Barack Obama has apparently described Life of Pi as “an elegant proof of God”. But in the opinion of this agnostic – a position vilified (inexpertly) in the novel – if it is such a proof, it is in the least interesting of ways.

‘The National Anthem’ is a well acted, slick production, but as a piece of social commentary it is based on a narrow view of people as little more than cattle, and as storytelling its flaw is to abandon its coherence in favour of a predetermined conclusion designed to shock

In a rare departure, I have been forced by the awfulness of this film to write a negative review

JG Balllard’s novel Crash was highly controversial when it was published in 1973, as was David Cronenberg’s 1996 film adaptation, marrying as the story does the aftermath of automobile accidents with sexual predilection

The suggestion that the ravings of a London cabbie, slighted by life, could give birth to a religion is no more strange than what has gone before.

Thompson’s murderous schizophrenic displays a rationality that forces us to accept his humanity.

Fever Ray slipped on to the stage of the Shepherd’s Bush Empire (no, I don’t mean the O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire) under the cover of darkness and a significant amount of dry ice, to the disturbing strains of ‘If I Had a Heart’, the opening track of the project’s debut album. Prior to the arrival [...]

‘Closer’, directed by Mike Nichols ‘Closer’ poses a single, wrenching question, articulated by one of its principals in the story’s dying moments, just as the full import of its narrative has hit you viscerally, in the stomach, invoking waves of nausea to pummel you with a force that can only be generated by unwavering submission [...]

‘Crime and Punishment’, directed by Lev Kulidzhanov Although the impulse to create a cinematic rendering of a literary masterpiece may be born of a commendable desire to introduce it to a wider audience, a director must be confident that the essence of that great work is indeed transferable across media. Unfortunately, Crime and Punishment is [...]

‘Red Road, directed by Andrea Arnold ‘Red Road’ is the first of three films under the ‘Advance Party’ banner of Lars von Trier which will see the same actors playing the same characters in each. Von Trier has said that “a film should be like a rock in the shoe”, an uncomfortable and challenging experience, [...]