It remains a sad fact of life in the UK that the only cultures most of us have any notion of are our own and that of the United States, the dominant film-making force of the English-speaking world. One of the biggest Anglo countries, Australia, has remarkably few famous films, except for maybe Crocodile Dundee, Mad Max, andÔǪ their sequels. ThatÔÇÖs about all. As a … Continue reading Review: The Smuggler
Gr├¡mur H├íkonarson’s Icelandic film Rams is a darkly comic and at times heartbreaking tale about sheep. The film tells of two feuding brothers, Gummi and Kiddi (Sigur├░ur Sigurj├│nsson and Theod├│r J├║l├¡usson), living in the isolated Icelandic Valleys. They are bitterly competitive when it comes to the local best ram prize, however must put their grudges aside when a threat of scrapie disease puts both their … Continue reading Review: Rams
Alejandro Gonzalez I├▒├írritu directs Leonardo Dicaprio in what will come to be seen as one of the greatest films of this era, The Revenant. It will stand alongside the great directors who have worked on a Hollywood budget and scale, but that have created something far beyond the average. It is grand and daring on a scale that has attracted a wide audience, but subtle … Continue reading Review: The Revenant
Is bringing classic film franchises back from the vaults of our fond memories a good thing, or a simple cash-grab that plays on our nostalgia? Quench Film and TV discusses. Hollywood is churning out ideas from decades ago and we are all falling for it. The number one grossing film this year is a remade version of a trilogy that came out twenty-two years ago. … Continue reading The Future of Franchise Films
With nine superhero shows set to air next year, Scott Place discusses the rise of superhero TV and if it’s really as super as it sounds. Superhero shows are not a new phenomenon. TheyÔÇÖve been on our screens since the 50s and have remained a constant on television ever since. Though the popularity of these shows has fluctuated over time, there has been a recent … Continue reading Power Hour: Super Hero TV
Most people have preconceived ideas about what experimental cinema is. That avant-garde films are unwatchable, self-indulgent, incomprehensible, a waste of time. Culture editor Beau Beakhouse and Film & TV editor Sadia Pineda Hameed ask what, at its basic level, an experimental film is. It might be argued that conventional narrative cinema, the popular cinema of any particular time, is at one end of a scale. … Continue reading What is Experimental Cinema?
Spotlight is the true story of how the Boston Globe newspaper uncovered the worldwide cases of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church. In 2001 the new editor Marty Baron, played by Liev Schreiber, is appointed to head the team at the Globe. He initiates the investigation into the topic, requesting the release of documents that point towards the corruption and paedophilia committed by Catholic priests. … Continue reading Review: Spotlight
Il Gesto delle Mani, or Hand Gestures is a masterful documentary film from Franscesco Clerici that focuses on the creation of bronze sculpture. At the historic Fonderia Artistica Battaglia bronze foundry, we follow a Velasco Vitali sculpture through each step of the process. The understated documentary has no background music or voiceovers┬áexplaining the process; it simply watches with the audience in the ambient sounds of … Continue reading Review: Hand Gestures with Q+A at Chapter Arts Centre
You might have heard of Star Wars. It’s quite popular apparently. After ten long years, the hype train returns and itÔÇÖs more powerful than you could possibly imagine. So, here’s the review for the seventh film in the franchise, for which the title seems more appropriate as a question – Star Wars: The Force Awakens? And yes, indeed it does awaken. If you have yet … Continue reading Review: Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Each month, Quench looks at different directors’ selected filmography. We take a look at Christopher Nolan for December’s online feature. Christopher Nolan is one of the most well known modern directors. From making stop motion films as a child with his dadÔÇÖs super 8 camera, he went on to make short films as a part of UCL film society where he studied English Literature, and … Continue reading Spotlight: Christopher Nolan
As part of the BFI Love Season, Chapter Arts Centre in Cardiff have screened a choice selection of films spanning from ‘tainted love’ to classic romance. Quench reviews┬áa handful of these films. To find out which┬áexciting films Chapter are currently screening, and information on upcoming seasons, visit┬áhttp://www.chapter.org/whats-on/┬á. Brief Encounter (1945) As part of the BFI Love season, Chapter Arts Centre screened Brief Encounter,┬áDavid Lean’s 1945 … Continue reading Love Season at Chapter Arts Centre
Mississippi Grind is a film that could easily pass by without people taking notice. For the most part it is a quiet film, not necessarily because of volume or action, but because its style is far away from the flashy gambling aesthetic that many films about the subject have. Directed by Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden (Half Nelson), Gerry (Ben Mendelsohn, A Place Beyond the … Continue reading Review: Mississippi Grind
As a part of the BFIÔÇÖs love season, Darkened Rooms and Chapter Arts Centre screened Breathless and Am├®lie upstairs in the French restaurant Le Monde. Lines of red seats were set up in front of the projector screen, with a bar near the back serving food and drink. PeopleÔÇÖs silhouettes were superimposed on the bottom of the screen as they moved to their seats like … Continue reading Review: L’amour at Le Monde
When you have a film as clearly themed as Burnt it really is difficult to write about it without resorting to clich├®s relating to that theme. Burnt is first-and-foremost a cookery programme, it never really ever leaves the kitchen. So when it comes to reviewing it the puns rather do write themselves: is it underbaked? Does it lack a soupcon of something? Is it a … Continue reading Review: Burnt
Crimson Peak has what my old Film teacher would call a ÔÇÿcircular narrativeÔÇÖ, in which we follow an aspiring writer, Edith Cushing (Mia Wasikowska), trying to navigate the new, revolutionised world around her. ItÔÇÖs only until Baronet Thomas Sharpe (Tom Hiddleston) and his sister Lucille (Jessica Chastain) stain the gold-saturated world with their deep blacks, dark Hammer horror reds and ominous green/blue tones does Edith … Continue reading The Horror of Love: On the Ghosts of Crimson Peak
Halloween is upon us, and thus begins the battle to watch as many of the seemingly infinite number of horror films as possible. While you may associate horror films with the likes of ghosts, gore and creepy children, a key feature of the horror genre is, in my opinion, women. You may ask: ÔÇÿwhy!? What do women have to do with anything?ÔÇÖ The answer is, … Continue reading Scream Queens and Final Girls: the Portrayal of Women in Postmodern Horror Films
After mass promotion and media build-up the latest James Bond film, Spectre┬áfinally opens onto Day of the Dead, Mexico City, with a long continuous moving shot through the carnival celebrations as Bond follows a man through the crowds. Daniel CraigÔÇÖs fourth bond film, after Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace and Skyfall and director Sam Mendes second, Spectre is linked back to all three of its … Continue reading Review: Spectre
┬áFollowing the release of PixarÔÇÖs ÔÇÿInside OutÔÇÖ, Eleanor Parkyn interviewed former Cardiff University student Paul Oakley who has been working as a Lighting Technical Director at Pixar for the last 5 years. How did you end up working for Pixar? I did my fine art degree and then I went travelling for a long time and met someone who worked in film and they suggested … Continue reading Interview: Inside Out
The opening scene of The Last Witch Hunter made me think. It made me think ÔÇÿGod, those Lord of the Rings films really were pretty good.ÔÇÖ Some of the opening images, sweeping shots of magnificent vistas, arenÔÇÖt just reminiscent of the Tolkein-based trilogy they are almost ripping it off. And the same goes for the way in which the intrepid band of heroes-on-a-quest are filmed … Continue reading Review: The Last Witch Hunter
Amidst the whitewashing of past and current cinema, seeing a person of colour on our screens is refreshing. Yet, from makeup to putting on accents, the film industry still goes to great lengths to avoid employing actors of colour in the 21st century; because why bother casting a black actress when you can settle for Angelina Jolie with a perm? It’s not hard to spot … Continue reading Film in Technicolour: Problematic portrayals of race in the 21st century
