Movie Fail

We have opinions.

  • Reviews
  • Op-Eds
  • Interviews
  • Academic
  • Television
  • Podcasts
    • Ghostwood Radio (Twin Peaks)
    • Hoopleheads (Deadwood)
    • Stark Contrast (Game of Thrones)
    • Ember Island Airwaves (Avatar/Korra)
    • Dueling Reviews
    • Søren and Esther’s Oscarcast
  • All
  • Meet Our Staff
  • FAQs
Movie Review

London Film Festival 2016: Dog Eat Dog

May 13, 2017 By Jonny Smith Leave a Comment

https://fa-i-p1.ttcdn.uk/i/contentasset31/000/079/780/gi4tdxni/v=320/w=1400;h=630;rm=CropBottom;q=70/image.jpg

Paul Schrader’s Dog Eat Dog might have one of the best openings in recent memory. Without tediously itemising the whole sequence, let’s just say it involves a totally wired Willem Dafoe armed with a large knife in a lurid suburban setting where bold neon glows battle for supremacy. It’s like Schrader ingested David Lynch, Douglas Sirk, Michael Moore […]

Movie Review

London Film Festival 2016: The Ghoul

April 18, 2017 By Jonny Smith Leave a Comment

https://primalpictures.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/theghoul_poster_twitter.jpg

You’ve may not have realised it, but you’ve probably seen Gareth Tunley plenty of times on television. He’s appeared in everything from Hustle and The Thick of It to Peep Show (memorably as “more cor anglais” Gog) in the last decade. It turns out Tunley, perpetually stuck in bit parts, has now moved behind the camera and made a curiously intense psychological […]

Movie Review

London Film Festival 2016: The Autopsy of Jane Doe

November 21, 2016 By Jonny Smith Leave a Comment

https://pmcdeadline2.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/janedoeposter.jpg

Like Ronseal, The Autopsy of Jane Doe does exactly what it says on the tin. Writers Ian Goldberg and Richard Naing have done their research and come back with a horror film based on the meticulous process of sleuthing through a cadaver. Of course there’s more to the film than a mere autopsy — just […]

Movie Review

London Film Festival 2016: Brimstone

November 1, 2016 By Jonny Smith 1 Comment

https://cdn4.thr.com/sites/default/files/2016/08/Brimstone_Still_2.jpg

One of cinema’s greatest characters, let alone villains, is Robert Mitchum’s insidious preacher Harry Powell in Night of the Hunter. With ‘love’ and ‘hate’ emblazoned on his knuckles, Powell stalks the Southern Gothic landscape with sinister desires and an ominous aura of dread. Mitchum’s performance is one not easily forgotten or trumped. That was until […]

Movie Review

High-Rise

March 31, 2016 By Jonny Smith 1 Comment

http://diymag.com/media/img/Film/H/High-Rise/_1500x1000_crop_center-center_75/high-rise-large.jpg

In all the mayhem and carnage of High-Rise one scene in particular stands out. As society teeters perilously close to total collapse, we find Dr Robert Laing (Tom Hiddleston) brawling over a tin of grey paint during the looting of the supermarket. “It’s my paint!” Laing exclaims as he bludgeons a rival to a bloody […]

News

Movie Fail Live Tweets the 88th Academy Awards

February 28, 2016 By Shrinkhala Dawadi, Hailey Duran, Thibault Jalby, Jonny Smith, Nathan Frontiero and Søren Hough Leave a Comment

http://oscar-prod-images.bls-customers.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/04111618/Chris-Rock-Promo.jpg

In light of the massive controversy around #OscarsSoWhite, host Chris Rock reportedly tossed his plans for the 88th Academy Awards in favor of a brand new set of material. We’re all psyched to see what he has in store. The festivities begin at 7 pm EST on ABC (or online). The full list of 2016 Oscar […]

Movie Review

London Film Festival 2015: Green Room

January 1, 2016 By Jonny Smith 2 Comments

http://cinapse.co/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/The-Green-Room-Nazis.jpg

Punk Music has always had an uneasy relationship with violence, but for all the bravado, safety pins and rioting it’s never been explicitly tied to outright murder. That was until ultra-violent thriller Green Room hit theaters. Following on from his widely praised debut, Blue Ruin, Jeremy Saulnier cranks the drama up to eleven and produces an exhilarating, albeit […]

Movie Review

London Film Festival 2015: The Lobster

December 23, 2015 By Jonny Smith 1 Comment

http://www.popoptiq.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/the-lobster.jpg

“If you were an animal, what animal would you be?” Whether it’s the whirling infantile mind or the daydreams of a bored office worker, this thought holds a primitive interest. Clearly it’s been on Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos’ mind. The Lobster places us in a world where relationships are so important that those who haven’t found […]

Movie Review

London Film Festival 2015: Observance

November 18, 2015 By Jonny Smith 2 Comments

http://cdn.bloody-disgusting.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/OBSERVANCE-Lindsay-Farris-Parker-9-1024x576.jpg

Alfred Hitchcock, the master of the thriller film, once commented on the idea of voyeurism in a conversation with Francois Truffaut. He said, “I’ll bet you that nine out of ten people, if they see a woman across the courtyard undressing for bed, or even a man puttering around in his room… They could pull down […]

Movie Review

London Film Festival 2015: Anomalisa

November 17, 2015 By Jonny Smith 2 Comments

Standing in the queue for the London Film Festival’s mysterious secret screening, all the talk was unsurprisingly concerned with what lay ahead on the mammoth screen at the Odeon in Leicester Square. Packed together like cattle, there were murmurs of The Hateful Eight or, perhaps most widely suspected, The Danish Girl. But of course you can’t second guess the […]

Movie Review

London Film Festival 2015: The Ones Below

November 9, 2015 By Jonny Smith 2 Comments

https://a248.e.akamai.net/f/1682/7219/8m/www.hollywoodreporter.com/sites/default/files/2015/09/the_ones_below_-_h_2015.jpg

Sometimes a film is intrinsically indebted to another. The Ones Below owes such gratitude to Roman Polanski’s pregnancy horror classic, Rosemary’s Baby. Building directly from another film, especially one as renowned and distinctive as Polanksi’s, adds a certain amount of pressure and expectation to a film; unfair or not, audiences expect you to either trump your predecessor or add to its legacy. […]

Movie Review

Straight Outta Compton

September 25, 2015 By Jonny Smith 1 Comment

https://dallasfilmnow.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/dfn-straight_outta_compton-720.jpg?w=1291&h=720&crop=1

In 1988, N.W.A released the album “Straight Outta Compton.” The album’s titular first track opened with the spoken line “You are now about to witness the strength of street knowledge” and ended with the bold full stop, “Damn that sh*t was dope!” In the four minutes in between, NWA redefined more than just hip hop […]

Academic

The Vaudevillian Heroes of Silent Film

September 3, 2015 By Jonny Smith 1 Comment

http://www.vod-consulting.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/HLE102635-Safety-Last-1923-dangling-from-clock-2.jpg

One of cinema’s most enduring and iconic images is Harold Lloyd, donning his trademark boater and circular spectacles, hanging precariously from a clock face above bustling streets below. In this timely snapshot we can see the silent era’s greatest strengths: absurdity, comedy and physicality. While trying dramas such as Birth of a Nation (1915), Sunrise (1927) and The […]

Movie Review

Child 44

June 20, 2015 By Jonny Smith 1 Comment

http://www.123wallpapers.in/file/3626/1920x1200/crop/child-44-movie-poster.jpg

Cigar chain-smoker and all-around war hero Winston Churchill once mused, “Russia is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.” While Child 44 isn’t quite that indecipherable, Churchill’s sentiments perfectly summarise the disjointed and fragmented adaptation of Tom Rob Smith’s U.S.S.R.-based novel. Director Daniel Espinosa fails to utilise the superb cinematic tools at hand—including […]

Op-Ed

The Shining: A Vendetta Story

April 1, 2015 By Jonny Smith 1 Comment

https://d12vb6dvkz909q.cloudfront.net/uploads/galleries/29663/the-shining-1.jpg

Over the last 35 years, humanity has achieved many great feats: the end of the Cold War, the creation of the Internet, four more identical films in the Rocky franchise. Yet one lingering mystery still plagues our species’ mere mortal brains — Stanley Kubrick’s seminal classic, The Shining. For most people, The Shining is a mildly […]

Movie Review

Kingsman: The Secret Service

February 18, 2015 By Jonny Smith 3 Comments

http://horrornews.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/kingsman.jpg

It’s dinner time. Villain Richmond Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson), flaunting his disarming lisp, confesses his love of good old-fashioned spy movies to debonair secret agent Henry Hart (Colin Firth). At the same time, he somewhat paradoxically reassures Hart that this isn’t one of them, coming within inches of breaking the fourth wall. This odd contradiction wonderfully summarises the action packed, […]

Movie Review

The Theory of Everything

January 26, 2015 By Jonny Smith Leave a Comment

http://wallpaperrich.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/the-theory-of-everything-poster-wallpapers.jpg

The “theory of everything” was the basis of world renowned English physicist Stephen Hawking’s first work in the 1960s. He believed there was one all-encompassing framework of physics that links together everything in the universe. While the “theory of everything” has yet to be proven – even Hawking himself has retracted his support for the premise – […]

Op-Ed

Eight Alternative French Classics

January 9, 2015 By Jonny Smith 1 Comment

http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/dCexsXeqZBSJUsVszJwpq62766l.jpg

Beyond venturing to and from the movies in 2014, I’ve also stumbled upon a wonderful streaming website called Mubi that’s met many of my cinematic needs. The service provides one international film every day of the year. As you might imagine, that leads to an eclectic mix of features both old and new. Mubi is a fine starting point […]

Op-Ed

Following from a Nascent Nolan

December 18, 2014 By Jonny Smith 2 Comments

http://blog.petestrauss.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/following.jpg

While innovative, hugely popular big budget blockbusters are Christopher Nolan’s staple these days, life wasn’t always so glamorous for the English director. Sixteen years ago, Nolan made his foray into feature-length filmmaking with the ultra-low budget (£3,000) Following. This often forgotten gem of an independent film is unquestionably nascent Nolan. Watching Following in the context of his subsequent productions offers a fascinating insight […]

Movie Review

Mr. Turner

November 20, 2014 By Jonny Smith 2 Comments

http://www.liveforfilms.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/MrTurner_Quad_Final1.jpg

As he slumps further into his seat, a numbing chill besets a visibly drained man. His eyelids uncontrollably waver between open and closed like a ship’s bow undulating in the sea. The abject look emblazoned across his face tells a tale of defeat, hinting at the effects of a grave and strenuous ordeal. He’s had enough; surely […]

Movie Review

Nightcrawler

November 7, 2014 By Jonny Smith 6 Comments

http://www.nightcrawlerfilm.com/#gallery

What’s the dream footage to lead local morning news? A screaming woman running down the street with her throat cut, of course. That’s according to unscrupulous news director Nina Romina (Rene Russo). Her world is controlled by ratings which are in turn driven by suburban fear mongering and perverse images of death and violence. Nightcrawler takes us […]

Movie Review

London Film Festival 2014: Pasolini

October 30, 2014 By Jonny Smith 3 Comments

http://cinefreaks.gr/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/pasolini_2014.jpg

Pier Paolo Pasolini’s last film was the infamous, and largely banned, Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom. The controversial 1975 picture sees four Italian libertines in the last throngs of Mussolini’s fascist wartime regime. They kidnap eighteen youthful, attractive men and woman whom they sexually abuse and torment. The degraded youths meet a horrific demise as they’re branded, hanged and […]

Movie Review

London Film Festival 2014: Goodbye to Language 3D

October 14, 2014 By Jonny Smith 2 Comments

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/sites/default/files/2014/05/GoodbyetoLanguage.jpg

I remember stumbling across artist Marcel Duchamp’s infamous piece, “Fountain”, in the Liverpool Tate Modern art gallery a few years ago. The sculpture, if you’re audacious enough to label it as such, is simply a urinal tipped on its back. The only indication that this slab of utilitarian porcelain is in fact a piece of art […]

Movie Review

The Riot Club

September 29, 2014 By Jonny Smith 2 Comments

https://www.facebook.com/TheRiotClubUK/photos_stream

“I’m sick to death of poor people!” the repugnant Alistair Ryle (Sam Claflin) roars to his comrades atop the opulent dinner table, sloshing his wine carelessly out of its vessel in the process. This loaded, incendiary harangue epitomises the deplorable attitude of The Riot Club. The film’s vulgar band of toffs are some of the most […]

Movie Review

Pride

September 23, 2014 By Jonny Smith 4 Comments

http://horrorcultfilms.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/pride-still.jpg

There’s a wonderfully poignant scene in Pride where Imelda Staunton’s character, Hefina, sits with one of the elder statesmen of their small mining village buttering sandwiches. As they go about this mundane task facing the static, Ozu-esque camera, discussing their new found solidarity with gay pride, the man makes the bold admission he himself is […]

Movie Review

The Guest

September 15, 2014 By Jonny Smith 1 Comment

http://cdn.clevver.com/video_thumbnails/luP.1280x720.jpeg

With the door firmly closed behind him, the darkly sinister stranger has locked out any hope of escape with a stern push of the handle. Our female protagonist sits silently, frozen with fear at the thought of her imminent fate. The shady figure ahead lowers to her level and reassures the trembling girl that he’s a normal […]

London Film Festival 2024 Highlights

November 1, 2024 By Søren Hough

London Film Festival 2024 Preview

October 20, 2024 By Søren Hough

https://www.fungifilmfest.com/2023

Mushrooms Galore at Fungi Film Festival 2023

December 26, 2023 By Corrado Nai

Listen on Spotify

About Us            Meet Our Staff             FAQs             Privacy

Creative Commons License
Movie Fail is licensed under Creative Commons.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license are available at http://moviefail.com/faqs/.

Copyright © 2012–2025 Movie Fail · Magazine Pro Theme · WordPress

 

Loading Comments...