Film Beat

Freida McFadden’s hit novel “The Housemaid” is the latest “BookTok” phenomenon to earn itself a feature film adaptation. Paul Feig (“Bridesmaids”, “Spy”, “A Simple Favour”) is the director charged with adapting the best-selling thriller for the big screen, and given his track record of producing entertaining female-led movies, it would seem like a decent match; However while “The Housemaid” teases a camp, fun thriller, it only partially delivers on its promise, and instead largely stays well within the boundaries of your typical erotic thriller. Sydney Sweeney plays Millie Calloway, an out-of-work young woman with a checkered past who is living in her car and washing in public restrooms. She dons a fake pair of glasses to make her seem more respectable for an interview with Nina Winchester (Amanda Seyfried), who is on the search for a live-in housemaid. To her surprise, Millie is offered the job, and given the attic room to stay in. The next morning, Nina becomes unhinged and begins te...

We all know the formula. Girl meets Boy; everything seems to be going perfectly, then the old flame resurfaces and you’ve got yourself a good old fashioned “Love Triangle” - who will they choose? In recent years we’ve had a couple standout takes on this premise with “Challengers” and “Past Lives” springing to mind (actually these two were written by each half of the same couple). Now comes David Freyne’s take on the formula. The new A24 movie, Eternity, takes the love triangle and has it play out in the afterlife. Although that may sound like a more high concept fantasy movie, that is not how it should be perceived. Make no mistake, this is a romcom - and a good one. Eternity opens with Larry and Joan driving home for their family gender reveal party. Given the premise of the film, and Larry’s overly cautious driving style, I was fully expecting a jump-scare car crash in which at least one of the characters dies. Lo and behold, a car screeches towards the couple … and yet it screeches ...

Sometimes when life’s getting hectic and the the winter confines you to your living room (or even better - the cinema), what you need is a tight 90 minute escape served up by a masterful filmmaker. Steven Soderbergh may have released the perfect example of this earlier this year. Michael Fassbender,  Black Bag . Black Bag stars Michael Fassbender as George Woodhouse, a spy tasked with finding the traitor within his intelligence organisation and preventing said defector from releasing the top-secret software programme named “Severus”. Early in the film, George gathers the five suspects at his home for a dinner party. They include Naomi Harris as the in-house Psychiatrist, Zoe, Regé-Jean Page as the newly promoted James, Marisa Abela as the younger, naive Clarissa and Tom Burke as the outspoken Freddie. To make the dinner more interesting, the four guests are made up of two couples and have their relationships scrutinised by George at the table. To make the dinner even more interesti...