Film Review: Glass

Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, Glass follows on from 2017’s Split as Kevin Wendell Crumb (James McAvoy) and the multiple identities who reside within him have taken more girls hostage. Using his supernatural abilities, 2000’s Unbreakable David Dunn (Bruce Willis) is trying to track him down. When both are arrested and sent to a psychiatric hospital run by Dr Ellie Staple (Sarah Paulson), they meet the wheelchair-bound Mr Glass (Samuel L. Jackson) who holds secrets critical to both men.

Film Review: X-Men – Apocalypse

The ninth instalment in the X-Men film series, following on from 2014’s X-Men: Days of Future Past, and again directed by Bryan Singer, X-Men: Apocalypse is set in 1983 when the first and most powerful mutant, En Sabah Nur a.k.a. Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac), awakens after thousands of years. Amassed with the powers of many other mutants, which has enabled him to become both immortal and invincible, Apocalypse plans to wipe out modern civilisation and take over the world, and recruits a team of powerful mutants – including a disheartened Magneto (Michael Fassbender), Angel (Ben Hardy), Storm (Alexandra Shipp), and Psylocke (Olivia Munn) – to help him cleanse mankind and create a new world order, over which he will reign. As the fate of the Earth hangs in the balance, Professor X (James McAvoy), Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence), Beast (Nicholas Hoult), and Quicksilver (Evan Peters), return to lead a team of young X-Men – including Jean Grey (Sophie Turner), Cyclops (Tye Sheridan), and Nightcrawler (Kodi Smit-McPhee) – to stop their greatest nemesis and save mankind from complete destruction.

Film Review: X-Men – Days of Future Past

From the director of X-Men 1 and 2, Bryan Singer, X-Men: Days of Future Past sees the ultimate X-Men ensemble fight a war for the survival of the species across two time periods. As the characters that began our X-Men infatuation from the original trilogy of films – Professor X (Patrick Stewart), Magneto (Ian McKellen), Storm (Halle Berry), Kitty (Ellen Page), and Iceman (Shawn Ashmore) – join forces with their younger selves from the excellent prequel X-Men: First Class – Professor X (James McAvoy), Magneto (Michael Fassbender), Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence), and Beast (Nicholas Hoult) – when Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) is sent back in time, they must change a major historical event and fight in an epic battle that could save both humans and mutants.

Film Review: Filth

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Based on the 1998 novel by Irvine Welsh, and written and directed by Jon S. Baird, Filth follows a bipolar, bigoted, drug addicted, alcoholic, racist, sexist and corrupt cop, Bruce Robertson (James McAvoy), who, willing to stop at nothing to get what he wants, manipulates and hallucinates his way through the festive season in a bid to secure promotion and win back his wife and daughter. Enlisted to solve a brutal murder and threatened by the aspirations of his colleagues, Bruce sets about ensuring their ruin. As he turns his colleagues against one another by stealing their wives and exposing their secrets, Bruce starts to lose himself in a web of deceit that he can no longer control. Can he keep his grip on reality long enough to disentangle himself from the filth?

DVD Review: Trance

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Danny Boyle‘s latest, Trance follows fine art auctioneer Simon (James McAvoy) who teams up with a group of criminal partners, led by Franck (Vincent Cassel) to steal a Goya painting worth millions of dollars. After suffering a blow to the head during the heist, however, Simon awakens to discover he has no memory of where he hid the painting. With the help of hypnotherapist Elizabeth (Rosario Dawson), the darkest recesses of Simon’s psyche are delved in to, but as Elizabeth begins to unravel Simon’s broken subconscious, the lines between truth, suggestion, and deceit begin to blur.

Film Review: Welcome To The Punch

(Published on Lost In The Multiplex and in the April edition of Sage)

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Written and directed by Eran Creevy, Welcome To The Punch is a British thriller that follows detective Max Lewinsky (James McAvoy) who, along with his partner Sarah (Andrea Riseborough) and scarred by his failure to bring down his nemeses, is given one last chance to catch the man he’s always been after, as ex-criminal Jacob Sternwood (Mark Strong) is forced to return to London from his Icelandic hideaway when his son is involved in a heist gone wrong. As they face off, they start to uncover a larger conspiracy at work, one that they both need to solve in order to survive.

Brits At The Box Office: Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tilda Swinton, Carey Mulligan & More!

(Weekly feature written for BritScene)

This week we’re bringing back our weekly feature ‘Brits At The Box Office’, where we pull together all the information you need about the British cinema heading your way over the next seven days. It’s a great week for cinema too, with some brilliant films full of spies, sex addicts, and a little bit of Christmas. What better way to kick off December?

5 New Clips for ‘Arthur Christmas’

(Written for HeyUGuys)

Aardman Animation have put 5 new clips online for their latest film, Arthur Christmas, this week.

From the studio behind Chicken Run and Wallace and Gromit, Arthur Christmas tells a classic Christmas tale asking the often-wondered, never-answered question, “How does Santa deliver all those presents in one night?” The answer is found through unlikely hero, Arthur, the son of Santa, who must use his father’s ultra-high-tech operation hidden beneath the North Pole to deliver a present to a little girl before Christmas morning dawns.

Tweets Confirm A ‘Wanted’ Sequel

(Written for Lost In The Multiplex)

Writer of Wanted, Derek Haas has been busy tweeting getting our hopes up for a sequel of the 2008 action film starring James McAvoy, Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman.

Loosely based on Mark Millar‘s comics, McAvoy played the character of Wesley, an average guy who was being cheated on by his girlfriend and working in a dead-end job with a bitch of a boss. Soon enough, he was taught to bend bullets and flip cars in slow-motion a mysterious Fraternity.

The film achieved a box office take north of $300m so a sequel was always on the cards. It has now been confirmed through Empire that original screenwriters Haas and Michael Brandt have been re-hired to start working on Wanted 2.

Film Review: X-Men – First Class

X-Men: First Class is the prequel to the X-Men franchise and is directed by Kick Ass‘ Matthew Vaughn. This latest addition to the, until now, trilogy details the formation of Professor Charles Xavier’s (James McAvoy) school for young mutants, focusing on his relationship with Magneto (Michael Fassbender) and where it took a wrong turn, and explaining the origin of the rival mutant teams, introducing us to both younger characters from the previous films and to new characters as well, showcasing a handful of extraordinary new powers.

Film Review: Atonement

Directed by Joe Wright and based on Ian McEwan‘s 2001 novel of the same name, Atonement is set in 1935 where 13-year-old aspiring writer Briony Tallis (Saoirse Ronan) and her family live a life of wealth and privilege in their enormous mansion. On the warmest day of the year, Briony’s imagination is running wild when she witnesses her sister Cecilia (Keira Knightley) and the educated son of the family’s housekeeper, Robbie (James McAvoy) doing something she doesn’t yet understand. Accusing Robbie of a crime he did not commit, he is arrested and sent to war, an event that changes all of their lives forever.

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