“These are dark days. Electricity. Suffrage. Evolution!” So says Lord Piggot-Dunceby, head of the Optimates Club – a London home-from-home for posh, white, male 19th century explorers (is that description tautological?) It’s a club which wealthy explorer Sir Lionel Frost (Hugh Jackman) is desperate to join, though Piggot-Dunceby has no intention of allowing anyone who believes… Missing Link Read More
Us 4.5 stars
“I don’t feel like myself” says the nervy Adelaide, as they try to settle into their beach house for their holiday with their children Zora and Jason. “I think you look like yourself” says her husband Gabe. Doppelgangers both fascinate and repel us. They look like us but make us squirm. When we hear we… Us Read More
Dirtbag: The Legend Of Fred Beckey 4 stars
*** Read my interview with David O’Leske, director of Dirtbag: The Legend Of Fred Beckey *** Paper salesman. Insurance. Gold stolen from a crashed plane in the Canadian wilderness. No one was entirely sure how Fred Beckey, American climber extraordinaire, made the money that allowed him to spend most of the year pursuing his passion… Dirtbag: The Legend Of Fred Beckey Read More
Fisherman’s Friends 2.5 stars
“Emotions have no place in business” says hotshot London music executive Danny (Daniel Mays) and there’s your Britflick red flag right there. Fisherman’s Friends ticks so many boxes it makes me wonder if there’s a secret list of British film industry definites and nice-to-haves, with any funding dependent on a 75% hit rate. Based on… Fisherman’s Friends Read More
Fighting With My Family 4 stars
You could argue that this dramatised account of WWE wrestler Paige’s rise to glory is as scripted as the fights it portrays; no one’s success trajectory could so closely follow the “funny and heart-warming” movie template. Then again, if you stay until the end of the film, the footage of the real Paige’s real family… Fighting With My Family Read More
All Is True 4 stars
*** Read my interview with All Is True’s Oscar-winning costume designer Michael O’Connor *** As all married women heading into their dotage know, if there’s one thing a just-retired husband needs it’s a hobby – and luckily William Shakespeare, newly returned to the rather chilly bosom of his family in Stratford Upon Avon, has his… All Is True Read More
Mary Queen Of Scots 3.5 stars
To shore up their throne a monarch will lean heavily on symbolism, as does director Josie Rourke; so much so that the constant allusions to the symmetry and asymmetry in the two queens’ lives sometimes threaten to overwhelm the whole movie. My advice is simply to lie back and enjoy it, as otherwise your frustrations will… Mary Queen Of Scots Read More
The Front Runner (London Film Festival) 4 stars
“Six points, four if it’s windy”. That’s the opinion poll boost the Democrats jokingly expect from the hair of handsome democratic would-be presidential candidate Gary Hart. It is a marvel, thick and brown, and considerably wider than his head, the odd strand tipped with silver. It shouldn’t matter but it does, and Jason Reitman’s film… The Front Runner (London Film Festival) Read More
Johnny English Strikes Again 2.5 stars
Johnny English isn’t the only relic in MI7, brought in when a cyber attack on British Intelligence outs all serving agents and the floundering Prime Minister has to find someone to take on the case. His methods and props are just as retro: a red Aston Martin that does about 15 miles to the gallon,… Johnny English Strikes Again Read More
A Star Is Born (2018) 4 stars
A Star Is Born isn’t a comedy but there are moments when hollow laughter is the only correct response. The downward-spiralling rock legend Jackson Maine, snorting coke before going on stage at a pharmacology industry event, is one such moment. We love stories in balance, so a simultaneous rags to riches / riches to rags… A Star Is Born (2018) Read More
The Predator 3 stars
The predators in Shane Black’s latest entry in the franchise are big game hunters, tracking and killing for sport – and we’re the prey. They hunt for fun, and for DNA, stalking the galaxy for the best of each species. At least if only humanity’s finest are in their sights I’m probably ok. (I mean,… The Predator Read More
Adrift 3 stars
I’ll say straight off that Shailene Woodley is terrific in Adrift. She shines as real-life sailor Tami Oldham – determined yet full of self-doubt, footloose yet bound to one person – marooned on a drifting boat in the Pacific in the early 1980s. I’m also going to say straight off that I’m going to spoiler… Adrift Read More
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