Upstream Colour
Swimming against the tide.
I vividly remember the first time I saw 2001: A Space Odyssey – the glorious confusion, being swept away by a rush of information which is more to be felt than processed.…
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A life in
the pictures.
Films that stay with you.
Writing that looks a little closer.
Explore the collected reviews of Linda O’Brien.
397 REVIEWS · ONE CRITIC’S PERSPECTIVE
Vampires Suck
A toothless parody.
Vampires Suck isn’t just bad, it is surely a portent of looming Armageddon. That the greatest art form of the twentieth century and beyond has been debased to this is nothing short…
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Vincere
Passion and politics.
In the words of Sam Cooke, I don’t know much about history. Like many film fans, my knowledge of the world is a tapestry of the embellished truths I’ve picked up from…
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Warm Bodies
Dead romantic.
Warm Bodies, directed by Jonathan Levine (All the Boys Love Mandy Lane), isn’t so much a tale of boy-meets-girl as boy-eats-girl. Twilight may have come and gone but it seems there’s no…
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We Are Your Friends
Eat, sleep, rave, repeat.
A few years ago, Jay Z and Kanye West performed together on the runway of a Victoria Secret fashion show. As they trade rhymes on stage, the camera cuts to backstage where…
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We Have a Pope
An ecumenical matter.
We Have A Pope is really something of a novelty; a film about the inner workings of the Catholic Church with nary a sight of a mad monk, rogue exorcist or faithless…
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We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks
The truth is out there.
It’s startling how, even in this Information Age, it can take a movie to make sense of a news story. Never before in history has information been so readily available but sometimes…
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What If
When Harry Met Chantry.
What If is a film with a personality crisis. The original title, The F Word, was dispatched in favour of the more nondescript What If, presumably to save the blushes of some…
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What’s Your Number?
Women’s Lib(ido).
There is a sad lack of imagination infecting films aimed at women. Writers have seemingly given up on original ideas, instead opting to raid the pages of glossy magazines and their interminable…
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Whatever Works
Just like old times.
It’s been a tough few years for Woody Allen fans. His last few films have had the feeling of a man who was unsure about where to go– self-consciously distancing himself from…
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While We’re Young
Hip to be square.
Frances Ha, directed by Noah Baumbach, is still one of my favourite films of the last few years. It is a warm, funny and insightful look at the growing pains of a…
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Wonder Woman
Gods of war.
Nothing ruins a good time quicker than a flotilla of German soldiers. Case in point – the new Wonder Woman film, during which a female utopia is blown apart by the arrival…
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Wuthering Heights
Such great Heights.
Despite my love of wailing along with Kate Bush, I have always found Wuthering Heights itself deeply unappealing thanks to what is surely the most obnoxious love match in literary history. Yes…
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X-Men: Days of Future Past
Just like old times.
I mean this in the nicest possible way but it would appear that Bryan Singer has been living under a very large rock since his last X-Men outing in 2003. Days of…
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X+Y
Summing up.
So much of how an audience resonds to a film has to do with how they empathise and bond emotionally with the central character. When that central character has autism, they bring…
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You Instead
Rock’n’Roll swindle.
If we are to believe the words of Kiss (and why wouldn’t we?) then we can all agree that rock and roll was given to us by a benevolent, perhaps leather-clad deity.…
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You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger
A load of crystal balls.
In the last few moment of You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger, the film makes a good attempt at reviewing itself as the narrator paraphrases Shakespeare, describing what we have just…
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Young Adult
Homecoming queen.
When director Jason Reitman and writer Diablo Cody first collaborated, the result was Juno, a film which gained accolades and awards nominations for both. Personally I couldn’t stand it. I can see…
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