Posts by John
‘Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy’ uncompromising, intelligent, and beautifully acted
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy Written by Bridget O’Connor and Peter Straughan Directed by Tomas Alfredson UK / France / Germany, 2011 When the BBC screened the hugely admired adaptation of John le Carré’s Cold War novel Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy … [Read the Rest]
‘Rampart’: aiming more for a sunshine coast ‘The Wire’ than a nervous ‘Lethal Weapon’
Rampart Directed by Oren Moverman Written by James Ellroy and Oren Moverman Starring Woody Harrelson, Cynthia Nixon, Robin Wright, Sigourney Weaver, Anne Heche & Steve Buscemi Two years ago debut director Oren Moverman directed Woody Harrelson to his second Oscar … [Read the Rest]
SOS Staff Gateway Films: John McEntee – ’2001: A Space Odyssey’
Throughout November, SOS staffers will be discussing the movies that made them into film fanatics. (click here for the full list) There is really only one place to begin – The Dawn of Man. A montage of prehistoric images denotes … [Read the Rest]
‘The Skin I Live In’ a well-crafted but unsatisfying psycho-thriller
The Skin I Live In Written by Pedro Almodóvar Directed by Pedro Almodóvar Spain, 2011 The hallowed caverns of cinema history are littered with the skeletal remains of mad scientists, those power-crazed maniacs whose unholy experiments are frequently an affront … [Read the Rest]
55th BFI London Film Festival: ‘A Dangerous Method’
A Dangerous Method Directed by David Cronenberg Starring Michael Fassbender, Keira Knightley, Viggo Mortensen, Vincent Cassell When judged against his peers over recent years Canadian horror maestro David Cronenberg is the film maker who has undergone the most compelling metamorphosis. … [Read the Rest]
55th BFI London Film Festival: ‘We Need To Talk About Kevin’ a low-budget, high-impact wonder
We Need To Talk About Kevin Directed by Lynne Ramsay Written by Lynne Ramsay and Rory Kinnear UK / USA, 2011 Lynne Ramsay returns to the big screen after almost a decade long hiatus, and talk about returning with a … [Read the Rest]
55th BFI London Film Festival: ‘The Descendants’ finds Payne at his intelligent, mature best
The Descendants Written by Alexander Payne Directed by Alexander Payne USA, 2011 It’s hard to believe that it’s been seven long years since Sideways, Alexander Payne’s widely beloved paean to middle aged disappointment, which was so thoroughly embraced by middle … [Read the Rest]
55th BFI London Film Festival – ‘The Somnambulists’: less documentary than political screed
The Somnambulists Directed by Richard Jobson UK, 2011 The title of Richard Jobson’s second film, one part political screed and one part disturbing documentary on the terrible Iraq debacle serves twin purposes – to witness the hypnotised fashion in which a … [Read the Rest]
55th BFI London Film Festival: ‘Shame’ serious drama for adults, in more ways than one
Shame Directed by Steve McQueen Written by Steve McQueen UK, 2011 New York city hasn’t looked so beautifully cold and ironically isolating for quite some time as it does in Shame, Steve McQueen’s second collaboration with everyone’s favourite actor Michael Fassbender, … [Read the Rest]
55th BFI London Film Festival – ‘Rampart’
Rampart Directed by Oren Moverman Written by James Ellroy and Oren Moverman Starring Woody Harrelson, Cynthia Nixon, Robin Wright, Sigourney Weaver, Anne Heche & Steve Buscemi Two years ago debut director Oren Moverman directed Woody Harrelson to his second Oscar … [Read the Rest]
Festival du Nouveau Cinéma: ‘The Skin I Live In’ a well-crafted but unsatisfying psycho-thriller
The Skin I Live In Written by Pedro Almodóvar Directed by Pedro Almodóvar Spain, 2011 The hallowed caverns of cinema history are littered with the skeletal remains of mad scientists, those power-crazed maniacs whose unholy experiments are frequently an affront … [Read the Rest]
55th BFI London Film Festival Opening Gala: ’360′ yet another “we’re all in this together” mediocrity
360 Directed by Fernando Mierelles Written by Peter Morgan It’s not difficult to see why the organisers of the 55th London Film Festival selected the new film by Fernando Mierelles, the spherically titled 360, as the opening night gala film. … [Read the Rest]
55th BFI London Film Festival – ‘The Awakening’
The Awakening Written and Directed by Nick Murphy Starring Rebecca Hall, Dominic West & Imelda Staunton UK, 2011 No, the horror remake strand hasn’t reached out to encompass the 1980 Charlton Heston horror The Awakening, where an archaeologist has a spot of … [Read the Rest]
BFI 55th London Film Festival – Martha Marcy May Marlene’ one of the most assuredly original films of the year
Martha Marcy May Marlene Directed by Sean Durkin Written by Sean Durkin Starring Elizabeth Olsen, Sarah Paulson, Hugh Dancy, John Hawkes Even from its title the film Martha Marcy May Marlene suggests a fracture of psyche, a yearning for identity … [Read the Rest]
BFI 55th London Film Festival Award Nominees
LONDON FILM FESTIVAL AWARDS The 55th BFI London Film Festival announced the shortlists and juries for the 2011 Festival Awards this week, heralding a star studded extravaganza that is due to take place at the prestigious LSO St Luke’s on 26th October. … [Read the Rest]
John McEntee has been addicted to movies ever since he saw the hallucinatory Stargate sequence that closed 2001: A Space Odyssey which made him burst into terrified tears. He was twenty-six at the time. Based in London John works in Local Government but makes the most of the celluloid capital of UK by attending as many BFI and art cinema related events as possible as well as enjoying the odd Hollywood blockbuster. From Antonioni to Bresson, from Malick to Mann, Kubrick to Kurosawa, Carpenter to Craven, John is addicted to the movies although he harbours a secret preference for film noir, the golden seventies of US cinema and anything remotely good in either the SF or Horror field. Especially if it makes him cry. 
