Eleanor Reviews

***** After venturing out past night fall, Kubo finds himself hunted by the fearsome Moon King. Tasked with finding the magical suit of armour worn by his legendary father, he sets out on a fantastical adventure. The word 'artisan' is used all too frequently these days. Walk along a trendy high street, for example, and everything from coffee shops to bakeries and jewellers claim the prefix, and you have to wonder at how accurate the description is. In terms of Kubo and the Two Strings , however, the term is wholly justified. The work of exemplary craftsmen and women, this charming (at times terrifying!) tale of a young boy on a dangerous quest is a masterclass in artisanal practice, and it's a joy to behold. Using stop motion methods throughout, each frame represents the single snap of a shutter before the characters were ever-so-slightly moved to create a sense of seamless movement: when you observe the ruffles in Monkey's (Charlize Theron) fur the pur...

*** For years, Thanos has planned to take control of the universe and all life within it. Determined to collect the six Infinity Stones, which will provide him with unimaginable power, he travels from planet to planet, wreaking havoc and devastation in his wake. Turning his attention to Earth, however, and he comes up against a formidable foe: the Avengers and their allies. It has, as the extended Marvel logo prefix informs us, been ten years since the beginning of the cinematic MCU. In that time, we've met a plethora of different characters, sat through hours of comic book action and stayed late for numerous post-credit scenes. We all have our favourites (who can forget the Team Tony versus Team Steve situation?), and it's introduced us to the most lovable villain of all time - Loki. In all, it's been a pretty impressive story arch of intertwining threads. Could the long-awaited culmination of all these different strands possibly live up to the expectation...

***** In the not-so-distant future, all dogs are exiled from Japan to the 'trash island' just off the coast. Desperate to be reunited with his beloved pet, a young boy, Atari, sets out to find his dog among the many canines abandoned there.  Wes Anderson has a style of film making that can only be categorised as 'Wes Anderson'. A quirky director with an eye for the symmetrical, bold colour palettes and finer details which add up to make a wonderfully realised whole, he has crafted a back catalogue of films that can only be described as polarising: whilst some revel in the whimsical charm, others find them frustrating and irritating. Into this mix comes Isle of Dogs , a wholly original tale of a young boy in search of his pet, Spots. Utilising all the idiosyncratic Anderson tropes, it marries a rag-tag group of mutts to a child with an aeroplane bolt in his skull in a perilous adventure across a littered landscape - and it's brilliant. Emotive, t...

***** Tasked with cleaning a lab in a top secret research facility, a mute janitor befriends the strange, mythical being that's imprisoned there. Determined to free the creature from his torture, Elisa hatches a dangerous plan...  It's a strange thing going to see a film after it's won the Academy Award for Best Picture - obviously, you go in with exceptionally high expectations and think of all the other brilliant movies of the past year that could have won the title too. However, after settling back into Guillermo del Toro's typically quirky storytelling and film making, I found myself swept up in a touching fairy tale that takes the fantastical and horror-inflected elements of Pan's Labyrinth and classic Grimm tales into Cold War America. It's a bold move, but one that works, and this is mostly down to del Toro's tender and insightful depiction of his human characters.  Some critics have accused the film of being too 'black and...

*** Ascending to the throne after his father's death, T'Challa looks to rule over a peaceful Wakanda. However, he finds his position under threat when an outsider appears, bringing with him news and ideas that could jeopardise the secretive nation's way of life.  Black Panther is, without a doubt, a ground-breaking film. Boasting a cast of black actors and actresses, a black director, and discussing the treatment of black people throughout history, it brings a breadth of diversity to the screen that is wholly refreshing and impossibly important. It's a shame, then, that the film itself is nothing more than average - passably enjoyable but wholly forgettable once the credits have rolled. It brings me no pleasure to write this, as all the ingredients for a good action movie were there - it just never quite pulled it off.  Let's start with the positives. Taking up the helm after his brief appearance in Captain America: Civil War , Chadwick Boseman pr...

***/**** (3.5 stars) Recently appointed Prime Minister, Winston Churchill must make a crucial decision for the future of Great Britain: fight on against the overwhelming Nazi force, or engage in peace talks with the enemy. There is no shortage of depictions of Winston Churchill on film and TV. A behemoth in our world's recent history, his presence on screen is one that we have become used to. Taking on the Prime Minister after his appointment during World War Two, Gary Oldman offers us a somewhat tender, unusual perspective on the cigar-smoking icon. Much like the depiction of Adolf Hitler in Downfall , we witness a frailty here - a sense of doubt and misgiving that has been overlooked of late. Jumping from tyrannical-esque outbursts to moments of quiet solemnity, Oldman's performance offers a very human insight into a man grappling with himself, his past choices and the weight of his new position, all the while maintaining a touch of humour too. This sense of i...

DVD release/available to stream ***** Attending a job interview so that he can claim his benefit, Driss unexpectedly ends up being hired by an aristocrat quadriplegic, Philippe. After transferring from the projects to his new employer's stately home, an unlikely relationship blossoms the two men, who discover they have much to learn from one another. Life is rarely black and white: usually we navigate a world that is differing shades of grey, and nowhere is that bittersweet balance captured more than in The Intouchables. Based on a true story, it focuses on the growing friendship between a man who has everything and yet cannot move, Philippe (Francois Cluzet) and another who has spent their life in the projects and yet bubbles with an undeniable lust for life, Driss (Omar Sy). Although both their lives have been touched by tragedy, both men are able to find humour and joy in the everyday. Admittedly somewhat light on plot (there is no real beginning, middle ...