It is the 20th aniversary of Carl Sagan’s sci-fi film, Contact - and a great time to celebrate its legacy and revisit its main premise of Science vs. Religion.
Jason Isaacs as Georgy Zhukov in The Death of Stalin.
Main Journey, Free Range Films, Quad Productions
Armando Iannucci plays fast and loose with history in his farce The Death of Stalin. But its depiction of the cult of personality that can develop around political leaders is bitingly relevant.
Because the Kremlin hopes to project strength and unity, history isn’t used as much to inform as it is to inspire, with events cherry-picked to fit within a fuzzy framework of ‘Russian greatness.’
Robert Eggers’ indie film The Witch brilliantly chronicles Puritan life in the 1630s. Horror soon ensues as children disappear into the woods and one girl, Thomasina, is accused of witchcraft.
A polio patient in an iron lung, 1940.
Shutterstock/Everett Historical
Woody Allen said it was “sad”. Quentin Tarantino said he needed to nurse his own “pain” and “emotions” about the revelations. Oliver Stone took it further – it was not just that he gave the nod to Woody…
Kathryn Bigelow: leading lady in film directing.
Shutterstock
Women change working cultures – and as the Harvey Weinstein allegations show, Hollywood is badly in need of it.
While the original Blade Runner provides some insight into artificial life, and the book explores power and human relationships, Blade Runner 2049 has none of that.
(Handout)
Blade Runner 2049 represents a failure of the imagination. The film is a series of events strung together and steeped in narcissism, excessive self-absorption, isolation and regressive politics.
They’re back!
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures UK
Denis Villeneuve’s much anticipated Blade Runner 2049 has met with mostly praise and a few notably dour takes. It appears to be yielding disappointing results at the box office. While the film is visually…
Natassia Gorie Furber and Hamilton Morris in Sweet Country.
IMDB
The obstreperous exclamation mark that holds a bullhorn to the title of Darren Aronofsky’s latest film befits both the mounting clamour of the work itself, and a director who, in 48 years, has yet to discover…
Gil Birmingham (Cory) and Jeremy Renner (Martin) in Wind River: grieving fathers who come together in the realm of the dead.
Production Co: Acacia Filmed Entertainment, Film 44, Ingenious Media
American cinema mines Greek myth most strongly at times of profound social anxiety. In the age of Trump, we are already seeing key political battlegrounds framed as underworld quests in film.
This year’s Toronto International Film Festival is a further example of how science, technology, engineering and math illuminate movies – and, in the process, our minds.