The Cynical Cinephiles

Director: Woody Allen. Cast:  Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Steve Carell, Blake Lively, Parker Posey, Corey Stoll. During the latter period of Woody Allen's career, it's fair to assess that the quality of his work has received its share of criticism as well as praise. However, no one can refute his work ethic as Allen continues his pattern of annual film releases, gracing 2016 with his 47th (!) picture Cafe Society . Is Cafe Society one of his more warmly received outings in recent years, or will it become a forgettable entry in his expansive filmography? Well, the verdict lies somewhere in between. In the 1930's, Bobby Dorfman (Jesse Eisenberg) departs his family home in New York where he's reluctant to join his gangster brother (Corey Stoll) in his nightclub ventures and heads to Hollywood. After securing a job with his Uncle Phil (Steve Carell), Bobby falls for his Uncle's assistant Vonnie (Kristen Stewart) - but she's seeing someone else. Cafe Soc...

Director: Morten Tyldum Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Chris Pratt, Michael Sheen, Laurence Fishburn Space. Jennifer Lawrence. Chris Pratt. Those utterances alone are enough to get any film fan excited for a movie release.Yes, Passengers  stars two of Hollywood's most popular leading actors; one an Academy Award darling and the other a recent titan in the realm of franchises with roles in both Guardians of the Galaxy and Jurassic World. Whilst the pairing of these powerhouses has attracted enthusiastic attention, Lawrence's and Pratt's pay packages for the picture that has been widely covered in the media has somewhat overshadowed the integrity of the film. Nevertheless, this could not diminish the hype and titillation surrounding the project, and with the Christmas release steadily edging closer, fans were anxious (myself included) for the trailer to drop. Now that it finally has, was it worth the wait? The trailer's first forty seconds establish a futuristic setting ...

Director: David Mackenzie Cast : Chris Pine, Ben Foster, Jeff Bridges, Gil Birmingham Hell or High Water is an exemplary model of arresting cinematography working concurrently with expert story-telling and character development. Also enlivened by charismatic performances and pithy dialogue, it is a unique and chucklesome heist-cum-western-movie that provides a hog-killin’ time from start to finish. Toby (Pine) and Tanner (Foster) Howard are two disparate brothers whose mother has recently died. Atwixt them, they execute a series of bank robberies – masterminded by Toby - in order to pay off the debt on their mother’s ranch to prevent foreclosure.  Meanwhile, Marcus Hamilton (Bridges) is the Texas Ranger a hair’s breadth away from retirement, but opts to carry out the ‘one last job’; investigating these thefts (but, have no fear, this does not play out formulaically as one can easily imagine). With trusty partner Alberto Parker (Birmingham), he sets out on a cat and mou...

Director: Sharon Maguire Cast: Renee Zellweger, Colin Firth, Patrick Dempsey. It's been twelve years since we last saw Bridget Jones grace our screens, and quite frankly, I've missed watching her endure the trials and tribulations of a single thirty-something with a penchant for awkward escapades. Understandably, I was apprehensive about the return of everyone's favourite granny-pant wearing, every-day heroine. Does Bridget Jones's Baby  confirm my deepest fears? Or does it exceed my wildest expectations? The eponymous Bridget Jones (Renee Zellweger), now in her early forties, finds herself single once again after splitting from Mr Darcy (Colin Firth), but she has risen up the ranks in the workplace. Having had fleeting dalliances with Mark Darcy himself and hunky American business tycoon Jack Quant (Patrick Dempsey), Bridget finds herself up the duff - and well and truly confused as to who the father is. As the two potential suitors fight for her affection, Bridge...

Director: Conrad Vernon, Greg Tiernan Cast:  Seth Rogen, Kristen Wiig, Edward Norton, David Krumholtz, Nick Kroll, Michael Cera, Jonah Hill, Salma Hayek, James Franco, Paul Rudd, Bill Hader Welcome to Shopwell’s; a conglomerate supermarket in which all products are sentient -unbeknownst to humans. The food items are devout to the ‘Gods’ whom give liberation by purchasing and trollying them off through the pearly gates that are the shop doors. Frank (Rogen) is the valiant sausage who starts to doubt the traditional beliefs, and along with girlfriend Brenda the Bun (Wiig), Sammy the Bagel (Norton) and Kareem the Lavash (Krumholtz), he is intent on unearthing the facts regarding the world outside their polythene packaging, all the while being stalked by a revenge-thirsty douche (Kroll).   Proposing the headscratcher ‘What would it be like if our food had feelings?’, Sausage Party is a sendup of animation giants’ tendencies to ask the same of inanimate objects like toy...

Director: David Lowery Cast: Bryce Dallas Howard, Oakes Fegley, Wes Bentley, Karl Urban, Oona Laurence, Robert Redford. Disney is certainly not gun shy when it comes to adapting their animated classics into live-action adventures, churning out several over the last couple of years, including Cinderella and the recently critically acclaimed The Jungle Book . Showing no signs of bucking the trend, the powerhouse studio delivers Pete's Dragon  - but can it match the success of its predecessors? In the Pacific Northwest, rumours have swirled for years that a dragon lives deep within the forest - mainly perpetuated by woodcarver Mr Meacham (Robert Redford). His daughter Grace (Bryce Dallas Howard) believes the stories to be folklore until she discovers a young boy called Pete (Oakes Fegley) living in the forest, claiming his friend Elliot, a dragon, has been his companion all these years. As Elliot's once fable-like existence becomes public knowledge, he becomes the victim of...