Reviews

Written and directed by Anna Biller, **The Love Witch is a technicolor trip back to the cinema of the 1960s. It stars Samantha Robinson as Elaine, a love witch with a troubled past who moves to a new town to work on her art and continue her pursuit for true love. She uses her powers and potions to put men under her spell, but continues to run into problems when their love for her consumes them. All the while, the police close in on her as they uncover her suspected crimes. ...

After he loses his job and almost his marriage, Bradley Thomas (played a bald, tattooed and unnervingly serious Vince Vaughn) turns to drug running to provide a better life for his family. 18 months later, his wife Lauren (**Dexter‘s Jennifer Carpenter) is heavily pregnant, and he gets caught up in a pick up that goes south. In an effort to shorten his sentence, he betrays those he was working with, but is still sent to prison. ...

**Mother!is an incredibly divisive and controversial piece from renowned director Darren Aronofsky, whose previous films include Black Swan, The Wrestler, andRequiem for a Dream. Aronofsky’s recent works seem to be taking a particularly biblical turn, a far cry from his previous and more acclaimed work – and Mother! is a prime example, which really divided opinion of audiences and critics alike. To attempt to summarise the plot, a husband and wife (played by Javier Bardem and Jennifer Lawrence, but referred to only as Him and Mother) are disrupted by a mysterious couple (Ed Harris and Michelle Pfeiffer) who visit their tranquil home. As the new couple continue to make themselves increasingly comfortable, they start to take over, eventually leading to a horrific event which pushes Mother over the edge. ...

The British army has been forced on to the French beach of Dunkirk as the Germans close in from all sides. With hundreds of thousands of men waiting in the sand for a boat ride home, they sit like fish in a barrel under Nazi bombers. **Dunkirk, directed by Christopher Nolan, follows three stories in this iconic moment of British military history. There’s RAF fighters taking out German planes from the skies (including Tom Hardy); a civilian man, his son and young companion sailing across the channel on their own boat to help with the rescue effort (including Mark Rylance); and a group of soldiers on the beach just doing their best to find a boat and stay alive (including Harry Styles and Fionn Whitehead). ...

Months after her daughter was violently murdered, wrathful mother Mildred (Frances McDormand) pays to display a message on three unused billboards just outside of town, questioning the lack of action and arrests from police boss Chief Willoughby (Woody Harrelson). This sends the town and police department into somewhat of a tailspin, and sets off the fragile temper of deputy Dixon (Sam Rockwell). The pressure mounts on both the cops to take action and Mildred to get rid of the billboards – and from there, the film turns into a darkly comedic yet emotional character study of what you do about an awful situation when nothing can be done. ...

The Christmas period was interrupted with the return of Charlie Brooker’s dark and dismal dystopian anthology series. Mastering various storylines about the effects of technology on humanity and vice versa, **Black Mirror has been an audience favourite since its inception 6 years ago. Hailing from the witty yet cynical mind of Charlie Brooker, each and every episode has a topical concept with political and social themes – and whilst not all the stories are equally strong, even the weakest stand out with their intelligent concepts and writing. ...

**I, Daniel Blake is the latest film from ‘kitchen-sink’ legend Ken Loach, and it took the country by storm. At the age of 80, Loach has had plenty of experience in depicting the darker side of British life and his socialist views. I, Daniel Blake is particularly relevant due to the political climate of today and the austerity measures sweeping the UK – and being the recipient of the Palme D’or at Cannes in 2016 confirms this film’s resonance across cultures, not just in Britain. ...

At the start of **Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (surely that’s too much punctuation for one film title?), we meet the IMF team during some classic highjinks, but it turns out the team is not in favour with the CIA and ends up getting shut down. As a result, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) goes into such deep cover it feels like he’s coming back out the other end, and continues to evade the CIA or answer for his actions in order to continue tracking down who he believes is the leader of the Syndicate – a rogue nation using agents that are missing-presumed-dead to try and bring down the system. ...

Last November, Netflix returned with their most recent contribution to the Marvel Universe. This time we follow the story of Frank Castle, aka **The Punisher, in an action-packed and ultra-violent opening season. This isn’t the first time we have seen Jon Bernthal as The Punisher; we first met him in the second season of Netflix’s **Daredevil as the villain turned vigilante who wreaks revenge on those who have wronged him, getting caught up with Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) and Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll) along the way. ...

After his father dies in the line of duty, young but gifted tearaway Eggsy (Taron Egerton) is given a medallion by secret agent Harry Hart (Colin Firth) with an apology and the promise of a favour when he needs it. 20 years later, in a police interview, he calls that favour in – and is drawn into the super secret, super wealthy world of the Kingsmen. He competes to be newest member of the prestigious team, and puts his training to the test against Samuel L. Jackson‘s villainous, lispy, genius billionaire. ...