A Most Wanted Man

Director: Anton Corbijn
Cast: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rachel McAdams, Willem Dafoe, Robin Wright
Genre: Thriller
Duration: 122 mins
Rating: M – Coarse language and mature themes

The New Daily says: Based on John Le Carré‘s German-set espionage thriller novel of the same name, A Most Wanted has been called melancholy and grim, but praise for Philip Seymour Hoffman’s breathtaking performance in his penultimate film has been universal. David Denby for The New Yorker says : “The film gives le Carré’s bitterly intelligent man some streaks of tenderness, which bring him closer to a conventional movie hero. Yet the heroic quality in Hoffman doesn’t need softening. A great actor, he carried his despair and his outsized sense of responsibility with him to the end.” 

Lucy

Director: Luc Besson
Cast: Scarlett Johansson, Morgan Freeman
Genre: Sci-fi-Action
Duration: 89 mins
Rating: MA15+ – Strong themes and violence

Stephen A. Russell for thelowdownunder says: “Ballsy French writer/director Luc Besson has always had a thing for kick-as women, and Lucy, the latest canny career move from increasingly interesting young star Scarlett Johansson, has its sights held firmly on his sensually mesmerising lead. His latest offering is a sort of gene-spliced hybrid of his previous hits, including sexy thriller La Femme Nikita and the far-out sci-fi cools of The Fifth Element, with a dash of his high-octane action ‘script’ for The Transporter for good measure.”

The Selfish Giant

Director: Clio Bernard
Cast: Conner Chapman, Shaun Thomas, Siobahn Finneran
Genre: Drama
Duration: 91mins
Rating: MA15+ – Strong course language

Stephen A. Russell for thelowdownunder says: ” Following her strikingly experimental documentary on playwright Andrea Dunbar in 2010, The Arbor, writer/director Clio Barnard’s debut dramatic feature, based very loosely on Oscar Wilde’s The Selfish Giant, is a cinematic triumph that heralds a much-needed champion of sorely under-represented female auteurs. A harrowing and yet achingly heartfelt study in social realism, gone is Wilde’s overtly religious take on redemption, instead replaced with the deeply human struggle of social misfits attempting to make good in spite of the crushing poverty that seems to embody the great author’s oft-repeated quote, “we are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars. Hauntingly beautiful, Barnard is an incredible new talent. Magnificent stuff.”