Search results for "prison drama"


  • Offender

    Offender was released into cinemas in August this year and is so self-consciously ‘gritty’ that it scrapes at your eyeballs. Riddled with angry-young-men cliches, scattered with graphic violence, and littered with clunky references to Modern Culture, Offender cannot be forgiven for a painfully badly-judged script, confusing cinematography and appalling sound quality. Offender is The Shawshank Redemption for the Plan B generation. If Tim Robbins was a giant turd.


  • King of Devil’s Island

    Norwegian islands play host to some pretty dark events. Long before the horrors of summer 2011, Bastøy Island was the home of a now infamous prison colony for troublesome boys, where dire conditions led to an uprising so overwhelming that the Navy was called in to control it – one of only two occasions in Norway’s history when its military forces were turned on its own people. To recreate all the drama of this cataclysmic event is, you would think, enough for any movie. Not so King Of Devil’s Island, which ultimately pulls out more stops than it can handle in its attempt to not just tell the story of Bastøy, but to make you think – and think deep.




  • TGIM: Made In 3 Mills Film Festival

    While the London Film Festival is getting under-way elsewhere in the capital, there’s a much more intimate celebration of film occurring elsewhere. Hidden away in the depths of East London is the 3 Mills film studio, which has become something of a home-from-home for stop-motion animation, and has attracted its share of big live action film-makers too, in recent years. They’re hosting a four-day event to celebrate their output.


  • My Way

    Inspired by true events and set during the 1920’s, My Way sees Korean country boy Kim Jun-shik struggle to reconcile his aspirations of becoming an Olympic runner with the various forces that conspire to stop him realizing his dreams. If you’re expecting a sleepy art house flick with lots of panning shots and loaded silences you’re in for a disappointment. My Way is a relentlessly high octane affair and serves as a compelling comment on Japan’s fraught and complicated history.



  • Lay The Favourite

    In 2008 action comedy Tropic Thunder, Ben Stiller’s character learns the hard way the perils inherent in going Full Retard for his role in fictitious drama ‘Simple Jack’. Rebecca Hall has clearly never seen Tropic Thunder. She’s never even heard of it.


  • Men in Black III

    Ten years on from Men in Black II and an astonishing 15 years after the original film (are we all really that old?), Agents K. J and, err, K again are back onscreen for a third and possibly last outing. It may be a poor imitation of the genre-defining original, but fans will find plenty to enjoy in this inoffensive threequel.