The Giver
- By Anthony Sherratt
- 11 years ago
Fascinating concept.
“In a seemingly perfect community, without war, pain, suffering, differences or choice, a young boy is chosen to learn from an elderly man about the true pain and pleasure of the “real” world.”
If I Stay
- By Anthony Sherratt
- 11 years ago
Wow.
I can’t wait. This looks like an interesting little gem!
Edge of Tomorrow
- By Anthony Sherratt
- 11 years ago
What’s it about?
A non-combat officer finds himself caught in a time loop during a war with an alien race. He combines with a special forces officer but will it be enough to save the world?
What did we think?
Anthony Sherratt says: Yes, it’s Groundhog Day mashed with Independence Day. And it works. With more laughs than I would have expected, the latest Tom Cruise sci-fi offering has a great balance of action, good characterisation and interesting plot. Emily Blunt is amazing and it has to be said Cruise plays the unlikeable Major/Private Cage really well. The story is well-told so the repetition doesn’t (quite) grate and you’re not actually not quite sure how it’s going to end which is a nice change.
Even anti-Tom Cruise fans should enjoy it as they at least get to watch him die a hundred or so times.
The Fault In Our Stars
- By Anthony Sherratt
- 11 years ago
What it’s about?
Hazel Grace is 17, smart and obsessive. She’s also taking an experimental drug that gives her the ability to resist the build up of tumors in her lungs and to breathe. She falls for dreamy cancer survivor Augustus Waters, but wrestles with the guilt of the damage she will cause when she leaves.
What did we think?
Dan says: It may lack the explosions of a ‘summer blockbuster’ but Hazel and Augustus are so beautifully portrayed it doesn’t matter. A film about cancer will always have that sword of Damocles hanging over the characters’ heads. It is impressive that knowing this going in, you still can’t help yourself falling for them both, knowing full well that every moment there’s a medical discovery to be revealed, your heart will screw itself up into a knot.
If you are, or even have been, a 17-year-old girl you should definitely see this gripping love story (remove half a star from the review if you’ve never been a 17-year-old girl, but it’s still pretty good).
Grace of Monaco
- By Elizabeth Best
- 11 years ago
What’s it about?
Grace Kelly becomes a princess, frets about losing her Hollywood career. Meanwhile really interesting world crises are happening.
What did we think?
This poor film looks as confused as Nicole Kidman does acting in it. On the one hand, its a genuinely interesting story about a political stand-off in Monaco over taxes, the impending threat of war with France, and the kind of eye-watering Mad Men-esque style we’ve come to admire from the early 1960’s.
On the other hand, the film is a midday melodrama about why Grace Kelly wants to do another Hollywood movie, can’t do another movie, learns French and saves the day with an overreaching speech at a ball.
For the VERY curious only – I’m off to acquaint myself with Alfred Hitchcock’s To Catch A Thief, the REAL Grace Kelly and a convertible car load of proper Riviera style.