Reviews by Angus Wolfe Murray

Order by: Date, A–Z

• 
  Honeymoons (2009)

  Review preview for Honeymoons

  Young love has no currency compared to dirty currency and freedom is a dream rather than a promise.

  Two young couples leave Albania and Serbia in search of a better life further west, but find the reality is out of step with their dreams.
• 
  For All Mankind (1989)

  Review preview for For All Mankind

  The magnificence of a blue-tinged earth against the backdrop of opaque blackness, photographed from the moon’s orbit, is breathtaking.

  The astronauts who walked on the moon film themselves.
• 
  Soul Power (2008)

  Review preview for Soul Power

  This is the heart of blackness, the rhythm of fever, the sounds of slavery.

  A celebration of African-American music that accompanied the Ali/Foreman fight in Zaire, 1974
• 
  The Art Of Being Straight (2008)

  Review preview for The Art Of Being Straight

  Rosen has captured that moment in a young man’s life when he crosses a line that will change him forever.

  Questioning sexuality in L.A.
• 
  Slacker Uprising (2007)

  Review preview for Slacker Uprising

  The film is an ego trip, of course, as well as a heartfelt plea to a nation hypnotised by the concept of a war on terror.

  Michael Moore goes out on the road to persuade students to vote and stop George Dubya's second term as Mr Pres.
• 
  Beautiful Losers (2008)

  Review preview for Beautiful Losers

  Art is a kind of freedom, a balance between revolution and recognition.

  Generation Graffiti evolves from Nineties punk art to New York fame.
• 
  All Tomorrow's Parties (2009)

  Review preview for All Tomorrow's Parties

  Where these genius guys who put All Tomorrow’s Parties together succeed beyond expectation is in capturing the fierce and beautiful commitment of everyone involved.

  Celebration of creative energy in anti-festival venues that give music back to those who appreciate its anarchic roots.
• 
  Tiny Joys (2009)

  Review preview for Tiny Joys

  As a patchwork collage of second hand shopping, Tiny Joys is tiny and relatively joyful.

  A comedy of manners exploring the use of classified ads in small town in Transylvania.
• 
  Paper Soldier (2008)

  Review preview for Paper Soldier

  Visually startling and constantly surprising, Paper Soldier is a major work of modern cinema.

  Russian cosmonauts train for the Sputnik launch in a frozen wilderness in Kazakhstan.
• 
  Wide Open Spaces (2009)

  Review preview for Wide Open Spaces

  This is a sad little film that makes two thick planks look interesting.

  Two young men are recruited to develop a tourist attraction celebrating the Irish potato famine.
• 
  The Last Heroes Of The Peninsula (2008)

  Review preview for The Last Heroes Of The Peninsula

  Boxing, it seems, has lost its mojo, growing old in the shadow of greatness.

  A documentary looking at the stars of the Mexican boxing world.
• 
  No Greater Love (2009)

  Review preview for No Greater Love

  The fascination is visual, intellectual and emotional.

  Silent nuns speak.
• 
  A Boy Called Dad (2009)

  Review preview for A Boy Called Dad

  Sentimentality is rough hewn and barely sophisticated, given the storyline, but the performances are first rate.

  Kid on the run with baby son.
• 
  Rule #1 (2008)

  Review preview for Rule #1

  Even amongst the dead there must be logic, or, at least, a plan, in order to manipulate the audience’s disbelief.

  Two cops attempt to rid Hong Kong of murderous ghosts.
• 
  The Right Distance (2007)

  Review preview for The Right Distance

  One of the many qualities of this beautifully orchestrated film is Mazzacurati’s deft juggling of emotional tensions.

  When a new teacher comes to a small rural town in the Po river flatlands it sparks a tale of obssession and mystery.
• 
  Black And White (2008)

  Review preview for Black And White

  The blackness and whiteness of thought, word and deed is thrust down the throats of the audience to an unnatural degree.

  Broken boundaries, race relations, illicit sex and family breakdowns - Italian style.
• 
  Strawberry & Chocolate (1994)

  Review preview for Strawberry & Chocolate

  The film is beautifully written and perfectly acted.

  Love has a different hue in communist Cuba.
• 
  Standing Up (2007)

  Review preview for Standing Up

  Standing Up makes Full Metal Jacket look like a fascist recruitment film.

  Training to kill, Afghan style, in the new American sponsored army.
• 
  Burma VJ (2009)

  Review preview for Burma VJ

  A Japanese journalist is shot dead in the street. Gunfire can be heard everywhere. Crowds run in panic.

  Burmese journalists risk life imprisonment to report from inside their sealed-off country.
• 
  In The Holy Fire Of Revolution (2008)

  Review preview for In The Holy Fire Of Revolution

  It is impossible not to admire Kasparov’s courage as well as his outrage at what is happening to the motherland.

  A year on the campaign trail in Russia with the world's greatest chess player.
• 
  Heart Of Time (2009)

  Review preview for Heart Of Time

  Docudrama at a basic level.

  Is love stronger than duty in the heartland of Mexico's rebel community?
• 
  Cowards (2008)

  Review preview for Cowards

  Love may heal the wounds of adolescence, but emotional isolation is the prison from which these lost boys never escape.

  Communication breakdown and teenage bullying in a privileged Spanish day school.
• 
  Battle Of Wits (2006)

  Review preview for Battle Of Wits

  The film is beautifully orchestrated, involving the simplicity of one man’s endeavour, with battles that dazzle the eye.

  The art of surviving a siege in ancient China.
• 
  Inkheart (2008)

  Review preview for Inkheart

  Frankly, it’s a muddle.

  Children's fiction comes alive in a fantasy adventure story.
• 
  The Day The Earth Stood Still (2008)

  Review preview for The Day The Earth Stood Still

  As an action picture and travesty of a remake, The Day The Earth Stood Still does what it says on the billboard; it stays still.

  Klaatu barada nikto, anyone? Remake of the seminal 50s sci-fi thriller.
• 
  Falling Down (1993)

  Review preview for Falling Down

  This is low-key, nervous, twisted stuff, hinting at anger so deeply ingrained it can only erupt in tight, controlled spurts of rage.

  One hot day in LA a white collar worker goes berserk in the ravaged ruins of South Central.
• 
  Pulp Fiction (1994)

  Review preview for Pulp Fiction

  Excitement shivers through each scene with quirky, individual peculiarity.

  Killers and junkies interact and outeract in a merry-go-mayhem ensemble of violent eccentricity.
• 
  Fargo (1996)

  Review preview for Fargo

  Either the Coens have no conception of reality, or the people they write about lost the place half way between there and here.

  A cocked up kidnap leads to mayhem and murder.
• 
  Independence Day (1996)

  Review preview for Independence Day

  What is required is not another helicopter in flames.

  Alien invasion of earth demands action from the White House and a thousand heart-tugging human stories.
• 
  The Abyss (1989)

  Review preview for The Abyss

  The tension is never loosened, the action seldom rests and the dialogue sounds as sharp and convincing as the actors who speak it.

  Action-packed underwater rescue thriller, with nuclear warheads, explosive relationships and extra-terrestrials.
• 
  Babylon (1980)

  Review preview for Babylon

  Filmed in the style of Scorsese’s Mean Streets, it stands the test of time and the performances of the young cast are exemplary.

  Racial tensions and the battle of sound systems in Brixton's black streets in the late Seventies.
• 
  Oh! Calcutta! (1972)

  Review preview for Oh! Calcutta!

  The sketches are parodies of What The Butler Saw, titillating sexual fantasies taken a little further and given unexpurgated dialogue to shock the audience into nervous laughter.

  The soft porn stage sensation of the Seventies filmed in the theatre, naked and unashamed.
• 
  Quarantine (2008)

  Review preview for Quarantine

  The ghost of [Rec] haunts the production, which is enough to ensure it stays semi-focused upon the horror of being trapped in a vortex of feral rage.

  Firemen face deadly virus in LA apartment block.
• 
  Body Of Lies (2008)

  Review preview for Body Of Lies

  This is an extremely well made movie, with exacting performances of the highest quality.

  Counter-terrorist thriller about a CIA operative in the Middle East and his US-based 'handler'.
• 
  The Hourglass Sanatorium (1973)

  Review preview for The Hourglass Sanatorium

  In the Seventies, films like this had the status of arthouse. Now that CGI is sexier than life and you are only a multiplex away from Action City, they look like leftovers from an intellectual’s doodle.

  A young man searches through delapidated dreamscapes for his dead/live father.
• 
  The No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (2008)

  Review preview for The No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency

  If charm lubricates every working part of this delightful film, it is Mma Ramotswe’s character that fuels it.

  Uncovering mysteries in Botswana, with accute observation of human nature and oodles of charm.
• 
  Chocolate (2008)

  Review preview for Chocolate

  The fight choreography is awesome. Having such a lithe young pupil in the person of Yanin only adds to the visual excitement.

  An autistic girl, with devastating martial arts skills, takes on the Thai mafia.
• 
  Outlanders (2007)

  Review preview for Outlanders

  The personal story is recounted against a cityscape that leaves bare the warmth of human kindness.

  The fate of illegal immigrants on a London building site.
• 
  Igor (2008)

  Review preview for Igor

  There are too many ideas, both verbally and visually, to take in before the ghost of Walt Disney has a spectral moment.

  In the land where evil is honoured and inventions are monstrous.
• 
  CSNY Déjà Vu (2008)

  Review preview for CSNY Déjà Vu

  What lifts Déjà Vu above the crowd is the raw emotion emanating from the musicians to audiences who are often shocked by the uncompromising nature of their stance.

  Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young go back on the road to protest against the continuing loss of life in the war in Iraq.
• 
  Police (1985)

  Review preview for Police

  The film exposes a police force no longer in control of itself.

  No holds barred as French cops go after a Tunisian drugs gang.
• 
  Dante 01 (2008)

  Review preview for Dante 01

  The film sets up an interesting situation, like the pilot of a TV series, and then leaves you, as it were, at the beginning.

  A new arrival with alien powers upsets the equilibrium amongst prisoners in a deep space psychiatric detention centre.
• 
  The Autobiography Of Miss Jane Pittman (1974)

  Review preview for The Autobiography Of Miss Jane Pittman

  Jane’s story has enough drama to fill the spaces between post civil war ennui and 20th century repression.

  The life of a freed slave in the American Deep South, from the end of the civil war to the black protest movements of the Sixties.
• 
  Trial & Retribution: The Third Collection (2008)

  Review preview for Trial & Retribution: The Third Collection

  How the quality of the writing and the commitment of the actors retains so high a standard is a miracle we can only be grateful for.

  Three more cases for Lynda La Plante's irascible detectives.
• 
  Love Is The Devil (1998)

  Review preview for Love Is The Devil

  Where is the anguish and the anger of this man whose paintings screamed at life’s abuse and the absence of love?

  The artist as gay icon and the thief who stayed.
• 
  Face Addict (2005)

  Review preview for Face Addict

  Bertoglio once took pictures of moody guys and sexy girls. “We were all ego maniacs and drug addicts,” he says. “That’s a bit of a problem.”

  Photographer who worked during the legendary Warhol years returns to New York to interview the survivors.
• 
  The Elephant Man (1980)

  Review preview for The Elephant Man

  Merrick’s history, with its tragedies and triumphs, breaks the barrier between a life less ordinary and a horror comic.

  True story of a grotesquely deformed man who is saved from a freak show to become a sensation in Victorian London society.
• 
  The Inspector Lynley Mysteries: The Complete Second Series (2003)

  Review preview for The Inspector Lynley Mysteries: The Complete Second Series

  The whodunit elements of these stories are as smart as a Saville Row suit.

  Four whodunits for the aristocratic DI and his proletarian assistant.
• 
  WTC View (2005)

  Review preview for WTC View

  On the surface, there is nothing to WTC View. Under the surface, it is profound and moving and often very funny.

  Renting a room, overlooking the World Trade Centre, on 10/11.
• 
  The Commander: Vol 4-6 (2007)

  Review preview for The Commander: Vol 4-6

  This is better than good telly; it is excellent filmmaking.

  Three new mysteries from the doyenne of tough TV cop dramas.