ZooScope

Tag: Drama

  • I Am Legend. Dir. Francis Lawrence. Warner Bros.. 2007.

    Synopsis: I Am Legend, a cinematic adaption of a 1954 horror novel of the same name, is a post-apocalyptic “zombie” film with a difference; the genetically-engineered virus which transforms humans into flesh-eating undead is also active in some animals. The survivors we meet, Robert Neville (Will Smith) and his dog, co-exist with these monstrous creatures…

  • The Swan Princess. Dir. Richard Rich. New Line Cinema. 1994.

    The Swan Princess follows the story of Princess Odette and Prince Derek. From the time they are children it is hoped that they will marry and join their kingdoms, and as they grow up they fall in love with each other. However, their romance is thwarted by the evil warlock Lord Rothbart, who kills Odette’s father…

  • The Prestige. Dir. Christopher Nolan. Warner Bros.. 2006.

    Synopsis The Prestige (2006) is a film directed by Christopher Nolan and based upon an adaption of Christopher Priest’s 1995 novel. The film is set in twentieth century London and follows the lives of two rival magicians, Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman) and Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) and their competing struggle to claim ownership of the most…

  • The Horse Whisperer. Dir. Robert Redford. Touchstone Pictures. 1998.

    Representation of Animals in the Horse Whisperer Robert Redford directs and stars in the novel adaptation, The Horse Whisperer (1998). Set between the conflicting environments of urban New York and the rural countryside of Montana, we witness a family fall apart following a tragic accident. Whilst out riding, the film’s young protagonist and her friend come into collision…

  • Beasts Of The Southern Wild. Dir. Benh Zeitlin. Fox Searchlight Pictures. 2012.

    Beasts of the Southern Wild is set in Bathtub, a poor and very ethnically-mixed community in the Louisiana Bayou separated from other civilisation by a levee, a backdrop which conjures up the still fresh memory of Hurricane Katrina. The global warming induced flooding of the area and all that ensues are focalised through the imagination of the…

  • Godzilla. Dir. Ishirō Honda. Toho. 1954.

    Synopsis “If we continue to test nuclear weapons, another Godzilla may arise.” The closing line of Honda’s Godzilla, emphasised by a prolonged close-up of the speaker’s face, is proudly overt in its political overtones. Produced in the wake of the 1945 bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, Godzilla’s use of an indestructible, prehistoric creature as a metaphor for nuclear warfare…

  • Fish Tank. Dir. Andrea Arnold. BBC Films. 2009.

    Fish Tank. Dir. Andrea Arnold. BBC Films. 2009. Jessica Hannington Andrea Arnold’s British drama Fish Tank centres on a fifteen year old tearaway, Mia (Katie Jarvis), whose volatile and distant nature promises to drag her down the same path as her alcoholic, chain-smoking mother, Joanne (Kierston Wareing). Growing up on a bleak Essex council estate, the possibility of…

  • The Queen. Dir. Stephen Frears. Pathé Distribution. 2006.

    In the centre of constitutional drama, The Queen, a moment occurs in which a stag unexpectantly enters into a private moment being experienced by Elizabeth II. The Stag has a highly commanding presence onscreen, and works in unison with the film’s discussion on the public and private sphere. The scene opens with the Queen’s (Helen Mirren) back…