The Ides Of March (2011)
★★★☆☆
Embroiled in politics corrupt and corrupting, George Clooney’s The Ides Of March charts the tragic fate of one man irredeemably lost, and on the way up.
★★★☆☆
Embroiled in politics corrupt and corrupting, George Clooney’s The Ides Of March charts the tragic fate of one man irredeemably lost, and on the way up.
★★★★☆
Doomed love with a straight twist, Gus Van Sant’s Restless hides a Last Days morbidity in a quirky teenage romance between a terminally ill girl and a funeral mourner.
★★★★☆
With Ryan Gosling as an übercool, unnamed getaway driver, Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive mixes LA heist movie with Melvillian lonerism for a sexy, seething delight.
★★★★☆
Set alight by a family tragedy, Terrence Malick’s beautiful The Tree Of Life spirals out from a son’s death into a divine celebration of life.
★★★☆☆
With wide vistas of the Oregon Desert and sumptuous desolation, Kelly Reichardt’s Meek’s Cutoff explores the unspoken battle of the sexes on the prarie trail.
★★★☆☆
Starring his brother Joel, Matthew Bissonnette’s Passenger Side is an autobiographical tale of sibling rivalry and Los Angeles odysseys.
★★★★☆
With James Franco as Allen Ginsberg, Epstein and Friedmann’s Howl recreates the poetic timebomb in Fifties mores, exploding his anguished art into pieces.
★★★☆☆
It may be a remake of the John Wayne classic True Grit, but don’t be fooled – the Coen brothers’ latest Western outing is their straightest story yet.
★★★★☆
A portrait of a couple coping with their son’s death, Rabbit Hole is a parallel universe of grief and self-censure. For John Cameron Mitchell it’s worlds away.
★★★★☆
With a mesmerising performance from Natalie Portman, Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan is entirely gripping in its pas de deux of black sensuality and white innocence.
★★★★☆
A dazzling, thought-provoking reflection on love found and love lost, Derek Cianfrance’s Blue Valentine puts marriage on trial.
★★★★☆
Audiences are bound to be divided over Danny Boyle’s flashy visuals, but James Franco goes all out on a limb to ground the supersonic 127 Hours with a bit of gravitas.
★★★☆☆
With Stephen Dorff as Sunset Boulevard’s latest fading star and a put-upon debutante daughter, Somewhere is Sofia Coppola’s most autobiographical film to date.
★★★☆☆
Centred round a geeky fantasist’s phone-sex relationship, Kyle Patrick Alvarez’s Easier With Practice flirts with the danger of wet dreams coming true.