Piece By Piece review: Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson in soulless Christmas filler by Amazon November 8, 2024 Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson can’t save this soulless Christmas comedy It’s early November, which in Hollywood means the countdown to Christmas has begun. Hoping to kick start the cheer is action comedy Red One. Sadly, it’s as exciting as finding a lump of coal in your stocking. Dwayne Johnson – star of what feels like [...]
Paddington In Peru review: Ben Whishaw return can’t compete with Hugh Grant classic November 7, 2024 Seven years on from its release, Paddington 2 isn’t just one of the best family films of the 2010s, it’s one of the best films full-stop, having become an absolute modern classic. Building on the wholesome inaugural Paddington film released in 2014 to critical success, director Paul King established a film franchise stuffed full with [...]
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story: homage brings a tear to the eye November 5, 2024 Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story review: ★★★★ Next year sees a new version of Superman starring Twisters actor David Corenswet. His performance will inevitably be compared to Christopher Reeve’s, who became world famous for playing the superhero in the 1970s, embodying the role for a generation before a tragic horse-riding accident left him paralysed. Super/Man: [...]
Steve McQueen falls short with wartime drama Blitz November 5, 2024 Ten years on from his Oscar triumph with 12 Years A Slave, filmmaker Steve McQueen has forged his own creative path. Rather than dive into the world of blockbusters, he has stuck with hard hitting dramas such as his Small Axe anthology of films and the 2018 thriller Widows. His latest is Blitz, a World [...]
Emilia Perez is an early tip for all the top awards October 25, 2024 As we approach awards season, Emilia Perez, the new film from director Jacques Audiard (A Prophet, The Sisters Brothers), will hope its joyful and jagged tale rightly captures the imagination of judges. Set in Mexico City, Zoe Saldaña plays Rita, a brilliant but frustrated lawyer working to keep the guilty from prison. Feared cartel leader [...]
The Apprentice: Is the Trump biopic fake news? October 24, 2024 The Apprentice, a film directed by Iranian-Danish Ali Abbasi out last week in the UK, constitutes a brutal character assassination against presidential candidate Donald Trump. Focusing on the years 1973 to the early 1980s, it tracks Trump’s rise from real estate mogul’s awkward son (he’s literally knocking on doors collecting rents) to the man liberals [...]
The Apprentice film review: A gloriously dark origin story for Trump October 17, 2024 As we near the US Presidential election, The Apprentice has attracted much controversy from one of the candidates. This early-days biopic of Donald Trump has been denounced by the 45th President, who sent a cease-and-desist letter causing the film to have trouble finding a distributor. But is it worth the fuss? Starting in the early [...]
Twiggy at London Film Festival review: Sadie Frost captures why she was so groundbreaking October 16, 2024 Twiggy by Sadie Frost, London Film Festival review and star rating: ★★★★☆ Posh ’90s party girl Sadie Frost has reimagined herself as a documentary maker. In 2022 she directed Quant, about iconic ’60s designer Mary Quant, and her 2024 gambit is about model turned singer, actor and M&S saviour Twiggy. Frost seems to have a [...]
Joy at London Film Festival review: this Netflix sob-fest with Bill Nighy is unmissable October 15, 2024 Joy film review and star rating from the London Film Festival: ★★★★☆ Thomasin McKenzie does a spiffing impression of Renée Zellweger as Bridget Jones in Netflix’s Joy. Whenever there’s bad news, she scrunches up her face like an enraged toddler, like Zellweger does when either Colin Firth or Hugh Grant do the dirty on her. [...]
