TRAILER FOR BLADE RUNNER 2049

Roger Deakins Roger Deakins Roger Deakins! Denis Villeneuve and Ridley Scott have certainly drawn together an impressive cast and crew (and Jared Leto, alas) for the Blade Runner sequel that, frankly, nobody wanted anyway. But then there's Roger Deakins, right? Out on the 6th of October in both the US and the UK.

REVIEW - ARRIVAL (DENIS VILLENEUVE)

The first essential step toward enjoying science-fiction filmmaking is to give in to it. Allow yourself the opportunity to wilfully submit to fantasy, to suspend that cynicism to which we cautious creatures cling on; remember that, no matter how closely the film comes to representing that reality you recognize so clearly, it's all magic and make-believe, playing its own game by its own rules. Even with its muted colour palette, its focus on people and politics, its lack of elaborate special effects, Arrival remains a sci-fi feature to its core - indeed, arguably archetypal sci-fi, in that its premise plays upon that cornerstone of the genre, the alien invasion film. That Eric Heisserer's adaptation of Ted Chiang's novella Story of Your Life hews rather closely, in fact, to the rules of our reality is only a supplementary, and valuable, attribute. This is our world, these are our stories (now more than ever), yet Arrival is a most fanciful flight from concept to conclusion. Give in to it, and allow Denis Villeneuve to guide you through a story that's free from all cynical concerns in its enrapturing embrace of style, emotion and narrative innovation. The view from afar is, fittingly, much less enlightening, much less forgiving than the subjective, close-up experience, and so Arrival sucks you ever inward, with Amy Adams' hugely expressive turn at its centre. This is a lived-in fantasy, then, and the brave step forward - or is it upward? - is just the first one toward appreciating an altogether magnificent work of pure creation. The reality that we perceive is welded inextricably to the fantasy that we conceive. It is only upon learning of Arrival's many wonders that one's mind may know its secrets. Take that first step, and see it!

FULL-LENGTH TRAILER #1 FOR DENIS VILLENEUVE'S ARRIVAL

Admittedly, I was more intrigued by the teaser trailer for Arrival, the upcoming sci-fi from Canadian director Denis Villeneuve, than I am by this full-length look. The atmosphere of anticipation has been broken by this albeit-still-interesting preview, although that was likely inevitable. Out on the 11th of November in both the UK and the US.

FIRST TRAILER FOR ARRIVAL

The new film from Denis Villeneuve, sci-fi Arrival with Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner and Forest Whitaker, is picking up a lot of online buzz. And much of that is directly due to the above trailer, the first proper look at the film, though it has also been picked up for a gala screening at TIFF alongside a top competition slot at Venice. American and British audiences can look forward to seeing Arrival on the 11th of November.

KANSAS CITY FILM CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD BEST PICTURE TO MAD MAX

The nominations for the Kansas City Film Critics Circle awards were, surprisingly, led by Sicario, but Denis Villeneuve's film failed to win in any of its five categories when award winners were declared today. Critics fave Mad Max: Fury Road took Best Picture, Director and - in a minor shock not unlike this group - Best Actress, making it the clear favourite among the KCFCC. Check out their nominations here and their awards below:

Best Picture

Mad Max: Fury Road

Robert Altman Award for Best Director

George Miller (Mad Max: Fury Road)

Best Actor

Leonardo DiCaprio (The Revenant)

Best Actress

Charlize Theron (Mad Max: Fury Road)

Best Supporting Actor

Michael Shannon (99 Homes)

Best Supporting Actress

Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina)

Best Original Screenplay

Spotlight

Best Adapted Screenplay

The Big Short

Best Animated Feature

Inside Out

Best Documentary

Amy

Best Foreign Language Film

Phoenix

Vince Koehler Award for Best Science Fiction, Fantasy or Horror Film

Ex Machina

REVIEW - SICARIO (DENIS VILLENEUVE)

A stylish thriller whose technical prowess is as exhilarating to behold as it is admirable, communicating writer Taylor Sheridan's simplistic story with verve and vibrancy. Sheridan lays a bare narrative out bare; director Denis Villeneuve turns bare into spare, constructing powerful sensory experiences out of otherwise simple scenes with a startling soundscape and striking cinematography. Sicario has many merits, but chief among them is the highly successful collaboration between Villeneuve and his DP Roger Deakins - the two have a neatly matched artistic sensibility, and their combined storytelling technique is remarkably cohesive. Indeed, Villeneuve and Deakins are so well matched that Sicario slightly suffers as the work of art that they clearly strive for it to be - its stylistic parameters are too confined, too closed to interpretation, just a bit too perfect, and the film loses something in the way of humanity and plausibility as a result. It gains so much in the process, though, functioning as much as a tremendously tense thriller as it does a deeply unnerving horror film - the two converge in moments of disarming distress, accentuated by fine sound design and a complimentary, elemental score by Johann Johannsson. Motions toward political drama are less effective, unwanted diversions into vaguely allegorical territory from the script, but the film's stylistic strengths are enough to overcome Sicario's missteps.

TRAILER #2 FOR DENIS VILLENEUVE'S SICARIO

Not as good as the first trailer, perhaps because it seems to be courting the male audience by featuring Benicio del Toro's character more prominently than Emily Blunt's... as if anyone could give a shit. It's Blunt's show, bitches, and you'll all have a chance to experience it when Sicario opens in the US on the 18th of September and in the UK on the 9th of October.