The Ciné File: May 2017

I feel like I haven't seen many films this month - including an entire week when I didn't see any at all - so the list of reviews isn't particularly long. However, I have managed to see most of the major new releases so it's not too bad!

The Ciné File: April 2017

This month has consisted of yet more foreign films and all 8 Fast and Furious... It's been a mixed bunch!

The Ciné File: March 2017

Finally: I'm actually seeing foreign films and documentaries as they're released and not years later!

The Ciné File: February 2017

I love the cinema during awards season.

The Ciné File: January 2017

In another effort to increase my film watching over the coming year, I've resurrected my previous long-standing series, The Ciné File! On the last Sunday of each month I will be doing mini reviews of the films I've seen over the past 30 days, from cinema trips to see new releases, classics on Netflix and Sky Cinema, and advance screenings. It'll depend on what I've seen throughout the month, but I'll try and review as much as I can, and hopefully it'll be pretty varied.

One of my vague New Years resolutions was to watch more films - particularly across lots of different genres and often out of my comfort zone - so hopefully this will help keep me on track! I've seen nearly everything on my Coming Soon list for January, plus lots more at home. I really want to try pushing my boundaries in 2017, so here goes...

Film Round-Up 2016

Under normal circumstances, this post is the easiest I have to write each year. 

Going to the pictures between 2-3 times a week and seeing virtually every new release my local cinema has to offer means I'm usually able to watch a wide variety of films and form an opinion on them accordingly at the end of the year. Throughout the twelve months I make a note of standout films and performances, scores that I love and cinematography that makes me swoon. As such, by the time December rolls around compiling my thoughts into a vague list of favourites is pretty simple. However, this year it's been extremely difficult and has taken ages for me to come to a final decision as there weren't many films - if any - that stood out to me in the way that the likes of Brooklyn and Carol did last year, or The Grand Budapest Hotel and Interstellar did back in 2014. 

I've gone through all of my ticket stubs for the last year, rewatched numerous trailers and finally narrowed down my choices for the best films of 2016. As ever, I've been pretty strict and only included films that I've actually seen, and that have a U.K. release date during 2016, which is annoying as the best films I've seen this year don't come out till January (Manchester by the Sea, La La Land, A Monster Calls...).

Film Round-Up 2015

It's been a pretty good year for film, yet again.

As I seem to have spent the majority of 2015 in the cinema, it seemed only appropriate to pull together a list of the good, the bad, and the ugly released in the U.K. in 2015.

I think I've covered everything, from my top 10 films of the year to mini-awards for 'The Film That Made the Best Over-Dramatic Use of a Waterfall'; 'The Film That I Wish I Could Experience For The First Time All Over Again' and 'The Film That Blew My Mind (and not at all in a good way)'.

I hope that these lists will provide you with inspiration for a cinema trip over the next few days, or give you some ideas for hidden gems to look for on Netflix and Sky Movies when they arrive next year. Make yourself a cup of tea: it's a long post!

The Ciné File Vol. 38

It's been an awfully long time since my last set of film reviews for The Ciné File, so this is a pretty long one I'm afraid!

Instead of full reviews I've grouped films together by their defining characteristics - be them strong central performances, cinematography or set design, for example - and made a brief comment on each. I felt that'd be much better than a never-ending list of reviews!

From Brooklyn to Burnt, The Intern to The Program, Anomalisa to Bridge of Spies, and Star Wars: The Force Awakens to Sicario I've seen a wide range of films over the last few months: so much so that it's pretty helpful to have them all finally written down!

The Ciné File Vol. 37

As far as The Ciné File goes, August and September were clearly a total right off.

While I may not have had time to write about every film I saw I did manage to fit in multiple cinema trips (obviously), really putting my Cineworld Unlimited card to good use and finally discovering the joys of my local Curzon. There are too many films for me to go back and review in full - sadly there just aren't enough hours in the day - but as I've been making a note of star ratings after each film in my phone I thought it might be best to assemble them all in a quick post.

A number of these films from August/the start of September are no longer widely available in cinemas, but they may have a second wave in the coming weeks (places like the Prince Charles Cinema in London are excellent for this), or might still have odd random showings in the middle of the day. As such, I've included trailers so if you see something you like then go seek it out! If you can catch the likes of The Man From U.N.C.L.E., 45 Years and Straight Outta Compton then I'd seriously recommend it: the downloads/DVD releases seem too far away and they absolutely deserve to be seen!

The Ciné File Vol. 36

After an unexpectedly long absence, The Ciné File is back! Woop woop!

As it's been nearly a month, reviewing absolutely everything I'd seen would make for a pretty lengthy post, so instead I'm just sticking to films currently in cinemas this week. Plus, as life seems to be constantly getting the better of me, The Ciné File is going to be a little different from now on... all will be explained below!

The films reviewed this week are:

Ant-Man (4*) // Self-Less (2*) // Eden (4*) // Slow West (3*) // Southpaw (3*) // Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (5*) // Fantastic Four (2*)

The Ciné File Vol. 35

Only two films reviewed this week as life is really getting in the way of my regular film watching habits, but hopefully once I'm in a routine normal service can resume!

For now though, I have 1* for the disappointingly bad Terminator Genisys and 4* for the return of the Kings of Tampa in Magic Mike XXL.

With so many amazing films out in July I'm really hoping for many more cinema trips over the coming weeks!

The Ciné File Vol. 34

Due to a few days in London it's been a slow film week for me, but thanks to the return of the Odeon Screen Unseen I've been lucky enough to see the new Pixar blockbuster Inside Out, and it's as wonderful and deserving of 5* as I imagined!

The Ciné File Vol. 33

My film watching has dropped off recently hence the two week break, but I'm back now with a couple of new releases including 4* for the latest dinosaur epic Jurassic World, 3* for disaster movie San Andreas, and at the other end of the spectrum 1* for Pierce Brosnan's car-crash of a film, Survivor.

Plus, I'm loving the new American comedy Jane the Virgin enough to mention it: catch up with it if you can!

The Ciné File Vol. 32

As I missed a week last Sunday because of my latest Coming Soon post, there are lots of new releases reviewed this week, including 4* for the aca-awesome Pitch Perfect 2, a disappointing 3* for Disney's optimistic venture Tomorrowland, and 5* for the astonishingly good Clouds of Sils Maria and the hilarious Paul Feig-Melissa McCarthy action-comedy Spy.

The Ciné File Vol. 31

It's a mixed bag this week, from stylish but flawed romance The Age of Adaline; to classic Jack Ryan in Patriot Games; generic Liam Neeson action-thriller Non-Stop and pure food porn from Jon Favreau with Chef. Something for everyone then?!

The Ciné File Vol. 30

This fortnight features an old favourite (Legally Blonde); a recent favourite (Captain America: The Winter Soldier); and a brand new favourite (Far From the Madding Crowd).

Plus, I've finally watched the Mad Max trilogy, and although I wasn't impressed I'm glad I've finally seen it. New release Mad Max: Fury Road, however, is in another league entirely and completely deserves the full five stars!

The Ciné File Vol. 29

Given the fact that most of the films this week are repeat viewings, this post is more of a collection of short opinion pieces than full reviews: I don't see any point in repeating myself unnecessarily!

I'm still riding an Avengers high - surprise, surprise - and I'm steadily working my way through Modern Family. It's not been a particularly ground-breaking week for film and television, but it's not been a waste either!

The Ciné File Vol. 28

I feel like I'd been waiting for this week for months.

I booked tickets to the first showing of the day on the first day of its release of Avengers: Age of Ultron months ago, and I've been waiting in giddy anticipation ever since. To say it lived up to my expectations would be a massive understatement, and writing a spoiler-free review was very hard indeed (but it is, so if you aren't as sad/keen as me and haven't seen it yet then you can read on in the knowledge I won't be spoiling anything for you, except that it's brilliant!).

I've also braved French gardening romance A Little Chaos and Russian espionage 'thriller' Child 44 and was extraordinarily disappointed - sadly, they're just awful!

The Ciné File Vol. 27

Normal service can resume this week as I've actually watched a couple of films: instead of just hiding in a cinema and seeing Cinderella again as I did the week before...

Along with my favourite Batman films, I've seen teen hits The DUFF and Insurgent; tried to watch John Wick but the cinema was evacuated half an hour in; and finally squeezed in A Thousand Times Goodnight on Sky Movies. It's been a varied film week then!

The Ciné File Vol. 26

Five 5* films reviewed this week... How on earth did that happen?!