Trinity College in Cambridge the old duffers at the helm are more concerned about something mathematical they call “cracking partitions”. Into their hallowed portals comes Srinivasa Ramanujan, an Indian student who can work out the finer…
My Name is Emily (12A) “There’s a sadness in this country,” says the eponymous Emily in this quirky, life-affirming film, “a sadness it cannot hide.” She’s lost her mother in a car accident. Her father survived it but had a nervous breakdown afterwards. Such a breakdown resulted in some outlandish behaviour. He started doing things…
Risen (12A) This elegiac re-enactment of the aftermath of the Resurrection in Judea in 33AD as experienced by a disaffected Roman soldier is in many ways reminiscent of Barabbas (1961), the story of the thief who reached a catharsis after believing he was responsible for the death of Jesus. The conversion of Clavius (Joseph Fiennes)…
Zootropolis (PG) As we stand on the cusp of a new era in American politics – Donald Trump putting up walls to combat foreign forces and Hilary Clinton trying to break them down to embrace them – along comes an animated film about that very subject. Taking as its lift-off point the fact that modern…
Sing Street (PG) The Christian Brothers come in for the inevitable bashing in this coming-of-age tale. There seem to be only two of them running Synge Street School in the film. (Its title is a pun on this.) The first (Des Keogh) is a caricature, the second (Don Wycherley) rules with an iron fist. Many…
Truth (15A) Placed beside Oliver Stone’s coruscating indictment of the Bush regime in W. (Dubya) and Michael Moore’s in Fahrenheit 9/11, this Watergate-style investigation into the manner in which he’s alleged to have dodged the Vietnam draft by joining the Texas National Guard between 1968 and 1974 – and then going AWOL – seems an…
The Forest (15A) Horror films aren’t my preferred genre. You can be brave in a cinema seat in the middle of the day with a bag of popcorn in your hand but when you’re out at the coal shed that night and a squawking cat upsets a bin-lid you’re liable to jump a foot in…
The Oscar ceremonies are taking place on February 28 this year but I don’t think I’ll be booking my seat, despite all the Irish nominations for Room and Brooklyn, etc. Spike Lee and Will Smith are boycotting the event because of the virtual exclusion of black performers this year. This isn’t the only prejudice it’s…
Oddball and the Penguins (G) Foxes are killing baby penguins on their colony on Middle Island, which is off the coast of the south-western Australian town of Warrnambool. There used to be thousands of penguins there. Now they’re in danger of extinction, the predatory foxes making their way across the shallow channel from the mainland…