Rob Carnevale

Wild Target

9 Jun 2010

(12A) 90min Hitman farce Wild Target consistently shoots wide of the mark in spite of some promising ingredients. A remake of 1994 French film, it’s directed by Jonathan Lynn (My Cousin Vinny, The Whole Nine Yards) and boasts a strong cast…

The Losers

28 May 2010

(12A) 97min Comic book adaptation The Losers is an oddly appealing movie in spite of its many flaws. Taken at face value, it’s a gritty A-Team derivative that follows a group of soldiers as they attempt to clear their names of a crime they didn’t…

[REC] 2

28 May 2010

(15) 85min Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza’s original [Rec] was a taut, unnerving chiller that brought a claustrophobic, Blair Witch-style sensibility to the zombie genre. Its sequel adopts more of an Aliens-style approach by swapping a TV reporter…

Streetdance 3D

12 May 2010

The creative team behind Streetdance has sought to put a different spin on the UK grime scene by portraying teens in a more positive light while paying homage to American dance films such as Footloose and Step Up. It’s a shame, then, that they chose to…

Alice in Wonderland

2 Mar 2010

(PG) 108min Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland is as dark and visually arresting as we’ve come to expect from the director, yet not quite as emotionally involving as his very best work. A sequel of sorts that takes in elements of both Lewis…

Extraordinary Measures

17 Feb 2010

(PG) 105min Harrison Ford and Brendan Fraser add some high-powered star wattage to Tom Vaughan’s otherwise formulaic medical drama about a father’s desperate attempt to save his children from a potentially fatal disease. Inspired by a Wall Street…

Avatar

17 Dec 2009

(12A) 161mins After months, if not years, of hype, James Cameron’s Avatar is finally unveiled as a visually stunning yet deeply flawed sci-fi epic. Hailed by industry insiders as a ‘game-changer’ that will revolutionise the way we see cinema, it’s…

Profile of Amelia director Mira Nair

13 Nov 2009

Name: Mira Nair Born: 15 October 1957, Bhubaneshwar (India) Background: After starting her career as an actress, Nair turned to directing award-winning documentaries, including So Far From India. She made her feature film debut in 1988 with the…

Paranormal Activity

13 Nov 2009

(15) 86min Oren Peli’s low-budget horror phenomenon is compelling proof that the simplest ideas are often the most effective. In an period when cinematic suggestibility and horror exists mainly in a vacuum of splatter and gore, Peli’s film reverts…

Law Abiding Citizen

13 Nov 2009

(18) 108min A highly dubious morality undermines anything worthwhile in Be Cool and The Italian Job director F Gary Gray’s violent thriller about the nature of justice. When ambitious assistant District Attorney Nick Rice (Jamie Foxx) grants a…

The Men Who Stare At Goats

30 Oct 2009

(15) 95min Grant Heslov’s trippy satire is a fun if inconsequential experience that boasts a stellar cast in good form. Inspired by Jon Ronson’s non-fiction book, the film ‘lifts the lid’ on a US military experiment to create ‘psychic…

Up

More Pixar genius

1 Oct 2009

You almost tire of saying it but Pixar have created another masterpiece with Up. As uplifting as it is heartbreaking, Pete Docter and Bob Peterson’s film is a magical adventure that takes an odd couple relationship and turns it into one of the most…

The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus

An enthralling morality tale

1 Oct 2009

Terry Gilliam has pulled a rabbit from his mad hat with his latest, a lively if flawed fantasy that looks set to reward him with one of his biggest hits. Notorious for having been interrupted by the death of Heath Ledger, the film only saw the light of…

Triangle

Severance director returns with another horror trip

1 Oct 2009

Christopher Smith’s CV so far comprises the lamentable Creep and the far better Severance. Triangle, his third film, falls somewhere between the two. A psychological thriller with supernatural elements, the film is designed to chill and keep you…

Thirst

Korean vampire flick

1 Oct 2009

The success of Twilight has inevitably paved the way for a glut of vampire- themed movies of varying merit. But Park Chan-wook’s Thirst is well worth sinking your teeth into. Admittedly overlong and occasionally disjointed, the film nevertheless offers…

Creation

Darwin's tragic and triumphant life on screen

17 Sep 2009

Charles Darwin’s earth-shattering publication of his theory of evolution came after a period of immense personal turmoil and self-recrimination. While critics and supporters predicted that his revelations would effectively kill God, they also put him at…

Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince

23 Jul 2009

The sixth instalment in the Harry Potter franchise suffers from as many growing pains as its young wizards. While Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince does venture into darker, more adult areas than its predecessors it also injects more humour and…

Public Enemies

25 Jun 2009

Public Enemies always had the potential to be special given that it’s a crime saga from the director of Heat that follows one of America’s most colourful outlaws, as played by one of Hollywood’s most versatile and talented stars. Fortunately, Michael…

The Hangover

11 Jun 2009

COMEDY It’s worth toasting The Hangover as one of the Hollywood comedies of the year. Todd Phillips’ film is a buddy movie that really delivers with its riotous cocktail of memorable characters, outrageous situations and explicit humour. Two days…

Terminator Salvation

28 May 2009

With a track record that includes Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle and the straight-to-DVD We Are Marshall, McG was always going to have his work cut out proving he was the right man to reboot the Terminator franchise. Now his judgment day has arrived…

Star Trek

30 Apr 2009

There’s an old Star Trek salutation – to live long and prosper. But not even original series creator Gene Roddenberry could have imagined just how long and prosperous Star Trek would be. Since airing on American TV in 1966, the show has spawned six…

The Day the Earth Stood Still

11 Dec 2008

(12A) 105min As remakes go, Scott Derrickson’s re-imagining of Robert Wise’s 1951 sci-fi classic The Day The Earth Stood Still has more contemporary resonance than most. By substituting the threat of nuclear war for that posed by global warming, the…

Missing in action - Angelina Jolie interview

27 Nov 2008

Playing the real-life mother of a missing child in Clint Eastwood’s latest film was an emotionally fraught experience for Angelina Jolie, she tells Rob Carnevale

Paul Bettany

27 Nov 2008

Paul Bettany has rediscovered the joy of acting. Over the coming months, he’ll be seen playing a racist peach farmer in America’s Deep South for The Secret Life of Bees and then a royal adviser and future prime minister to Emily Blunt’s queen in The…

Meet Dave

17 Jul 2008

CHILDREN’S SCI-FI FANTASY MEET DAVE (PG) 90mins The last time Eddie Murphy united with director Brian Robbins, audiences got Norbit as a result. Now, one of the least eagerly anticipated reunions in cinema history invites us to Meet Dave. The result…