by Vanessa Hague 

This first 300 was pretty enjoyable. Full of mindless action, containing a rather memorable sequence that has spawned countless imitations plus there's more half-naked, rather buff and good looking men than you can shake a stick at. It was one of those movies that if you don't think too hard about it, turns out to be a lot better than expected.

by Matthew Gammond 

It’s always hard to discuss a tragic real-world event, and it’s harder still to make a movie about one. Of course, lots of true life disasters have made their way to the big screen, often with mixed results, but for my generation there is one event (or date, rather) that is at the forefront of our minds when we think of tragedy – 9/11.

The 13th anniversary has just passed by and as usual the television channels were flooded with news coverage, tributes, documentaries... and movies. Despite the world thinking that making a film about the events of that September morning was in bad taste, we got a few anyway, proving that studios didn’t believe the subject was to lie in a perpetual state of ‘too soon’. And despite still getting emotional when I think about what I saw that day, I’m glad films were made about it.

by Cookie N Screen 

If you ask me, and I realise you weren’t, David Cronenberg is the best director of all time. Don’t deny me this. He can not only subvert your nightmares into living creatures cavorting on the screen, but he can pin point the exact unnerving nature of humanities psyche. Coming both thematic horrors as well as monstrous one, Cronenberg has proved repeatedly that he can truly master freights in every format. Today marks the release of the highly anticipated Maps to the Stars, which sees a dark satirical look at Hollywood and sees Cronenberg focus on the emotional aspect of humanity rather than his elaborate creatures. With that in mind, let’s have a look back at one of his best works; A History of Violence. 

by Cookie N Screen 

You know me, I am not usually one to compare the film version of a book to its original source. In fact, I vehemently hate people who do so because, for the most part, they do so in some sort of pretention that does who love film are less. On the other hand, I completely understand that immersing yourself in the world of a book, getting excited over an adaptation only for the tone, characters and storyline to be completely off is the worst feeling. That loss of fictional identity when someone (or, in most cases, a studio) decides to completely eradicate all that the books had done is one I know all too well. Especially when it comes too Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging.

by Melissa Haggar 

In a world where the vampire genre has been plagued by some more ‘sparkling’ additions, Jim Jarmusch arrives to rescue us all from the suffocating teen infatuations that we have all had to endure. Only Lovers Left Alive is not content to adhere to normal standards and provides a uniquely artistic cinematic experience, with Jarmusch showing that he is a certain flair for the indie aesthetic that he has created.

by Cookie N Screen

There is nothing more delightful to the ears than hearing “from the writer of Drive” combined with “and the author of The Talented Mr Ripley.” That is stamping gold stars all over your work before you’ve even begun. If you are doing a sixties drenched thriller in the golden shores of the Mediterranean it must be a winning combination. Imagine the sultry seducing plot, tantalising teasing humanity that spirals out of control thanks to an unforgiveable crime. The twists and turns, you simply cannot proceed your latest film with this crime drama holy duo of crime drama without incurring high expectations.

Luckily, The Two Faces of January delivers on its promises in this highly tense drama. 

by Sarah Wagner 

Winner of the Cannes film festival’s first Queer Palm in 2010 for its services to the LGBT community, Kaboom is an 86 minute film full of dream sequences, witches, cults, animal masks, drugs, explosions and sex. A lot of sex.

Written and directed by Greg Araki, the story focuses on Smith, an 18-year-old college student played by Thomas Dekker (previously seen gracing our screens in the cancelled witchy teen drama, The Secret Circle). Away from home, Smith is finding out what life as an adult is all about. He has a crush on his surf-god roommate Thor (Chris Zylka), frequently hooks ups with quirky rock chick, London (Juno Temple), and his best mate Stella (Haley Bennett) is going out with the scarily clingy Lorelei. But it’s not just normal college life he’s navigating. He’s also discovering some pretty weird goings-on along the way, and having some crazy dreams to boot. 

by Robbie Jones 

Seth Rogen and Zac Efron are both actors who have had their fair share of detractors. For Rogen, it’s the fact he seemingly plays the same sort of character in every film he makes, with only tiny bits of variation, and Efron has always come under fire for the films that made him famous, the High School Musical trilogy. But last year, Efron effectively hammered the final nail into his Disney coffin with The Paperboy, which came following quite a few serious performances, and now he’s a rising star on the comedy scene. The proof? Well, you’ve got his two comedies from this year: That Awkward Moment, a fairly enjoyable romp starring Miles Teller and Michael B. Jordan, and Bad Neighbours, the film that made it clear he was a comedy force to be reckoned with.

by Liam Bland

‘Well, that doesn't explain... why you've come all the way out here... all the way out here to hell.’
‘l... uh... I have a job out in the town of Machine.’
‘Machine?’
‘Yes.’
‘That’s the end of the line!’
‘Is it?’
‘Yes!’

As the train makes its way across the American frontier toward the edge of civilisation, the driver portentously warns Johnny Depp’s character, William Blake what he might expect. 

‘You’re just as likely to find your own grave.’

And so begins Jim Jarmusch’s Dead Man, an indie film Western like none other you might have seen before. 

by Cookie N Screen

There is already a lot of contention surrounding Marc Webb’s possibly unwarranted re-boot of the much beloved Spider-Man series. Popping an "Amazing" in front of it and allowing Andrew Garfield to tackling the webbed hero put fans of Sam Raimi’s seminal Toby Macguire fronted trilogy in a sticky situation. After all, Raimi and Macguire successfully battled through villains and monsters, producing two stirring movies that captured the essence of Spider-Man in all its cheese. And then there was Spider-Man 3 (or as we like to call it, the sequel that should not be named). So when Sony proposed the remake, juxtaposed against an entire backdrop of incredible super-hero based movies, it was either condemn it or support it. The Amazing Spider-Man, released back in 2012, was actually a brilliant transformation for Spidey. It’s a shame, however, that the sequel failed to continue that excellence.