Eleanor Reviews

  Director:  Anders Thomas Jensen Cast:  Mads Mikkelsen, Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Andrea Heick Gadeberg, Lars Brygmann, Nicholas Bro Where can I watch?:   Riders of Justice  is in cinemas now  Rating:  4/5 Review:  There are some films that defy categorisation. For example, from watching the trailer for Riders of Justice, you might assume it to be some form of action comedy with a healthy dose of violence thrown in for good measure. However, Riders of Justice is actually far more complex than that, tackling themes of masculinity, mental health and even the existential alongside the occasional shoot out and grisly murder. At first, it appears to be about revenge - Mads Mikkelsen (looking particularly brutish) returns from a tour following the death of his wife in rail accident that could well be connected with a violent gang. Or was it all merely coincidence? Uncommunicative and unrelenting in his refusal to undertake therapy, Mikkelsen's Markus represents the archetypal army man - silent,

Director:  Thomas Vinterberg Cast:  Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen, Magnus Millgang, Lars Ranthe Where can I watch?:   Another Round is in cinemas now  Rating:  2/5 Review: Applauded on the awards and festival circuit since 2020, it's fair to say that Thomas Vinterberg's Another Round was universally 'hyped up' long before its eventual release in UK cinemas. Billed as a 'comedy', critics couldn't praise Vinterberg's (who also co-wrote the film) tale of four middle-aged school teachers engaging in an experiment with alcohol enough. It appears that I must have been watching the wrong film, then, as I can't recall laughing at this so-called 'comedy' a single time, nor can I say that I particularly enjoyed it. For me, the real issue comes from the lack of clarity around the film's central message: what is Vinterberg trying to say about alcohol? Veering from tragic scenes of home lives falling apart, suicide and even a grown man wetting his