Director - The Dardenne Brothers
Marion Cotillard has the titular time to try and convince her co-workers not to take a bonus that will result in her being laid off from work. The Dardenne brothers have a knack of extracting amazing performances from their actors which they allow to drive their films. Their directorial style is unflashy but fully thought through with their use of long takes drawing the viewer into the story. Simply put this is one of the best drama films of recent years.
Director - Guy Myhill
This superb coming of age flick is Guy Myhill's feature debut. The Goob (Liam Walpole) is our title character, a wild-card kid who we first meet on the last day of school, his whole life ahead of him, the world is his oyster except for the fact that he’s stuck in rural Norfolk with his brother, mum and her nasty bastard boyfriend, Womack (Sean Harris). It’s crop picking season, the Goob meets a foreign girl, makes friends with a flamboyant homosexual and constantly winds up Womack. Making this the film equivalent of kicking a wasps nest just to see what happens. Great acting, unfussy direction and refreshingly gritty take on this type of story mark it out as one of the years best films, and Myhill as someone to keep an eye open for in future.
Director - Stephen La Rivière
Aces documentary about Gerry and Sylvia Anderson’s groundbreaking puppet shows (Stingray, Captain Scarlet, Thunderbirds etc). If you’re a fan then this is essential viewing since just about every name you can remember from the end credits of those shows is interviewed. From the steamboat Mickey like beginnings of Torchy, the Battery Boy right the way up to the disastrous The Secret Service, pretty much everything is covered in as much detail as you’ll ever need. If you’re not a fan then stay away as this will probably bore you rigid.
Director - Wes Ball
Dystopian teen flick. Bunch of teen boys find themselves in a huge clearing surrounded by high walls on the other side of which is a vast ever-changing maze. Food and provisions are sent in to them at regular intervals, so the big question is should they stay or should they try and escape? It's Logan's Run meets Lord of the Flies filtered through modern Big Brother culture. It's also one of the many slew of teen flicks that have arrived on screens in the wake of The Hunger Games. The Maze Runner rattles forwards at a fair old pace, the acting is pretty good (especially Will Poulter) and visually it's quite a treat too. Bit too scary for anyone not quite into their teens, but otherwise perfectly good Saturday night fluff.
Directors - Derik Murray & David Ray
Hugely underwhelming documentary about the Elvis of motorcycle stunts. What could and should have been a fascinating look into what drove Robert Knievel to obsessively attempt impossible motorcycle jumps, most ending with him in hospital, actually ends up being a macho love fest. There is very little in the way of balance on screen and most of Knievel's dark side (womanising, thieving and drinking) is brushed off as male bravado. There’s a great doc to be made about Evel Knievel, one that doesn’t shy away from the dark aspects of his life. Sadly this isn’t it. Don't bother.
