Warning: spoilers ahead, so no moaning please (unless of the art film kind) It’s been called a love letter to Hollywood, though with that title, Tarantino’s ninth movie also plays into our – and Hollywood’s – love of re-booted fairy stories that have lost their original callous brutality and now finish with everyone living happily ever… Once Upon A Time In… Hollywood Read More
Blinded By The Light 3 stars
By 1987 Mrs Thatcher had been in power for eight years and believe me it felt like a whole lot longer than that at the time. As if things could get any worse, Curiosity Killed the Cat, Tiffany and Debbie Gibson were mounting assaults on the UK charts. I’d tried to block all of those… Blinded By The Light Read More
Playmobil: The Movie 3 stars
I have a soft spot for Playmobil, and not only because it’s easier on parental feet when you tread on it in the dark than arch-nemesis Lego, which like its tie-in films is considerably sharper-edged than this smooth German rival. But while Playmobil:The Movie lacks the bite of the Lego films, this is still a colourful,… Playmobil: The Movie Read More
Kursk: The Last Mission 3.5 stars
With state-of-the-art Russian submarine Kursk now at the bottom of the sea, and Russian rescue equipment mostly sold off, Royal Navy Commodore David Russell (Colin Firth) asks Admiral Vyacheslav Grudzinsky (Peter Simonischek) if his bosses will let the British in: “not until I’ve tried a sufficient number of times to do the impossible with the… Kursk: The Last Mission Read More
Yesterday 3 stars
Jack Malik, unsuccessful at both singer-songwriting and love, is cycling home one night though his Suffolk hometown when the electricity fails across the world for 12 seconds and he’s hit by a bus. It’s a calamity for Jack (Himesh Patel), though it doesn’t seem to affect anyone else much, who see it as a jokey… Yesterday Read More
Anima (Short Film) Short Film 4 stars
Anima is a sometimes mesmerising experience – ironic when you consider both the soundtrack (it’s a film “best played loud”), and that it’s a denunciation of dystopian societies, whose messages to control their populations can be almost hypnotic. This is a film that moves between dreamlike and nightmarish, from realistic settings to the entirely stylised…. Anima (Short Film) Read More
Sometimes Always Never (London Film Festival) 4 stars
*** Read my interview with director Carl Hunter *** Finally, a story about the beautiful game that isn’t boring or dependent on stereotypical ideas of its players. Yes, I’m talking about Scrabble. Set near Liverpool in the North West, director Carl Hunter’s delightful film is witty and moving – and beautifully written by Frank Cottrell Boyce… Sometimes Always Never (London Film Festival) Read More
2001: A Space Odyssey (Cannes 2018) 5 stars
I’m usually that person saying it’s okay to watch movies any way you can – Netflix, cinema, laptop, mobile phone. Hell, download it to your own eyeball then look for explanations in a recently-discovered ancient cave painting, if it works for you. But 2001: A Space Odyssey is one that, if you get the chance,… 2001: A Space Odyssey (Cannes 2018) Read More
Funny Cow 4 stars
In the 1970s the Northern working men’s club circuit was both a launchpad for an entertainment career and a dismal corner where acts went to die. If they even had the energy to do that. And in Funny Cow, as well as comics, singers and ventriloquists, we’re treated to a performance by the world’s most… Funny Cow Read More
Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story 4 stars
Technologies based on Hedy Lamarr’s invention are now so ubiquitous, and have had such huge effects on our lives, I rather feel that a little Hedy avatar should pop up before we email, tweet, or indeed go to war, that says “are you SURE you want to do this?” Think how many hot-headed, post-1990s wifi-enabled… Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story Read More
Phantom Thread 4.5 stars
To paraphrase Emily in The Devil Wears Prada, it turns out I’m just one wild mushroom omelette away from my goal weight. I never collect mushrooms in the great outdoors, as I’d rather not risk death for size zero, though it makes a change to see food used as a weapon against a gourmand fashion… Phantom Thread Read More
The Greatest Showman 3 stars
The Greatest Showman is historically inaccurate and hugely emotionally manipulative in a by-numbers way, and I could almost feel my heartstrings being tugged as I sat in the cinema; but if you take it at face value, it’s an engaging and at times moving musical. I just wish that they had simply made up their… The Greatest Showman Read More