★★
Charm and likability can paper over even the most bloated of gaping romcom cracks. Sleepless in Seattle, for instance, is stalkerish hokum, but people still adore it. Rose Byrne, star of Jesse Peretz’s new genre offering, Juliet, Naked, has both charm and likability in abundance, so it’s odd just how drab this all feels. Based on a contrived Nick Hornby novel, the film has a ready audience; unfortunately, they’re ready to be a little bored.
★★★★
Matthew Holness may well be best known for his comic alias Garth Marenghi but his feature debut is no laughing matter. Possum evokes an era of vintage horror nasties, not to mention some Lynchian surreality, to raise and rupture fairytale thematics of the darkest hue. Holness tells a chilling tale of childhood trauma and concludes with a genuinely frightening climax.
★★★
This eleventh instalment in the Halloween franchise – the third to be titled Halloween – serves as sequel only to John Carpenter’s original. It’s a retconning job not unlike that of Halloween H20; Laurie is no longer dead and Michael is not her sister – ‘that’s just a myth’ the film tells us. If this new Halloween fails to justify the continuation of slasher cinema in the twenty-first century, director David Gordon Green – the versatile American responsible for Pineapple Express, Goat and Stronger – should at least be congratulated for imbuing his take on the franchise with enough character to warrant its own existence.
The Film Blog 