Steph Davis
After graduating in 2010, Steph worked as an intern at Raindance (Brussels) and Rise Films, and, predictably, had a job working at a dingy DVD rental store. She also volunteered at various film festivals, enjoying all sorts of filmy goodness ranging from the excitement and glamour of the red carpet to anarchic, toilet-paper laden horror all-nighters. She is currently a working in TV production and admits she spends an unhealthy amount of her free time watching and writing about films.
Matthew McConaughey has been working hard recently to distance himself from the endless stream of listless romantic comedies that have defined his career over the past decade. Throughout his self reinvention he has not only proven his capabilities by playing wildly diverse roles - from the cool and collected hitman in Killer Joe to the colourful and alluring male stripper in Magic Mike – but has also had a clear penchant for interesting, enigmatic and intense characters. With his latest on-screen appearance, McConaughey continues to surprise and impress as the titular Mud in Jeff Nichols’s third feature.
Burt Wonderstone (Steve Carell) and Anton Marvelton (Steve Buscemi) are two world-class magicians who have been banded together since their school days, both as a result of a shared love for magic and a lack of any other form of social life. Rising to superstardom together after outgrowing their bog standard magic kit, the pair are now the headline act at a major Las Vegas venue. After a hugely successful ten-year tenure, they are used to performing to sell out crowds despite the staleness of their routine, which, along with their outfits, has never been updated.
Following a number of thematically similar documentaries (see: Deliver Us From Evil, Hand of God), Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God delves into the root of the Church sex abuse scandal to the first known public protests in the US. Director Alex Gibney not only exposes the sickening abuse of power seen in the priesthood but also reveals the twisted and utterly astounding ways in which the highest echelons of the Vatican protect and abet its criminals.
The internet can often be an abyss of people with far too much time on their hands, but this live action recreation of Toy Story, complete with real toys and living, breathing humans, is most definitely time well spent. The shot for shot remake is astonishingly faithful to the Pixar classic, including everything from the Pizza Planet truck to Sid's hellish lair, with many of the finer details in between left intact.
When Star Wars was released in the spring of 1977, no one could have predicted the colossal impact it would have on audiences worldwide and the film industry as a whole. Paving the way for future blockbusters and forever embedding itself into pop culture, no other film has even come close to surpassing its legacy.
The past 15 years, though, have been a testing time for Star Wars fans. Since 1997, the original theatrical versions have slowly but surely been wiped clean off the face of the earth (see: Han shot first!), replaced with new and, as George Lucas would have you believe, 'improved' cuts. The prequel trilogy then stumbled to screens and disappointed just about everyone over the age of 12, and the many Lucas cash-grabs have made him a villain worthy of a Sith title amongst Star Wars purists.
2012 now marks the latest disturbance in the Force as Disney announced its $4billion acquisition of Lucasfilm along with plans to release a brand spanking new Star Wars trilogy - Episodes VII - IX - in 2015.
There is much to be discussed, then, during this week's Star Wars #MTOS (Movie Talk on Sunday). The ten questions are below so get your Star Wars helmets on and join me on twitter (@stefatthemovies) this Sunday at 8pm GMT!
