Timothy Spall

Wake Wood

Supernatural horror from Hammer Studios captures relentless claustrophobia

30 Mar 2011

The resurrected Hammer Studios really are upping the pace, swiftly following The Resident with British supernatural shocker Wake Wood. Very much a riff on Stephen King’s Pet Sematary (which also got an excellent big screen adaptation from overlooked…

The King's Speech

23 Dec 2010

(12A) 118min The speech in question was a crucial one: a broadcast to the nation by King George VI on the eve of World War Two. In director Tom Hooper’s hands, the story of the difficulties faced by George (Colin Firth) in overcoming a speech…

Au Revoir Taipei, Honeymooner and Third Star bring EIFF 2010 to a close

Edinburgh International Film Festival Blog

28 Jun 2010

Sunday 27 June. The closing days of the festival are a giddy affair: you realise that, after so many recommendations and bits of buzz floating about, the EIFF has mutated into this Cloverfield-like monster: there’s beautiful people wandering around…

The Damned United

19 Mar 2009

DRAMA David Peace’s justly acclaimed novel The Damned United allowed us to see the world from the tormented perspective of football manager Brian Clough during his 44 turbulent days in charge of Leeds United in 1974. Paranoid, vengeful, fear-ridden…

Death Defying Acts

Edinburgh International Film Festival

19 Jun 2008

(Gillian Armstrong, UK, Australia) 97min It’s 1926, and the world tour of escape artist Harry Houdini (Guy Pearce) brings him to Edinburgh. There he’s charmed by local con-artist Mary McGarvie (Catherine Zeta-Jones), who poses as a psychic to put…

Enchanted

(PG) 107min(PG) 107min

13 Dec 2007

Like all large conurbations New York City can be a frightening place. Especially if you have just fallen out of an animated Disney fairytale world that resembles every cartoon feature made by the dream factory since 1937’s Snow White and the Seven…