Week In, Week Out

Oh, those Russians Our Kind of Traitor (2016): This John le Carre adaptation bears some of his usual trademarks – small mafia-big mafia and the wider political entanglements of black money – and works well for the most part, without ever really exciting. Director Susanna White, in what is her second major movie after…Nanny McPhee, fails… Read more

One small step for man! Chappaquiddick (2017): The Kennedy clan lore is a treasure trove for American film-making, with so much drama in it, that it never ceases to offer tempting material to work from. Ted Kennedy, the younger brother of Jack and Bobby, was close to the presidency in the late 60s, before the… Read more

Oh, the not quite horror Hereditary (2018): Much acclaim has come the way of Hereditary, a horror movie that provides less horror than advertised, but manages to conjure an unsettling sense of dread. I wasn’t as taken by it as I expected to be, especially as first timer Ari Aster uses a lot of style to… Read more

Vicarious lovin’ Set It Up (2018): I’ve already written a few words on this newest Netflix addition, out of some dubious creative surge. There isn’t much to dwell on here, as ‘Set It Up’ proves the ideal low-stakes Friday night Netflix watch. 7/10 Food and career adjustments Chef (2014): When Jon Favreau isn’t the world famous director of Iron Man,… Read more

Zoey Deutch and Glen Powell reunite after the excellent Everybody Wants Some (2016) in this low frills, high-chemistry rom-com. There isn’t much to dwell on here, as ‘Set It Up’ proves the ideal low-stakes Friday night Netflix watch. Deutch and Powell play Harper and Charlie, two young and ambitious characters working for a very special… Read more

Forever coeds Et si on vivait tous ensemble (2011): I’ve always been a proponent of this – in an ideal life, you would live in a house or, let’s say, a residential complex with all your friends. It’s the idea behind All Together (English title), as six elderly friends in their 70s decide to move in together, after… Read more

Podcast here. Call me Mr. Pool Deadpool 2 (2018): The anti-superhero you love to laugh with is back and aiming for new heights. And lows. With its particular brand of meta-humour up a notch, Deadpool proves just about as fun as its predecessor – which was fun enough for me. Sure, it can get tiresome,… Read more

Don’t forget to check out the podcast if you want to hear my simmering voice. Brrrrains The Cured (2018): Here’s a slightly fresh take for the zombie inside all of us – a post-apocalyptic world with cured ‘infected’, who fail to reintegrate into society. A very timely allegory to whatever we’ve been living through these… Read more

One of my very, very busy friends complained he had no time to read the copious amounts of review materials I post here weekly. So I obliged and provided a podcast: https://soundcloud.com/user-157068900/motw19 What about Manchester? Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool (2018): An old-school affair of romance between an aging star and an up and… Read more

Road trip! Kodachrome (2018): Unfortunately, Kodachrome is an uneven affair, with moments of genuine emotion undone by sloppy craftsmanship. The father-son relationship is equally imperfect, but at least it anchors the film somewhat, thanks to the performance Ed Harris brings to the table. The relationship between the son and the father’s nurse, on the other… Read more

I’ve been AWOL for a while, with a poor record to boot over these last two weeks. However, as you might have noticed, I made an important investment into the future of this blog, the future of cinema, dare I say, by purchasing a proper domain name. Yay to the Tributary. Long live the Stu.… Read more

Short on movies this week. Box looks sadly empty. HBO takes the second one in a row. Another one strikes against abuse You Were Never Really Here (2017): The lauded Lynne Ramsay film starring Joaquin Phoenix has a bit of a Drive (2011) vibe, mixed in with a bit of Leon (1994). There’s nothing riveting about the… Read more