Feature Essays
Walt Disney and the Dumbo problem
On 12 November 2019, Walt Disney will launch its online streaming service Disney+ in the USA, with other markets scheduled to follow soon afterwards. The ...
REVIEW: The Nutcracker and the Four Realms (2018)
On the Christmas after her mother has died, Clara (Mackenzie Foy) receives one final gift: a locked egg-shaped box. The hunt for the key takes her on an unexpected journey to a world of snow, sweets, and flowers, as well as a struggle to save that world from the elusive and threatening Mother Ginger (Helen ...
REVIEW: The Adventurers (2017)
Five years after he is betrayed during a jewel heist, professional thief Dan Cheung (Andy Lau) is released from prison and immediately sets about returning to his criminal career. He targets a prize he knows that whoever betrayed him at the last robbery will be unable to resist, and plans a trap to finally get ...
REVIEW: The Girl in the Spider’s Web (2018)
Hacker and vigilante Lizbeth Salander (Claire Foy) is hired by a computer programmer to steal his top-secret application Firefall - a computer program that can hack into any nuclear launch facility and fire its missiles. Soon Salander is on the run as the USA's NSA, the Swedish secret service, and a mysterious group of mercenaries ...
REVIEW: Super Furball (2018)
Emilia (Ella Jäppinen) lives in Finland with her mother and her mother's new boyfriend. When her pet guinea pig bites her one day, it embues her with the powers of Super Furball: a four-foot tall guinea pig with super-strength and the power of flights. Using her new-found abilities, Emilia works to save a school of ...
REVIEW: Aladdin (2019)
Homeless thief Aladdin (Mena Massoud) lives on the streets of Agrabah, until a chance encounter with Princess Jasmine (Naomi Scott) throws him into a fantastical adventure involving an evil vizier (Marwan Kenzari), a magical cave, a flying carpet, and an all-powerful genie (Will Smith) charged with granting him three wishes. Disney are really going hell-for-leather ...
REVIEW: Red Road (2006)
Jackie Morrison (Kate Dickie) lives in Glasgow, and monitors CCTV cameras for a living. One night she recognises a man on one of the monitors, Clyde Henderson (Tony Curran), and tracks his movements to the notorious Red Road apartments in Balornock. Then she deliberately manufactures a 'chance' meeting with him, and ingratiates herself into his ...
REVIEW: All is True (2018)
England, 1613. After his iconic Globe Theatre burns to the ground - the result of a misfired cannon effect - playwright William Shakespeare (Kenneth Branagh) returns home to Stratford-Upon-Avon and a family he barely knows. To an extent you can see the hubris from orbit: actor/director Kenneth Branagh, widely regarded as his generation's finest Shakespearean ...
